The War Tapes
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| The War Tapes | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The War Tapes |
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| Directed by | Deborah Scranton |
| Produced by | Robert May Steve James |
| Music by | Norman Arnold |
| Cinematography | P.H. O'Brien Peter Ciardelli |
| Editing by | Steve James Leslie Simmer |
| Release date(s) | 2006 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The War Tapes is the first war documentary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq filmed by the soldiers themselves. It follows the deployment of three New Hampshire National Guard soldiers before, during, and after their deployment a year after the invasion. The unit is Charlie Company, 3rd of the 172nd Mountain Infantry. The soldiers took part in the Iraq War from March 2004 - Feb 2005.
The three soldiers with cameras featured in the film are Spc. Michael Moriarity who signed up in a burst of patriotism after 9/11 and asked to be shipped to Iraq. His colleagues are Sgt. Stephen Pink, who joined the National Guard to help pay for college, and Sgt. Zack Bazzi, a Lebanese-born American who would rather remain Stateside but is loyal to his unit. Two other soldiers, Sgt. Duncan Domey and Spc. Brandon Wilkins, also filmed their entire deployments for the film. In all, 17 soldiers were given cameras and recorded 800 hours of tape in Iraq. Stateside interviews with the soldiers and their families made up an additional 200 hours of tape. The "cast" was narrowed to three soldiers for the final feature length film. They were chosen in part because they were seen by the director and producers as the "main characters".
The film won the prize for Best International Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in May 2006 and also Best International Documentary at BritDoc in July 2006. Moreover, it is possibly the most innovative result of the embedded reporter program. In this case the reporter did not go to Iraq, but provided cameras to the soldiers, and provided direction on filming to them via instant messaging and email.
[edit] External links
- The War Tapes official site/blog
- Interview with the filmmakers on the Tavis Smiley show
- Film sees war through soldiers' eyes, BBC News, 2 June 2006
- "The War Tapes": Soldiers Tell Their Own Iraq Stories, NPR, July 30, 2006
[edit] References
- Seven Days newspaper, "Operation Iraqi Footage" by Ken Picard, August 09-16, 2006
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