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Shot from "The Skeleton" by Encyclopedia Britannica
Publication date 1953
Animated sequences are used in presenting a discussion of the development and functions of various bones which form the human body and explaining how food and exercise influence the growth and strength of bones
Pictures from a work in progress screening and discussion at Japan Society in NYC last weekend and the house was packed! Director Graham Kolbeins and co-writer Anne Ishii showed 20 minutes of new excerpts relating to contemporary transgender experiences in Japan. The screening was part of a series of events linked to “A Third Gender,” the marvelous art show in display at the Japan Society Gallery. Much more to come!
The documentary "Love+War" explores photographer Lynsey Addario's balance between war reporting and family life, showcasing her impactful career and struggles.
"Trainwreck: Balloon Boy explores America's infamous hoax, showcasing the chaos and media frenzy surrounding a father's false claim of his son's rescue."
Tell Me Who I Am (2019)
Directed by Ed Perkins Cinematography by Erik Alexander Wilson
War on Whistleblowers (2015) Directed by: Robert Greenwald
Individuals who follow political news with a passion tend to know the names of Edward Snowden, Bradley (Chelsea) Manning and Daniel Ellsberg and what they’ve done. Over the course of American history, there have been numerous whistleblowers, many of whom we do not know the name of. The documentary War on Whistleblowers (2015), enlightens concerns over the previous decade about government transparency and those who have risked everything to do what they thought was right for their country. Robert Greenwald, the director of the documentary has been creating these kinds of films for over a decade with his most recent airing in March of 2016 (Fleishman, 2016). His documentaries are considered to be highly accurate and influential as he goes directly to the source for his information, which is definitely seen in the four whistleblowers featured in this specific documentary.
The most influential quote that struck me personally in this film came from Thomas Tamm: a former Attorney for the Justice Department, who was forced to leave his job after releasing documents to the press regarding illegal wiretapping. After being investigated for several years, which he believed to be an immense waste of time and money, he still believed that the United States is the greatest country in the world, and has one of the best governments, but sometimes, the government will lie. This is paramount for this documentary because every government makes mistakes, but it is interesting to study when governments decide to own up to those mistakes or when officials use political powers to try and suppress their actions for the good of the country.
This documentary was an informative political piece that spanned over the previous two administrations: the Bush Presidency and the Obama Presidency. During both administrations, a number of whistleblowers were ostracized by the government for giving unclassified information about government mistakes and or wrongdoings to the press. Some of these wrongdoings put the lives of American soldiers and American citizens in harm's way. The Pentagon for example, delayed the unveiling of a new vehicle while American soldiers fought in the Middle East post 9/11, which would have protected against improvised explosive devices (IED) and saved lives. At the cost of delaying this vehicles known as the MRAPs, American soldiers were forced into harm's way without the proper equipment. The documentary begins with this whistleblower story and talks to Franz Gayl, who was the individual who opened this case to the public. At first he describes how he tried to go through the chain of command to try and receive answers as to why this project was being delayed and ultimately went all the way up to the Secretary of Defense. After doing all of this, officials in the Department of Defense (DOD) basically tried to silence Gayl and discourage him from releasing his brief that he had on the case. I think that Gayl was right to release this information because the government at the time was not providing the best equipment to their soldiers in the Middle East. The government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens domestic and abroad and by delaying equipment that could have saved lives was uncalled for. Thankfully for Gayl, the release of these briefs which prompted the Pentagon to equip their soldiers with these vehicles, which did in fact protect from most IED blasts. If Gayl wouldn’t have blown the whistle on this project, the Pentagon may not have released these MRAPs which would have continued to put American’s lives at risk while serving in the Middle East.
At this time it was said that there were over 1200 government agencies that handled classified work, while there were over twenty agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and this according to Franz Gayl raises serious questions about conflicts of interest. Honestly, it should raise questions about conflicts of interests, because when there are thousands of agencies handling classified documents, the analogy of “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing” really comes into consideration. Because if you were to analyze each agency and its role, whether it belonged to the Homeland Security, Defense or the Justice Department, each agency has it’s own jobs and goals. Although they are all supposed to be working together, agencies may start playing power games in order to gain more influence within the department overall, and according to Gayl, this is what he saw happening when the United States government along with the Pentagon refused to implement MRAPs onto the battlefield in place of Humvees.
