SYNOPSIS
This cinematic documentary breaks the wall of silence. A visually powerful film, Spank the Banker uses a mixture of compelling interviews with victims, key journalists and police investigators; plus dramatic, secretly-filmed episodes of bankers caught unawares revealing their activities, and of bank-hired goons repossessing the homes of those defrauded.
Among others, Spank the Banker tells the story of Nikki and Paul Turner, who masterminded sound and lighting for Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen and the famous Live Aid concert – and who have spent a decade fighting Lloyds Bank for justice. Of Jim McGrory, who overcame childhood polio to build an international hotel business in St. Andrews only to be taken down by the Clydesdale Bank. Of Juliette Mottram and her five children, who were evicted from their family home by Lloyds Bank. Of Neil Mitchell who has been a victim of the RBS infamous Global Restructuring Group, And of the TV personality Noel Edmonds, who was pushed to the edge of suicide when his £60m business was stolen by HBOS. The agony of these people and their fight for justice is still ongoing in the year of 2019.
Director Samir Mehanovic is justly famous for his visually powerful images and sympathetic ability to get refugees and victims of war to speak on camera. His work is never intrusive or exploitative. Once again, in Spank the Banker, he lets the victims of injustice find their own voice, simultaneously honest and courageous yet always laced with humour and humanity.
THE STORY
What happened after the big banks were bailed out by taxpayers in 2008? Spank the Banker is a feature-length documentary film about the biggest bank heist in history - as global financial capitalism sought to re-build its profits.
The film follows the intimate stories of six ordinary but courageous individuals who refused to be intimidated and fought back against a corrupt financial system. For the first time, this film gives a voice to those thousands who were scammed and exposes in detail the vast corporate criminal conspiracy to defraud them.
Tens of thousands of people were forcibly bankrupted and £100 billion of their assets stolen, destroying families and driving some to suicide. British politicians deliberately turned a blind eye to this massive fraud in case it threatened economic recovery. Meanwhile bank executives fired internal whistle-blowers, falsified documents and used legal blackmail to block exposure of their actions. The major British television networks limited their reporting of these events under legal threat from the major UK banks who can afford £1.5 billion on legal fees every year.
