FREIGHTENED – The Real Price of Shipping is the latest investigative documentary produced by Polar Star Films in coproduction with La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse.

This time the team turns its gaze to the cargo shipping industry; an industry that silently keeps our world spinning yet we know nothing about.

No less than 90% of the goods we consume in the West are manufactured in far-off lands and brought to us by ship. This fact makes cargo shipping a key player in world economy; the biggest companies have revenues comparable to Microsoft, and ships are a vital link in the supply chain for modern society. Yet the functioning and regulations of this business remain out of the spotlight while its hidden costs affect us all.

Faced with these facts but increasingly aware that locally produced goods often cost more than imported ones, director Denis Delestrac begins the film asking: How can a jacket that has travelled 48,000 km, more than once round the globe, still cost so little? This very question prompted the beginning of worldwide research into the domain of sea shipping. Delestrac realized there were lots more questions to be answered, such as: What’s the influence of shipping on the environment and marine life? Who pulls the strings in this multi-billion dollar business? How is the industry regulated and what’s life like for modern seafarers?

Taking us on a journey over seas and oceans, FREIGHTENED – The Real Price of Shipping is the result of an audacious, worldwide investigation that reveals the many faces of the freight shipping industry.

The feature version of FREIGHTENED – The Real Price of Shipping will have its television premiere on Das Erste, Germany on 30th March. The World Festival Premiere is at San Francisco Green Film Fest in April. A short version of the film was shown on France 5 television and RTS, Switzerland, in February to a record audience. More confirmed screenings coming soon. Watch this space!

Upcoming screenings:
Das Erste, Germany: 22:45h 30th March 2016
San Francisco Green Film Fest: 14th- 20th April 2016
Aljazeera Documentary Channel: date tbc
TVC, Catalonia, Spain: date tbc
NRK, Norway: date tbc
SRF, Switzerland: date tbc
SVT, Sweden: date tbc
Knowledge, Canada: date tbc
RAI, Italy: date tbc

FREIGHTENED – The Real Price of Shipping is Polar Star Films and La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse production, in co-production with SWR/NDR, France 5, AlJazeera Documentary Channel, in collaboration with TVC, SRF, SVT, RTS, NRK, Knowledge, TéléQuébec, and is supported by MEDIA Development, MEDIA TV Programming, ICEC and CNC funding.