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Not since Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (MIFF 1996), has a documentary delved so deeply, thoroughly and compellingly into an incident thought closed by most. Director William Gazecki and his team have unearthed testimony and evidence, combed court documentation and reconstructed the siege to arrive at an objective and phenomenally well researched film that cannot help but cast grave doubts upon the actions of the officers of the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency.
For conspiracy buffs, Waco: The Rules of Engagement is certain to be regarded as a modern classic with enough Machiavellian plots, disinformation, cover-ups and illegal shenanigans to knock The X Files for a loop. For most the film will serve as damning evidence, often in the words of those directly involved, of a horrifying bungle, of rivalries, personal agendas and police state action that resulted in the needless deaths of a much maligned sect.
The sheer volume of media coverage has enabled the filmmakers to draw on a tremendous resource in piecing together events. The complicity of the media, particularly television, in the tragic result of the Waco siege is highlighted in no uncertain terms.
"Home video recordings made by the Branch Davidians themselves and infra-red aerial shots taken during the actual storming of the compound show just how cruelly and indifferently a massive government machine supported by the media can steamroller a small group of exceptions." - Rotterdam Film Festival
William Gazecki studied film and television production at UCLA and the American Film Institute. A specialist in the field of post-production sound mixing, Gazecki has received Emmy nominations for his work on such television series as Hill Street Blues, Thirtysomething, St. Elsewhere and Moonlighting. In 1991 Gazecki founded Ultravision, a company that has provided video production services for over 50 non-fiction projects.