Oscar For BEST DOCUMENTARY Goes To... "Taxi To The Dark Side"

[Hissyspit]

Taxi To The Dark Side



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678

An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.

http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN2152698420080223

HBO hitches ride to "Dark Side" with documentary

Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:47am EST

Trade with personal dealer service.LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - HBO has acquired Alex Gibney's Oscar-nominated documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side," which probes the death of an innocent taxi driver at the hands of U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan.

The move comes two weeks after Gibney accused Discovery Communications, which bought the rights to the film in June, of dropping it from the schedule because it was deemed "too controversial" by the cable network's management team.

"Taxi" will premiere uncut on HBO in September. Discovery will retain the basic-cable rights, and said Thursday that it plans to air it -- next year.

Gibney, whose credits also include the Oscar-nominated documentary "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," said he "feels great" about the prospect of HBO airing the documentary during the final stage of the presidential campaign.

MORE AT LINK

[DS1]

1. never heard of it

[Skittles]

2. it's about US torture practices

yup

[Hissyspit]

3. It's been discussed here.

[TahitiNut]

6. "An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo

... Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002."

:applause: VERY IMPORTANT!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678/

[tishaLA]

7. see it. it's excellent

and it will be on HBO soon

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Since the theaters here won't play it, I have to wait for HBO

[onenote]

41. hopefully the award might spur a broader theatrical release

Here is a link to the theaters currently showing it.

http://thinkfilmcompany.com/schedule/films/taxi+to+the+dark+side/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. A documetary about how the U.S. tortures people.

It's about an innocent Afghani taxi driver who was arrested, tortured and killed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678/

[OwnedByFerrets]

9. And if this evil administration has its way.....

you never will.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I really really want to see this film

I was rooting for Sicko and No End In Sight. But this looks great.

[Junkdrawer]

5. Isn't that the one that the Discovery Channel bought and now refuses to show...

or even be allowed to have shown on TV or Cable.

[Hissyspit]

11. Yes. HBO has bought it.

[Junkdrawer]

21. So HBO bought it off of Discovery?

:shrug:

Free cable would have gotten a larger audience, but HBO is a good second choice.

[Hissyspit]

23. See OP - I added a link. Oscar will help it get a bigger audience, too.

[fujiyama]

49. Isn't Discovery owned by ABC?

HBO is typically known for pressing limits (and airing some good documentaries) and they have a history of producing some solid programming, some of the best on television over the last several years.

[TahitiNut]

17. Yup.

Despite acquiring TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE and promising to air it broadly, The Discovery Channel now refuses to broadcast the Oscar-nominated film. Watch Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interview Alex Gibney about the situation here.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/12/discovery_channel_accused_of_political_censorship

[onenote]

42. No, its film that Discovery bought and has licensed to HBO for first tv showing to be followed

by showing on new Discovery Investigations channel this fall.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. this was EXCELLENT- and His acceptance words were

so well delivered!

peace~

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Yes that was a good acceptance speech

[malaise]

13. As much as I was hoping Sicko won

This is a great choice. Clearly I haven't seen it yet but the theme is very important.

[Oleladylib]

14. Greatest moment of the evening

[bdamomma]

39. yes, at least one person had the balls to speak out about the

the state of the country.

[cal04]

15. His acceptance speech was great

I didn't know his father was an interrogator in the navy

[malaise]

19. Excellent speech

time to move away from the darkside. One more Fuck Bush speech.

[stillrockin]

18. I heard about it on Air America.

[parasim]

20. That's great!

Ok, I haven't seen it yet myself, but from all the articles I've read it is a very accurate, yet chilling account of the kinds of things that are going in our name. Hopefully, it will get more exposure with this win...

[Yael]

22. I have this in my Netflix queue

They are reporting it as "no release date".

Maybe this will move a release up.

[UpInArms]

24. Afghan prisoners beaten to death at US military interrogation base

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/mar/07/usa.afghanistan

Two prisoners who died while being held for interrogation at the US military base in Afghanistan had apparently been beaten, according to a military pathologist's report. A criminal investigation is now under way into the deaths which have both been classified as homicides.
The deaths have led to calls for an inquiry into what interrogation techniques are being used at the base where it is believed the al-Qaida leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is now also being held. Former prisoners at the base claim that detainees are chained to the ceiling, shackled so tightly that the blood flow stops, kept naked and hooded and kicked to keep them awake for days on end.

The two men, both Afghans, died last December at the US forces base in Bagram, north of Kabul, where prisoners have been held for questioning. The autopsies found they had suffered "blunt force injuries" and classified both deaths as homicides.

A spokesman for the Pentagon said yesterday it was not possible to discuss the details of the case because of the proceeding investigation. If the investigation finds that the prisoners had been unlawfully killed during interrogation, it could lead to both civil and military prosecutions. He added that it was not clear whether only US personnel had had access to the men.

One of the dead prisoners, known only as Dilawar, died as a result of "blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease", according to the death certificate signed by Major Elizabeth Rouse, a pathologist with the Washington-based Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, which operates under the auspices of the defence department. The dead man was aged 22 and was a farmer and part-time taxi-driver. He was said to have had an advanced heart condition and blocked arteries.

<snip>

Two former prisoners at the base, Abdul Jabar and Hakkim Shah, told the New York Times this week that they recalled seeing Dilawar at Bagram. They said that they had been kept naked, hooded and shackled and were deprived of sleep for days on end. Mr Shah said that American guards kicked him to stop him falling asleep and that on one occasion he had been kicked by a woman interrogator, while her male colleague held him in a kneeling position.

...more...

:cry:

[cal04]

25. Australian film-maker wins Oscar

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23271149-601,00.html

Orner, 38, from Melbourne, produced the documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, a film critical of the US war on terrorism.

