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 TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (106 minutes) Afghanistan/Denmark/Finland/Germany/Iraq/South Africa/UK/USA Director: Alex Gibney Producers: Alex Gibney, Eva Orner Description: Winner of the Oscar for documentary feature, Taxi to the Dark Side is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush Administration. A documentary murder mystery that examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base, the film exposes a worldwide policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights. This disturbing and often brutal film is the most incisive examination to date of the Bush Administration's willingness, in its prosecution of the "war on terror," to undermine the essence of the rule of law. The film asks and answers a key question: what happens when a few men use the wartime powers of the executive to undermine the very principles on which the U.S. was founded? Biography: Alex Gibney is the founder of Jigsaw Productions. His work as a writer/director includes: the Oscar-winning film Taxi to the Dark Side, the Oscar-nominated film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, featuring Johnny Depp. While Gibney has produced films through Jigsaw for over twenty years, he also worked briefly as a director of special projects for the Samuel Goldwyn Company. From 1998 to 2000, Gibney was the senior vice president of Offline Entertainment Group, a New York-based production company whose principals included producer Ezra Swerdlow and long-time collaborator, Marc Levin. Eva Orner is an Academy Award-winning Australian film producer. Her works include Untold Desires (winner of Best Documentary at the Australian Film Institute Awards, and the Australian Human Rights Awards), Strange Fits of Passion (nominated for the Critics' Award at the Cannes Film Festival) and Taxi to the Dark Side. Orner grew up in Melbourne, Australia and was educated at Mt. Scopus Memorial College and Monash University, where she obtained a bachelor of arts. Contact Information: Stefanie Kuhns ZDF/ARTE Otto-Schott-Strasse 13 Mainz 55127 Germany E-mail: kuhns.s@zdf.de Web site: http://www.taxitothedarkside.com/ |
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