CONTROL ROOM

Control Room USA/Egypt

Control Room goes behind the scenes of Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab television network, and Central Command, the US media village, during the recent US-led invasion of Iraq, in this blistering exposé of the machinations of the media and political arenas.

'Noujaim's startlingly courageous Control Room provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera. Roundly criticized by US Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian casualities as well as footage of American POWs, the station showed the world everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

'In Noujaim's film, Al Jazeera is portrayed as the home base of dedicated journalists, whose passion for truth and open information are easily the equal of their American counterparts, and who pay a deadly price for it. Control Room is an astonishing film that challenges our complacency. Whatever your opinions about the war' you are likely to emerge from Control Room touched, exhilarated and a little off-balance, with your certainties scrambled and your assumptions shaken' [Control Room] proves that cinéma vérité is alive and well, perhaps more potent and necessary than ever.' -The New York Times

,i>D Jehane Noujaim P Rosadel Varela WS Films Transit L Arabic, English w/English subtitles TD Video/Col/2003/86mins

Jehane Noujaim was born in Egypt in 1975. Films include: Startup.com (2001, co-dir).