Orner was nominated with American Alex Gibney for the documentary, which tells the story of an Afghan taxi driver beaten to death in 2002 while in US military custody.

[Jennifer C]

33. Taxi was aired twice down here on Australian TV

It's excellent, so proud of Alex Gibney and Eva Orner.

[tluvstigr]

26. This looks amazing

I really think that this film looks very interesting. I can't wait for it to come to HBO.

[Hissyspit]

27. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

:patriot:

[bleever]

32. You were

welcomed to DU by Hissyspit.

That's a real welcome. I'll add mine.

[bdamomma]

40. to add to Hissy's welcome

welcome to DU tluvstigr!!:hi:

[medeak]

28. hope it's on netflix...

[JCMach1]

29. Fantastic film that makes the case clearly for warcrimes trials

[mzmolly]

30. I've not seen this, but I'm adding it to my Netflix que.

Thanks for the tip. HBO has done some amazing work in the area of doco's.

[ngGale]

31. *WOW* This makes a big political statement...

When it airs on HBO maybe some people will wake up. They will see us not for who we use to be, as a country, but for who we are now. Very sad!

[slipslidingaway]

34. K&R. Similar topic in this Frontline program...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/view/

"...In "The Torture Question", FRONTLINE traces the history of how decisions made in Washington in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 -- including an internal administration battle over the Geneva Conventions -- led to a robust interrogation policy that laid the groundwork for prisoner abuse in Afghanistan; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Iraq..."

[DemReadingDU]

37. Bill Moyers - Taxi to the Dark Side

2/8/08 Moyers on TAXI TO THE DARKSIDE

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, the new film from Alex Gibney (ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM), steps right into the middle of this debate. The film explores the death of an innocent taxi driver while in American custody at Bagram Airforce Base in Afghanistan, and, through interviews with interrogators, investigative reporters, and administration officials, a larger story of American detention and interrogation policies in the fight against terrorism. The film graphically portrays the realities on the ground and should complicate legal and moral responses at home and in the legislature.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02082008/profile4.html

video
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02082008/watch.html

[slipslidingaway]

38. Thank you, the last line sums it up...

"...BILL MOYERS: TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE. The director, Alex Gibney, also brought us THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, about how Kenneth Lay and his friends in high places produced the Enron scandal. That one was about greed and chicanery. TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE is about depravity and deceit.

I knew Alex Gibney's father, Frank, an accomplished writer and journalist. He had been a navy interrogator of Japanese prisoners in World War Two. At the end of this film he literally comes off his deathbed to warn us that the terrorists have already won...once we reinvent ourselves as their mirror image."

:( :(

[Hissyspit]

35. LA Times reporting on Director Gibney's speech:

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/env-docs25feb25,0,4816359.story

'Taxi to the Dark Side': A look at torture
"Taxi to the Dark Side" provides the night's most overtly political commentary.
By Mark Olsen
February 25, 2008

Winner for outstanding documentary feature, "Taxi to the Dark Side," a painfully clear-eyed look at the United States policy on torture in Afghanistan and Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, provided the night's most overtly political commentary -- Jon Stewart's monologue notwithstanding.

Directed by Alex Gibney and produced by Gibney and Eva Orner, the film features photographs and video footage from Abu Ghraib prison, as well as interviews with military personnel.

In accepting the award, Gibney said, "Here's to all doc filmmakers," and then went on to dedicate the award to Dilawar, the Afghan cab driver whose death provides the film with its throughline and title, and to his own late father, a former Navy interrogator, noting "his fury about what was being done to the rule of law."

- snip -

Gibney was also an executive producer of the nominated feature-length documentary "No End in Sight."

"Taxi to the Dark Side" was originally scheduled to be broadcast on television by the Discovery Channel, but was recently picked up by HBO when Discovery made it clear they would not show the film this year. Gibney very much wanted the film on television prior to the November elections.

Gibney concluded his acceptance speech by saying, "Let's hope we can turn this country around, move away from the dark side and back to the light."

[MagickMuffin]

36. I was soooo hoping that Gibney would mention that Discovery is refusing to air the film

Don't get me wrong, I loved his acceptance speech. I just thought if he made everyone aware of the suppression of the film it would have put pressure on Discovery to finally get the balls to air it.

Instead Discovery isn't even going to show it until after the Warmongers leave office.

I'm glad HBO will be airing it.

[onenote]

43. well, since that turns out not be the case, it would make sense that he didn't

First, the movie is still in the theaters, so you wouldn't expect it to be on tv yet.
Second, Discovery has licensed the movie to HBO to be shown on "premium cable" this September -- a typical first release window for a theatrical film.
Finally, Discovery has announced its plans to air the film on its new "basic cable" channel -- Discovery Investigations, next year.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981254.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=2565

[MagickMuffin]

46. I acknowledged all those things in my post,

except the part about it being still being in theaters.

Thanks for pointing it out:sarcasm:

[onenote]

47. all of those things except the part (in the linked article) where Gibney is okay with the situation

which would be why it would be odd to expect him to complain.

[The Iron Maiden]

44. It is BRILLIANT

I saw it during a special screening brought by the Center For American Progress and when it actually opened in January. I can't recommend it enough. Gibney got interviews with the actual interrogators that handled Dillawar among others. It is heartbreaking stuff.

[Donnachaidh]

45. I just watched this -- people NEED to see this film

Buy it, rent it -- whatever. It's a frightening commentary on what we've become, thanks to the chickenhawks like Rumsfeld and Cheney.

[Disturbed]

48. Number of Army Probes of Detainee Deaths Rises to 33

The Army announced yesterday a jump in the number of criminal investigations it has launched into detainee deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, among them a case ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46659-2004May21.html

Should the US Army be the only investigating agency in these deaths?