The Documentaries. 2003-Mar-15 The following four titles have been given to WTTW for consideration. Two additional, unviewed titles are found below the four. Review, purchase and other information about these titles follows. General concensus tends towards making "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" our first choice, but all six below and the others noted are of high quality. As for the two unviewed films, the blurbs are enticing. The newest by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter is somewhat problematic and at press time, I could not rediscover where to purchase the film. This information will be posted on the CMA web site soon. Bob will let us all know when that's ready. But in the meantime, you can read below if you wish. Scott Sanders, Chicago Media Action 2003-Mar-15 Note: The descriptions are below this list. -------------------- Invisible War: Depleted Uranium and the Politics of Radiation --------------------- Hidden Wars of Desert Storm --------------------- Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death -------------------- Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq --------------------- SOME OTHER POSSIBLE CHOICES (unviewed yet) --: Iraq: Voices from the Streets Counterfeit Coverage Further additional titles have been recently shown in conjunction with Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting and Chicago Filmmakers "War and Peace" series. They can be found through the pdf at the following link - www.cipbc.org/warandpeace.pdf ----------------------------------------------------------------- DESCRIPTIONS: Invisible War: Depleted Uranium and the Politics of Radiation Year 2000 Duration 52', 66' Directors Martin MEISSONNIER Production CANAL + Distribution CAPA PRESSE TV Authors Martin MEISSONNIER Composer Martin MESSONNIER TV France International purchase page: (select english version; then programs at the bottom; then type the words depleted uranium in the search in titles box) http://www.tvfi.com/tvfi/index.php synopsis of film and general info about DU: http://webhome.primus.ca/gwishart/invisible.htm reviews: http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/442/442p24b.htm BY Sacha Molitorisz WC 747 words PD 2 April 2001 SN Sydney Morning Herald SC SMHH PG 16 LA English CY Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd ----------------------- The Cutting Edge: Invisible War Depleted Uranium and the Politics of Radiation SBS, 8.30pm The title is a mouthful, but then so was the radioactive dust accidentally snorted by American and allied soldiers during the Gulf War. At heart, this impressive doco from France's Canal Plus is an exercise in one-upmanship. As in, ``So you think that's disturbing, take a look at this.'' First we meet the Gulf War veteran living in Georgia, who knows she is dying as she says: ``It's just a matter of when.'' After exposure to DU (depleted uranium) weapons in the Gulf, her thyroid glands have been cut out and her feet have swelled from size 7 to size9. Then there are the outrageously disturbing pictures of the deformed children born to veterans on both sides. Memorably, one melancholy doctor compares an Iraqi baby with an American boy: both were born without arms. That is, their hands stick straight out of their shoulders. And then there is the international arms fair, where the DU weapons are on sale to anyone with sufficient cash and insufficient conscience. When all is shelled and bombed, the evidence is compelling that the US Government has been systematically covering up its knowledge of the dangers of DU weapons. As one researcher says: ``I'm only curious, what will be the lies after this?'' And I'm only curious whether all this uranium was mined in Australia. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ Hidden Wars of Desert Storm comprehensive film web site: http://www.hiddenwars.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death A NEW DOCUMENTARY FOR WTTW "Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death" dir. Jamie Doran, Atlantic Celtic Films 55 min. U.S. release: Feb. 2003 Spoke to Jamie last night. He will soon tour with the film. U.S. format copies are available to purchase for the first time this week. Doran said to me that two witnesses in the film have been killed. He has personally assisted 6 witnesses in the film to leave Afghanistan, two of them with help from the UN as well. The desert burial and massacre site has been secured, finally, by the UN for the purpose of protecting forensic evidence. WIRE STORY: HD UPDATE 1-U.S. soldiers watched massacre of Taliban-filmmaker. BY By Erik Kirschbaum WC 738 words PD 18 December 2002 ET 05:08 pm SN Reuters News SC LBA LA English CY (c) 2002 Reuters Limited LP BERLIN, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Scottish filmmaker Jamie Doran said on Wednesday he hoped his documentary about an alleged massacre of Taliban prisoners of war last year would lead U.S. authorities to investigate any involvement of American soldiers. In his film "Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death", which was broadcast on Germany's ARD television network, Doran quotes witnesses who saw U.S. special forces stand by and watch as Northern Alliance allies murdered Taliban POWs. TD A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Berlin rejected claims made in the film. "The claims are completely false that American soldiers were involved in the torture, execution and disappearance of Taliban prisoners," the spokesman said. "In no way did U.S. troops participate or witness any human rights violations." Doran, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who covered the Afghan war for Japanese television, said in an interview with Reuters in Berlin up to 3,000 Taliban POWs were killed late last year after surrendering at Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. "This film is about the disappearance and murder of up to 3,000 Taliban POWs and the involvement of the U.S. special forces in that disappearance," Doran said after members of the German parliament invited him to discuss the alleged massacre. "U.S. SOLDIERS STOOD BY" Doran, 46, said witnesses from different ethnic groups in Afghanistan told him during his investigation into the suspected war crimes they saw Taliban POWs herded into unventilated shipping