Bullfrog Films
27 minutes
Grades 7-12, College, Adult

Directed by Alex Gabbay
Produced by Television Trust for the Environment

DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45

US Release Date: 2002
Copyright Date: 2001
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-145-2
VHS ISBN: 1-56029-938-X

Subjects
Anthropology
Asian Studies
At-risk Youth
Childbirth/Parenting
Community
Developing World
Disabilities
Economics
Food And Nutrition
Gender Studies
Geography
Global Issues
Globalization
Health
Human Rights
Humanities
Hunger
International Studies
Population
Reproductive Rights
Social Justice
Sociology
Urban Studies
Women's Studies

City Life Series
A Fistful of Rice

Protein deficiency threatens generations of children in Nepal.


Nine out of every ten children in Nepal suffers from some form of malnutrition. Ironically, it is because malnutrition is so widespread that it is also unnoticed. This is particularly true of protein energy malnutrition, or PEM as it is known -- a condition officially defined as being short and underweight for age, but which, in reality, is a devastating intergenerational cycle of lost potential, both physical and mental.

This program from the City Life series unravels the complex causes and effects of Protein Energy Malnutrition through the stories of people in Nepal who live with it on a daily basis. It also explores ways of changing attitudes towards food and gender.

The producer of this program has collected extensive resources at www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1091.

The other titles in the series are:

1. City Life - Explores Sao Paolo in introduction to series examining the effects of globalization on people and cities.

2. The Long March - Community in Chengdu, China has organized to clean-up polluted river.

3. The Health Protestors - Health care advocates demand universal health care for the world's population at international convention in Dhaka.

4. Together Against Violence - Poor Jamaican community overcomes violence.

5. Paradise Domain - Pacific islanders are not benefiting from digital windfall or World Wide Web.

6. Pavements of Gold - Increase in urban poverty and population, caused by globalization, threatens Peruvians.

7. Doing the Right Thing - Porto Alegre, Brazil has benefited from urban revitalization.

8. My Mother Built This House - Large homeless contingent in South Africa has organized to build houses for each other.

9. Barcelona Blueprint - Barcelona today is a model of urban planning that may prove sustainable.

10. Gaza Under Siege - The Gaza Strip has been a virtual prison for Palestinians for over fifty years.

11. Waiting to Go - Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are denied human rights.

13. Patently Obvious - International patent regulations only protect multinationals.

14. The Other Side - Poor Mexicans attempt perilous border crossing to US, often at the expense of family, traditional culture, and their lives.

15. The Miller's Tale: Bread Is Life - Efforts are underway in Egypt and Yemen to fortify flour with iron to wipe out needless malnutrition.

16. Brazil: Winning Against AIDS - Brazil has developed generic antiretroviral drugs to care for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS.

17. Missing Out - Anemia threatens the population of Niger and Tanzania.

18. Stop the Traffick - Investigates horror of child sex industry in Cambodia.

19. My Hanoi - Tour of rapidly urbanizing Hanoi, and the effect on citizens and culture.

20. Lines in the Dust - In revolutionary programs in Northern Ghana and India, gender roles are challenged, and illiterate adults educated.

21. Paying the Price - Pharmaceutical companies block generic drugs, threatening the lives of millions of Africans with AIDS.

22. Holy Smoke: Cambodians Fight Tobacco - Buddhist monks lead anti-tobacco campaign in Cambodia.

Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/clfist.html

Reviews
"Eleven million children under age 5 die worldwide each year from preventable diseases, yet only a few nonfiction films take on child mortality and its solutions...A Fistful of Rice deals with malnutrition in Nepal, which affects nine out of 10 children in the country."

Sojourners Magazine