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Do you shape the world or does the world shape you? We do not choose to exist or the environment in which we grow up. Our starting point in life is one of passive reliance on forces over which we have no control. Drawing on leading thinkers from around the world, THE LOTTERY OF BIRTH shows that from birth onwards our minds are a battleground of competing forces — familial, educational, cultural, and professional — and that the outcome of this battle not only determines who we become, but the society that we create.
THE LOTTERY OF BIRTH, nominated for Best Documentary at the Raindance Film Festival and winner of the Spirit Award at the Artivist Festival, is the bestselling independent documentary on iTunes in several countries and, for over four months, was the most watched documentary on Amazon Prime in the United States.
"Challenging, insightful and timely. Unmissable."
"I was quite blown away. A lot of bracing, tangential and uncomfortable thought. And it looks and sounds beautiful."
"Absolutely wonderful. beautifully made and utterly captivating."
"The Lottery of Birth is one of the most important films we have ever screened at Raindance, and needs to be seen by anyone willing to challenge the way our society functions."
"Activist cinema for the age of TED talks."
"Fascinating, compelling and intellectually arresting, The Lottery of Birth is a truly powerful and insightful documentary, which will completely blow you away. Highly recommended."
"It just shows you how powerful a documentary can be. It's like a switch has been turned on, the electricity is flowing — now I can begin to look at the world in a way that I've been working my way towards without direction. The Lottery of Birth is the beginning of a new way of approaching things."
Raoul Martinez is a philosopher, writer and filmmaker. Creating Freedom is his first book and is accompanied by a documentary entitled 'The Lottery of Birth' which he wrote, produced and co-directed. Raoul is now working on his second book. He lives and works in London.
Joshua Van Praag is a filmmaker working in both narrative and documentary formats to explore themes of social justice and interculturalism. His first short film, ‘The Dig’ won both the jury prize and the award for best director at the New York Film Festival. His work has subsequently been exhibited in venues as diverse as New York's New Museum, Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery and the Raindance Film Festival. In 2013, JvP released his first feature length documentary, The Lottery of Birth, co-directed by Raoul Martinez. The film was nominated for Best Documentary at the Raindance Film Festival, won the Spirit Award at the Artivist Film Festival and received a theatrical release in the US and UK. JvP is currently in production on ‘Disrupters’, a documentary about citizen journalists covering rising social movements across the globe. A native of the United Kingdom, JvP lives between London and New York.
A book to complement the film series is now available to order in numerous countries and languages. In greater depth, it explores the limits placed on freedom by human nature and society. Exploding the myths at the heart of our economic, political, and criminal justice systems, it calls for a profound transformation in the way we think about democracy, control and our own identities.
The Book →