Watch, Listen & Read: The month in media

— -- Highlights of what's coming up this month in print, broadcast and film relating to the business world:

MOVIES

Outsourced

DVD (Ocean Park Entertainment, $24.95); PG-13; Sept. 2

When Western Novelty, a distributor of kitschy products, decides to outsource customer service from Seattle, manager Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) must go to India — "Eight heads for the price of one!" his boss crows — to train his replacement in this funny gem of a workplace romantic comedy.

Initially wary and bewildered by culture shock, Todd gets his groove back with the help of call-wrangler Asha (Ayesha Dharker), a quick study who wonders aloud why Americans are so upset to hear an accent on the phone when they are buying patriotic knick-knacks made in China.

Seattle-based director and co-writer John Jeffcoat researched what life is like on the other end of the phone by visiting call centers in Bangalore and by collecting stories from a source who does training for Microsoft.

One of Jeffcoat's initial aims was to excite Americans about investigating other cultures, but he's been surprised by the attention the film has drawn in the business world and academia.

"I spoke recently at the University of Washington to a group of business students who are about to go to India," Jeffcoat says. "And ShadowCatcher (the film's independent production company) has been producing a curriculum to send to schools because there was an interest in it."

The movie also caught the eye of NBC. Jeffcoat is currently co-writing a pilot for a TV version, which he's billing as a global workplace comedy featuring ex-pats from different companies working under one Indian call-center roof.

Flow

Sept. 12 (New York and Los Angeles), Sept. 19 (elsewhere, check flowthefilm.com for theaters); Unrated; Oscilloscope Pictures

Irena Salina's alarming documentary identifies multiple threats to Earth's most precious resource: water.

The French-born filmmaker spent five years interviewing experts, activists and corporate representatives about topics affecting both poorer countries, such as the deadly lack of safe drinking water and the polarizing privatization of the water supply, and wealthier ones like the United States, where scarcity is a growing concern and where the bottled-water craze continues despite very little regulation and environmental concerns.