3
3
PROTAGONISTS
DIRK VAN DEN BERG
dvdb [at] outremerfilm.com
BIG BANG OF 1979
PASCAL VERROUST
pascalverroust [at] k2productions.com
PASCAL VERROUST, a veteran producer and writer who for the past 30 years has created many successful and visionary films for French and international cinema and television. With his Paris-based production company K2 PRODUCTIONS, in 2018 he co-produced THE SIEGE OF MECCA together with Dirk van den Berg. Before that, Pascal created films such as "L'homme sur les quais" directed by Raoul Peck (Official Competition, Cannes Film Festival); "Karnaval" by Thomas Vincent (Best First Film Prize, Berlin Int'l Film Festival); "Rien à faire" by Marion Vernoux (official Competition, Venice Film Festival); "Cong Binh, the lost fighters of Vietnam" by Lam Lé. Pascal Verroust is a member of the CNC and of the Labour Union of French Independent Producers.
DIRK VAN DEN BERG is a director, writer and producer with wide international experience. About 15 years ago Dirk changed his focus from fictional to factual films, often with stories from the Middle East, the Maghreb and Africa. Before BIG BANG he directed “THE SIEGE OF MECCA” (aka “Le Siège de la Mecque”, aka "Mekka 1979, Urknall des Terrors?"), the first comprehensive investigation of the battle for Islam's Holiest Site that in 1979 changed world history. Before that Dirk created films with stories rooted in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Kashmir and Northern Africa. Dirk co-produced BIG BANG OF THE PRESENT with his Berlin-based production company OUTREMER FILM and co-directed the film with his French partner…
WORLD SALES
From Deng Xiaoping's economic opening of China to Margaret Thatcher’s introduction of liberal market politics, from Ayatollah Khomeini’s return to Iran and Islamic revolution to Pope John Paul II and his summer visit in Poland where he called fellow catholics to resist against communism, from the Second Oil Shock and the nuclear accident at the Harrisburg Three Mile Island power plant to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, from Saddam Hussain's power grab in Iraq to the beginning of nuclear proliferation with India, and from the very first Climate Change report to the first wave of refugees when the Vietnamese Boat People arrived in Europe: within the twelve months of 1979, the world saw the rise of multiple new protagonists who enacted pivotal change of direction in Religion, Economics and Politics.


PASCAL VERROUST
DIRK VAN DEN BERG
With their feature documentary film, directors-producers DIRK VAN DEN BERG and PASCAL VERROUST will narrate how the events on 1979 define our lives until today.
The ongoing crises in the Middle East, the expansion of terrorist networks and the never-ending conflict in Afghanistan, but also China’s rapid rise to the rank of a world power, the omnipresent issue of Brexit that might become the biggest threat to an EU struggling to find it's new place in the world – they all have their roots in 1979.
With first-hand witness accounts and never-before-seen archive footage, they will decrypt our globalised world and show how 1979 became THE BIG BANG OF THE PRESENT.



JAN BERRIS
She coordinated the Chinese press during Deng's visit to the US in 1979 and is heading the National Committee on US-China relations.
CHAHLA CHAFIQ
In 1979 a student at Tehran University, she went underground, left the country in 1980 and today is a well-known writer in France.



LESZEK BALCEROWICZ
A young economist and party member in 1979, he developed the radical plan to transform Poland into a free market economy.
HAIDEH DARAGAHI
In 1979 she was a professor of literature in Tehran. The revolution, made her become a women’s rights activist and a fighter.
CHAS FREEMAN
A former diplomat, Chas is a legendary figure of U.S.-China relations (and beyond) who has actively shaped international politics for more than four decades.



STANISLAW CIOSEK
A member of the Polish communist party, he channeled Solidarnosc's peaceful integration into the state and became Poland's last ambassador to the USSR before it collapsed.
ROY HATTERSLEY
A former Minister of Defence and long-time deputy leader of the Labour party, he is an author and a journalist with an acute sense of humour.
MICHAEL HESELTINE
A British politician and businessman, he was a prominent member of the UK governments lead by M. Thatcher and J. Major.



ROGER GARSIDE
A former diplomat and in 1979 the First Secretary at the British embassy, he witnessed first hand the most tranformative years of China.
CHARLES MOORE
A former editor of "The Daily Telegraph", "The Spectator" and "The Sunday Telegraph", he wrote the only authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher.
SHAHIN NAWAI
A biologist by trade, she founded the largest women organisation of the Iranian revolution
and became one of the most prominent women’s rights activists of her generation.



WEI JINGSHENG
From an electrician he became a political dissident, openly challenged Deng Xiaoping, was thrown in prison for 16 years and today is considered the "Father of Chinese Democracy".
DAVID OWEN
He was Great Britain's youngest Foreign Secretary, left the Labour party to create his own, is a physician by trade and an author by passion,
EVA QUISTORP
A protestant theologian and an activist of women's, peace and environmental movements, she co-founded "Die Grünen" with Petra Kelly.



CHRIS NIEDENTHAL
British-born and for many years the only western press photographer behind the Iron Curtain, his photos captured the transformation of Poland.
LECH WALESA
Among our protagonists he is the second electrician - and the world-famous co-founder of Solidarnosc who became Poland's first freely elected President.
ALFRED WIERZBICKI
As a student at the Catholic university of Lublin, he witnessed how John Paul II transformed Poland. He is a Theologian and an Ethicist.



HANNA SUCHOCKA
A lawyer in 1979, she became Poland's first female Prime Minister, Polish ambassador to the Holy See and a confidante of Pope John Paul II.
TEAM
OUTREMER FILM and K2 PRODUCTIONS PRESENT
BIG BANG OF THE PRESENT
a film by DIRK VAN DEN BERG & PASCAL VERROUST
ELINA KEWITZ
elina [at] newdocs.de
LUISA SCHWAMBORN
luisa [at] newdocs.de



WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF







TEASER
STORY
PROTAGONISTS
CONTACT
TEAM