ULTIMATE DOCS COMPETITION

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

KILL THE MESSENGER

France, 2006, 84 min. English

Director: Mathieu Verboud & Jean Robert Villet
Producer: Bruno Nahon
Script: Mathieu Verboud & Jean Robert Villet
Cinematography: Jean Robert Villet
Editing: Tal Zana
Music: Tal Zana
Production company: Zadig Productions
Print Source:
Zadig Productions
70 Rue Amelot
75011 Paris
France
Tel.:+33 58 30 8010
Fax: +33 58 30 6869
e-mail: info@zadigproductions.com


Kill The Messenger

A few days after the 9/11 attacks, Sibel Edmonds, 32, an American woman of Turkish origin, is recruited by the FBI as a language specialist with top-security clearance. Her job is to translate counter-intelligence wiretaps related to ongoing criminal investigations. After two months, Edmonds reports serious wrongdoings in the conduct of investigations and a case of espionage within her unit. Her claims aren’t taken seriously. In March 2002, she is fired from the FBI, physically escorted from the building, and warned “Don’t talk!” But Edmonds brings a lawsuit. A few months later, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft invokes the all-encompassing blanket of the State Secrets Privilege in the case. Not only Sibel is forbidden from publicly exposing classified information, she can’t even go to court with any of her allegations. A tense real-life thriller, Kill the Messenger explores the abuses behind the State Secrets Privilege, and shows the persecution of other US national security whistleblowers. The filmmakers spent nearly two years researching and interviewing experts, including Daniel Ellsberg, Coleen Rowley (FBI), Russell Tice (NSA), Bogdan Dzakovic (DHS), John Vincent (FBI), Steve Elson (FAA), John M. Cole (FBI). Like the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, the film highlights the danger that government suppression of the truth causes the United States.

Mathieu Verboud was born in 1964, filmmaker and reporter for the last 20 years specializes on endangered populations. He has coauthored several books on the geopolitics of public health, and directed Sex, Mensonges et Toxicos, an exclusive piece of investigation on "Le Patriarche," a cult-like organization with worldwide branches; the story, first published in L’Express, was aired in 1999 on France 2.

Filmography:

Kill The Messenger (2006);
Tranquility Bay (2005);
Sex, Mensonges et Toxicos (1999).

Jean Robert Viallet was born in 1970. He has worked in film making for the last 10 years as Director of Photography for TV documentaries and as camera operator in long-feature films: Dancers in the Dark by Lars Von Trier and Swing by Tony Gatlif. His background in documentary and fiction led him to direct La Pied Dans La Porte, his first documentary film in 2003. Which film tells the story of squat-dwelling artists in Paris.

Filmography:

Kill The Messenger (2006);
Tranquility Bay (2005);
La Pied dans la Porte (2003);
You Can Live for Ever in Paradise on Earth (1999).

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