Another whistleblower that was featured in this documentary dealt with a military branch and how their boats were being built and supplied with defective equipment. Lockheed Martin was purchasing radios that were not water proof for boats that they were building for the Coast Guard. This project was known as the Deep Water project. This was a modern modernization project that the government had invested into in order to increase the fleet of the Coast Guard. But the project failed and over twenty billion dollars were lost. Michael Dekort, the man who blew the whistle on this failed project had been working on the project himself and noticed the problems. In the documentary he recalls how he tried going through multiple outlets to reach the American public but ultimately had to resort to making a homemade youtube video that opened the floodgates for Lockheed Martin and the Deep Water project. Clearly this is controversial, because once again American lives were being put in danger with faulty equipment and Dekort made the right decision; which he claimed was a conscious decision and wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if the equipment was used and lives were potentially lost.
Besides military whistleblowers, there were two others that were highlighted in this documentary and these dealt with a highly controversial topic that occurred after 9/11, which was surveillance by the government. Thomas Tamm who was mentioned earlier released information regarding illegal wiretapping and Thomas Drake who released information about blanket surveillance that was being conducted illegally by the National Security Agency (NSA). This has been a controversial topic over the last decade and a half because some Americans feel that it is an invasion of privacy; which it is, the government can not spy on Americans without a warrant, but thanks to Drake, this information was made available to hold the government accountable for their actions. Both Tamm and Drake were tried under the Espionage act, which was designed to stop and punish spies, but not to try whistleblowers, which the Obama administration DOJ attempted to do multiple times. It is important to know that the Espionage Act carries multiple punishments that include up to thirty years in prison, a 10,000 dollar fine and depending on the severity of the case, it can lead to the death penalty. The problem that is presented here is that the Espionage Act is being used to silence whistleblowers rather than carry out its original intent which was to halt spies from releasing our county’s secrets, which comes down to national security and military documents. In the end however, the government uses the excuse that any leak poses a threat to national security, which is why they’ve taken such a heavy stance against Edward Snowden.
All in all, Robert Greenwald’s documentary War on Whistleblowers comes down to Thomas Tamm’s quote about the American government. This documentary makes it apparent that the government does lie and we need to be thankful for individuals who put their careers on the line in order to keep the government in check. The audience will also learn that because of political powers, some stories that get pushed to the media are done on purpose in order to portray transparency within the government to the American public, when in reality it is used as a means to make the government look good. If the audience is to take one piece of information with them after watching this documentary it should be that: no matter who holds power, the margin for error is so small and the excess of thousands of federal agencies does not make the job easy; but fortunately, when the information does not put American lives at risk, there are individuals who will take a stand for the American people, to ensure our rights are being upheld.
Works Cited
Fleishman, J. (2016, March 10). Robert Greenwald on his free anti-NRA film: 'It should be as widely spread as possible' Retrieved February 24, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-making-a-killing-robert-greenwald-20160313-story.html
Greenwald, R. (Director), & Miller, J. (Producer). (2015, May 28). War on Whistleblowers [Video file]. Retrieved February 24, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWBQGVc2kq8
Joy
"The story of one family's search for shelter. Pilot story for the upcoming national online storytelling corps America in 5 (AmericaIn5.org). This video was produced in seven days by a team of Seattle-based storytellers including a comic artist, an audio producer, a journalist and a filmmaker. "Produced with the generous support of the University of Washington's MCDM program and Department of Communication. "Special thanks to Solid Ground - solid-ground.org - for introducing us to Joy. "First shown Friday April 16th at TedxSeattle."
The trailer for Filthy Dreamers, a documentary about the struggles of Florida women at FSU in the 1920′s. I was director and cinematographer for some of the re-enactment scenes as well as assistant director and part of the Graphic Design department. The documentary won an Honorable Mention at the Student Documentary Competition, it was shown at the Florida Conference of Historians, and it is a current nominee for the 2016 College TV Awards.
