CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN

HEADING TO THE BIG SCREEN

Cinema Libre Studio has Acquired

the Internationally Best-Selling Book

by Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins,

to be adapted into a Major Motion Picture

Production Slated for 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, the shocking and riveting behind-the-scenes memoir by John Perkins about his role in the game of global economics, rose to the top of Amazon.com during its first week in publication, and stayed on The New York Times Bestsellers List for 70 weeks; its sales have surpassed one million copies. Cinema Libre Studio, the Los Angeles based production and distribution company that specializes in socio-political films, has acquired the rights and is developing it into a feature film.

“Economic Hit Men,” John Perkins writes, “are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars.  Their tools include:  fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex and murder. They play a game as old as Empire but one that has taken on terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.”  In the book, Perkins explains how Economic Hit men are backed by “Jackals,” or CIA operatives, who overthrow governments or assassinate their leaders when the Economic Hit Men fail. Because Perkins was unable to corrupt the heads of state of both Ecuador and Panama, they were assassinated.

The film will be a true-to-life depiction of Perkins’s adventures. It will highlight the international intrigue, corruption, and secret collusion between the U.S. government and corporations and expose activities that have dire consequences for American democracy as well as the world. It will show how Perkins used bribes, threats, and sex to convince the leaders of strategically important countries to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development, and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to American corporations. Burdened by debts they could never repay, these countries fell under the control of the U.S. government, World Bank, and other U.S.-dominated aid agencies that in fact were loan sharks—dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.

The late Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, described the book as “A sweeping, bold assault on the tyranny of corporate globalization, full of drama and adventure, with devastating stories of greed run wild.”  The musician Sting has said: “Perkins’ books have helped me better understand something that has been puzzling me for a long time:  Why have so many resource-rich countries in the developing world remained steadfastly poor?  The answers he gives are both complex and uncomfortable, and none of us in the first world can abrogate responsibility easily.”

Since being released in 2004, CONFESSIONS went into an unprecedented fifth printing in only its fifth week and has unexpectedly topped the major top-selling book charts including:

• 221 weeks on the Neilsen Bookscan Bestsellers List
• 25 weeks on the Los Angeles Times Bestsellers List
• 22 weeks on the Washington Post Bestsellers List.

The book has sold a million copies in the U.S. and been translated into 30 languages. Other books by Perkins include: Hoodwinked, The Secret History of the American Empire, Shapeshifting, and The World Is As You Dream It.

Philippe Diaz, Chairman of Cinema Libre Studio, negotiated the deal with Perkins for an undisclosed sum.  Diaz and Perkins have worked together for several years, since Perkins was interviewed for the documentary film, The End of Poverty? directed by Diaz.  They traveled to Bolivia together where they shot footage for a television pilot, ‘One Country At A Time.’  Perkins expressed pleasure that his book is being adapted to film and says: “Bringing this story to the big screen will help many people around the globe understand the shocking facts behind the creation of the world’s first secret empire.”

Diaz, who will produce the film says, “There is the world-as-we-see-it before and after CONFESSIONS. John’s book reads like a thriller but it is the first book to explain how the multi-national corporations played a shell-game to indebt third-world countries. Until a man named John Perkins had the courage – against threats to his own life and his family’s – to write this book, we could only guess how our system worked.  Now we know.”

Diaz has secured twenty-five million dollars in financing through European financiers with the balance of financing to be completed by a major American studio.  Above-the-line talent is currently in discussion with announcements on writer and director to be made in July.  Production will begin mid 2011 with a May 2012 completion date planned.

Cinema Libre Studio, an independent mini-studio best known for producing and distributing social issue films, has been involved with movies such as: Uncovered: the War on Iraq, The End of Poverty? and has released more than 100 films including the latest Oliver Stone documentary, South of the Border, the Sundance Audience Award-Winning Fuel by Josh Tickell, Betty Blue: Director’s Cut by Jean-Jacques Beineix and will release Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation by Charles Burnett and starring Danny Glover later this year.

For more information visit www.cinemalibrestudio.com, www.johnperkins.org or Twitter @ economic_hitman.

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Media Contacts:

Beth Portello

Cinema Libre Studio

(818) 349-8822

bportello@cinemalibrestudio.com