containers, where many died of suffocation, thirst, or starvation. In the film broadcast on Wednesday, eyewitnesses are quoted saying some of the Taliban held in the containers for up to four days had taken to licking sweat off each other and even biting into the corpses lying next to them out of desperation. One witness said about 600 Taliban POWs who survived the shipment of the containers to the Shiberghan prison 120 km (75 miles) away were taken to a spot in the desert at Dasht-e-Leili and executed - in the presence of about 30 to 40 U.S. special forces soldiers. "All the injured and sick were transferred to my truck," said one eyewitness identified as a truck driver but whose face was concealed in the film. "Some were injured, some were unconscious. They were shot here and here and here," he added, pointing to spots in the desert. The truck driver, who said he made four trips with about 150 Taliban in a container on the back of his truck, was asked if American soldiers were present at the executions in the desert. "Yes, they were here," he said, standing in the centre of a 1,000 square metre (10,760 sq ft) mass grave site where bones, army uniform fragments and bullet casings were filmed. "Lots of them, maybe 30 to 40. The first two trips they were here. I didn't see them on my last two trips." Doran's 55-minute film also includes allegations from witnesses who say they saw U.S. soldiers taking part in the torture of Taliban POWs at the Shiberghan prison. Doran said he spent six weeks trying unsuccessfully to obtain comment from the Pentagon in Washington for his film. "I would like to see the American authorities agree to a proper investigation," he said. "They have nothing to fear from the truth. I have the feeling they hope the story will go away. "We establish beyond a reasonable doubt that U.S. soldiers stood by and did nothing to prevent it (the massacre)," he added. "I have absolutely no evidence that American troops were involved in the shooting that took place in the desert." Afghan General Abdul Rashid Dostum has rejected reports his troops killed up to 1,000 Taliban fighters by taking them to Shiberghan prison in the airless containers. He said up to 200 died, but they were already badly injured from fighting. Dostum was a key U.S. ally in late 2001 when he helped oust the Taliban from northern Afghanistan with the help of U.S. air attacks. U.S. special forces are still in the north working with leaders to hunt Taliban and al Qaeda members. Doran said his documentary was screened on commercial and public networks in Britain, Australia and Italy. Rights have been sold or are about to sold to networks in 25 territories. 2003 Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive LLC (trading as Factiva). All rights reserved. NEWSWEEK COVER STORY ABOUT MASSACRE http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.21A.death.convoy.p.htm film website (to be activated this week): www.acftv.com older film web site: http://www.usindependents.com/jamiedoran/ filmmaker Jamie Dorans bio: http://www.usindependents.com/jamiedoran/jamiedoran/index.html U.S. film premiere of Afghan Massacre American University, DC Feb 6th AU events website: http://www.soc.american.edu/main.cfm?pageid=579 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq link to filmmaker's web site, view clips and more http://pilger.carlton.com/iraq link to Milos Stehlik's "Worldview" review aired on WBEZ-FM 11/8/02 (review is about 7.5 min. into the file - just after Tony Blair - realplayer required) http://www.wbez.org/services/wv_ranov02.htm#021108 ------------------------------------------------- Possible additional titles (unviewed yet): "Iraq: Voices from the Streets," 11/22/02 North County Times Filmmaker to screen work shot inside Iraq SAN MARCOS ---- Award-winning filmmaker Saul Landau will screen his newest documentary, a 23-minute film featuring meetings between American lawmakers and Iraqi leaders, on Dec. 2 at 11:30 a.m. at Academic Hall 102 at Cal State San Marcos. Landau, a professor at Cal Poly Pomona, will also discuss the movie, "Iraq: Voices from the Streets," in the free event that is part of the CSUSM arts and lecture series. Filmed in Baghdad, Kabala, Najaf and Babylon, the documentary includes footage of meetings between top Iraqi officials and U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, and former U.S. Sen. James Abourezk, the Democrat from South Dakota. They discuss terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and weapons inspection. Landau's film also takes viewers into the streets of Iraq the hear citizens' stories and opinions. It also shows what Landau says are some of the consequences of American bombing, including children stricken with leukemia from contact with radioactive elements in U.S. shells and a river choked with raw sewage after an attack on a treatment plant. Among his other films are "The Sixth Sun," an exploration of the Mayan uprising in Chiapas and the response by the government of Mexico, and "Maquiladora: A Tale of Two Mexicos," about the manufacturing plants on the border. Film can be purchased through the Cinema Guild ------------------------- Counterfeit Coverage Reveals a hidden dimension to the media coverage of the Gulf War, showing how a group of wealthy Kuwaiti citizens hired the American PR firm Hill and Knowlton to develop a multi-million dollar ad campaign to promote U.S. military intervention in the Gulf on behalf of Kuwait. The video shows how testimony about alleged Iraqi atrocities was orchestrated before Congress and the UN, how some former journalists sell their credibility and access to the highest bidder, and how TV newsrooms across the country are all too willing to compromise the integrity of their newscasts with the wholesale use of Video News Releases produced and paid for by PR firms on behalf of their clients. Directed by David Shulman 1992, color, 28 mins., VHS Purchase: $250 Rental: $55 "Must viewing for all journalism, communications, and media studies classes-in fact, for all consumers of TV news." Jeff Cohen, Executive Director, FAIR Highly Recommended "...shows the market research and philosophies behind the manipulation of American public opinion" Video Rating Guide for Libraries Order info (scroll halfway down page): http://www.cinemaguild.com/nonFiction/media.htm -----------------