The Light Bulb Conspiracy (2010)

Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand. As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: “The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business “ - and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.

THE LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers.

This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste.

Economists and environmentalists believe that the growth society as we know it is unsustainable in the long run and that Planned Obsolescence needs to become a thing of the past, as it is impossible to combine the limitless consumption of resources with a finite planet. But what are the alternatives? The film offers thought-provoking analysis by thinkers working on ways of saving both the economy and the environment, and presents hands-on stories showing entrepreneurs putting new business models into practice.

Directed and Written by Cosima Dannoritzer
Narrated by Molly Malcolm
Music by Marta Andres and Joan Gil
Mostly English audio (w/ English hard-coded subtitles), 53 Minutes, 2010

Technical Specs
Video Codec: XviD ISO MPEG-4
Video Bitrate: 1720 kbps
Video Resolution: 704x400
Video Aspect Ratio: 44:25 / 1.76 (~16:9)
Video Frames Per Second: 25.000
Video Qf: 0.24 b/pf
Audio Codec: Lame Mp3
Audio Bitrate: 128kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: Mostly English
RunTime Per Part: 53 minutes
Number Of Parts: 1
Part Size: 700 MB
Encoded by: PolarBear#mvgroup.org