Out of Competition


PERSON OF INTEREST



Country of production: USA
Year: 2003
Language: English, Arabic, Spanish, Urdu
Mins: 63

Director: Alison Maclean, Tobias Perse
Cinematography: Richard Rutkowski
Editing: Sandrine Isambert
Sound: William Tsouris
Producer: Lawrence Konner,
Daniel Massey,
Production company: The Documentary Campaign
Source: Danny Massey
The Documentary Campaign
38 Greene St., 4th Fl.
New York, NY 10013, USA
Phone:+1 212 219 1273
danny@documentarycampaign.org
www.documentarycampaign.org


John Ashcroft calls them terrorists. They call themselves Americans.

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, more than 5,000 Arab or Muslim immigrants were taken into custody as "persons of interest" by the U.S. Justice Department and held indefinitely on the grounds of national security (some even to this day). Detainees were subject to arbitrary arrest, secret detention, solitary confinement, and deportation. Most were held on minor immigration charges and were frequently denied legal representation and communication with their families. The Justice Department has ensured the invisibility of these cases, by refusing to disclose the names and total number of people detained.
PERSONS OF INTEREST consists of a series of intimate encounters with 12 detainees and family members, in a bare room that functions variously as interrogation room, prison cell and home. In these encounters, detainees share their stories, show photographs, read letters written in jail, re-enact their prison experience - even sing.

This is a uniquely compelling film that gives voice to the human cost of the U.S. government's "anti-terrorism" campaign.

Tobias Perse has written for television and magazines, including ROLLING STONE, where he was an editor for four years.

Alison Maclean has lived in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, and had films screened at Cannes and Venice. She has also directed television episodes for HBO and NBC.