Irish American filmmaker Michael Moore says his film "Capitalism: A Love Story" is dedicated to "good people who've had their lives ruined" by the quest for profit.

To translate that a bit: Moore thinks capitalism is just plain evil.

Moore's latest film features many whose lives have been shattered by a corporate environment where the drive for profit is a priority over the workers' best interest.

The director premieres the film Sunday in his first appearance at the Venice Film Festival.

The movie won was warmly received at a press showing Saturday evening and won positive reviews.

Moore said Sunday he was "personally affected by good people who struggle, who work hard and who've had their lives ruined by decisions that are made by people who do not have their best interest at heart."

"It's a genius idea that corporate America has come up with to get rid of one worker in two and get one to do the job of two," Moore said, citing figures showing productivity nearly doubling while wages hold steady.

"They've got to be stopped," the Oscar-winning creator of "Fahrenheit 9/11" told reporters ahead of the press screening of the new work in the lineup for the coveted Golden Lion here.

"There's one home foreclosure, one family kicked out their home, every seven and a half seconds. That's a stunning number," he said.
"Wall Street is trying to figure out a way now to keep getting away with the crazy gambling game" that sparked the financial crisis, he said, noting that gambling is illegal in most US states.

He said he hoped the film would spur ordinary people to action.

"People have allowed Wall Street to decimate the industrial infrastructure of our country to achieve greater profits. All of us are part of this machine that has to change," he said. "Wall Street, corporations, government and the American people (have) bought into the system."

Pressed by a reporter to explain why he accepted funding for the movie from Paramount Vantage, the specialty film division of Paramount Pictures, Moore agreed: "Why would these corporations give money to a guy who is diametrically opposed to everything they stand for?"

His answer: "The capitalist will sell you the rope to hang himself with if he can make a buck on it."

Noting that all his films, from the corporation-busting "Roger and Me" on down, have made a profit, Moore said: "I get a sense that they don't really care what I think or believe."

He said he wants to "get to this day when I won't be beholden to them and can make films with my own money."

The film will premiere at the world's oldest film festival on Sunday.