THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO in Berlin, Online, and Elsewhere
by Andre Soares
"Michael Winterbottom’s new feature is to become the first film to be released across all platforms simultaneously — a move that threatens to shake up the industry’s approach to distribution.
"The Road to Guantanamo, the story of the three British Muslims who were held at the US military base for two years without charge or trial, premieres today at the Berlin Film Festival. It will then be shown on Channel 4 on March 9. The day after, the film will be released online, on DVD and in cinemas." From the article "Winterbottom film makes cinema history," found in The Guardian.
If I remember it correctly, Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble hasn’t been shown on commercial television or online, yet. I’m assuming that’s what makes The Road to Guantanamo unique.
Note: Winterbottom co-directed the political docudrama with Mat Whitecross
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David D’Arcy via GreenCine Daily: "[The Road to Guantanamo co-director] Michael Winterbottom put it this way: Imagine someone told you five years ago that the US would set up a prison outside its own borders - in Cuba, no less - in which they held hundreds of detainees (and there are around 500 still there right now), filing no formal charges, denying the right to any trial, never mind a fair one, and flying in the face of any definition of basic human rights. You’d laugh. But we’ve long since grown used to the idea that there is such a thing as Guantanamo Bay. The aim of the film, paraphrasing Winterbottom, is to get those who see it unused to the idea again."
The Road to Guantanamo, which Winterbottom co-directed with Mat Whitecross, is being touted as the Fahrenheit 9/11 of the Berlin Film Festival. Michael Moore’s anti-George Bush documentary won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004.
The Berlin screening of Winterbottom’s film coincided with the showing on Australian television of newly revealed - and reportedly even more shocking - photos and videos clips shot at Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison in which inmates were viciously abused by American military personnel. Several lower-ranking soldiers were eventually tried and convicted of the abuse.
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The trailer is available on the channel4 website ( http://www.channel4.com/guantanamo) plus itunes
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=129278532&s=143444