Documentary Spotlight

A few documentaries to spotlight, as you peruse our schedule:

BAGHDAD DIARY

Sandra Consentino, Joseph Consentino

'Baghdad Diary' is a documentary on the Iraq War and its aftermath from two unique perspectives: an Iraqi man and his family struggling to survive and an American television cameraman embedded at the frontlines with the US Army. In March 2003, a Norwegian journalist smuggled a video camcorder into Iraq for Fadil Kadom. Embedded with the Third Infantry Division in Kuwait, NBC News cameraman Craig White and correspondent David Bloom, bring the war into American living rooms. 'Baghdad Diary' is Fadil Kadom's and Craig White's story, videotaped by each of them at great personal risk. Fadil Kadom's video diary unmasks the horrors of Saddam's torture houses and mass graves, celebrates the return of religious freedom in Karbala, and reveals the mounting fear as Iraqi streets turn deadly. In nine dangerous trips to Iraq, Craig White's camera rides side by side in combat with American soldiers as they fight their way through Iraq, and witness to the disintergration of Iraqi civil society. Numerous emotional and graphic scenes include the death of NBC colleague David Bloom, and the ambush at Objective Curly, a battle so fierce that Craig White thought he would not survive. This documentary is their 'Baghdad Diary', a cautionary tale of war's human toll.

Baghdad Diary

Movies of Delray 300, 5:00 PM Wed, May 20

Director Joseph Consetino, an award winning documentarian, will participate on the panel:

Documentaries

Northern Trust Bank, 10:00 AM Wed, May 20
with several other filmmakers from the festival.

AN UNLIKELY WEAPON
by Susan Morgan Cooper, co-produced by Cindy Lou Adkins
In 1968, in 1/500th of a second Eddie Adams photographed a Saigon police chief, General Nygoc Loan, shooting a vietcong guerilla point black. Some say that photograph ended the Vietnam war. The photo brought Eddie fame and a Pulitzer, but Eddie was haunted by the man he had vilified. He would say, 'Two lives were destroyed that day, the victim's and the general.' Other's would say three lives were destroyed.Eddie Adams, like most artists, was tortured by his need for perfection. Nothing he did ever satisfied him. He carved out many careers shooting covers for Life, Time, and even Penthouse. Yet, somehow, he was always pulled back into documenting wars, 13 all together. Finally he hit the wall and couldn't take it anymore. He began shooting celebrities because 'It doesn't take anything from you.' Eddie was comfortable with kings and coal miners. During his time with Parade magazines he photographed Clint Eastwood, Louis Armstrong, Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul.Still haunted by General Loan (the perpetrator in his photo), Eddie visits him 40 years later in Pizza shop in Virginia. Scribbled on the wall of a bathroom stall are the words 'We know who you are, you fucker!'Eddie's camera was his most powerful weapon, but it failed to protect him from himself. Appearances by Eddie Adams, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Gordon Parks, Morley Safer, Peter Arnett, and many Pulitzer Prize winning photographers. Narration by Kiefer Sutherland and Score by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens (Letters from Iwo Jima).
Director Copper and Cindy Lou Adkins will be in attendance.

Crest Theatre, 3:00 PM Thu, May 21
AN UNLIKELY WEAPON plays with the short WHEN GIANTS COLLIDE

More films to be spotlight in blogs to come.
Contact jules@julesworks.net