Carmen Meets Borat Coming To Global Voices Series On PBS World Channel

With all the strange, interesting, and bad press that followed in the wake of Sasha Baron Cohen's Borat film, you're about to get a new look behind the scenes of the production, from the perspective of yet another group duped by the film. While many of the stories that came out the film didn't evoke a great deal of sympathy, the curious bamboozling of the village of Glod in Romania might deliver a different picture.

Carmen Meets Borat Premieres Sunday, September 5, at 10 PM on Global Voices on PBS WORLD, and it's worth checking out.

Carmen, a 17 year old girl living in the gypsy village of Glod, located in the remote mountains of Romania, dreams of a future bigger and brighter than the quiet life she is currently living. Working at her father’s store and being courted by a boy she does not love, Carmen believes her only chance of experiencing a life like the ones she watches in Spanish soap operas, is to leave Glod and her family behind. That is, until British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen and his film crew arrive at her village to film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

At Twentieth Century-Fox headquarters

A story about a small community in a big universe, Carmen Meets Borat documents the confusion, optimism, and ultimate changes experienced by Carmen and the villagers of Glod, when they realize the big dreams and money promised to them from Borat, and later an American lawyer, might not come to fruition. Carmen Meets Borat will premiere nationally on PBS WORLD’s Global Voices, an international themed documentary series, on Sunday, September 5 at 10 PM (check local listings). The program will be available for online streaming beginning Monday, September 6, on PBS Video (http://video.pbs.org/program/1478905970/).

When Cohen, in character as Borat, and his film crew land in Glod, the villagers cooperate on what they believe will be a documentary about their village and many, including Carmen’s father and her grandfather, agree to appear in the film. Unfortunately, since none of the villagers speak English, they are unaware that the film Borat depicts the villagers as primitive caricatures supposedly from Kazakhstan.

The release of the film places the town squarely in an unwanted spotlight and leaves the villagers feeling abused and exploited. The atmosphere in the village abruptly changes when American and a German lawyers arrive and persuade Carmen’s father, grandfather and the mayor of Glod to sue 20th Century Fox for 30 million dollars. The villagers begin to fantasize about the possibilities of a landmark lawsuit and how their lives might change for the better. However, many questions remain: will the village win the case? How will the money affect life in Glod? And will Borat himself come to apologize?

Global Voices is produced by ITVS International and began airing on the PBS WORLD digital channel on Sunday, April 26, 2009. This 26-week series brings internationally themed documentaries made by both U.S.-based and international filmmakers to a national audience. This season, the series will feature the U.S. premieres of six documentaries funded by ITVS International, as well as encore broadcasts of other acclaimed ITVS programs. In addition to the PBS WORLD broadcast, select episodes will be available online, post broadcast - via iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, and on PBS's Video player through http://video.pbs.org.  For the complete lineup and schedule, visit www.pbs.org/globalvoices/.

All photos courtesy Pieter van Huystee

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About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

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