MANHUNT shows the true story of the pursuit of Bin Laden. Dir. Greg Barker shares the film with clips and in depth discussion on his HBO documentary, as well as his films GHOSTS OF RWANDA and SERGIO.
Barker shares the moral ambiguities of war and justice in his films, and he speaks about the emotional difficulty that accompanies filming such heavy stuff.
Watch new episodes of BYOD live each week on Tuesdays at noon on TheLip.TV, or tune in for the archived replay starting here on the following Thursday.
ABOUT BYOD:
BYOD is hosted by Ondi Timoner, director of “DIG!,” “JOIN US” and “WE LIVE IN PUBLIC,” and has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice. Each week the show explores a different documentary filmmaker or aspect of filmmaking, with special guests and a live Q&A– diving deep into creative process and the business realities of producing and distributing films. Ondi shares her insider views, opinions, and personal stories, welcoming audience participation. BYOD aims to entertain, inform, and elevate documentaries in general by bringing attention to films and film makers that deserve exposure.
GUEST BIO:
Greg Barker is an American documentary filmmaker and producer. In 2011, The New York Times described Barker as “a filmmaker of artistic and political consequence.”
His works include Manhunt, about the CIA’s secret war against Al Qaeda and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013, in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Previous films include Sergio (short-listed in 2010 for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, winner of the Best Editing Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival); Koran By Heart (winner of the Top Jury Prize at the 2012 Banff Film Festival); and Ghosts of Rwanda (winner of the 2004 DuPont Columbia award and The Robert F. Kennedy Award for International Reporting).
He began filmmaking in 1998, and made a string of international films for the flagship Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television series Frontline. Barker spent seven years researching the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in the feature-length Frontline documentary Ghosts of Rwanda, which won numerous awards and established his reputation.
In 1998, Barker began working closely with the feature documentary producers John Battsek of Passion Pictures and Julie Goldman of Motto Pictures. Together they have made Sergio, Koran By Heart, and the forthcoming Manhunt, all of which Barker directed for HBO Documentary Films.
He is attached to direct his first narrative feature, A Rope and a Prayer, for HBO Films.
ADD’L LINKS:
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/manhunt-the-search-for-bin-laden/index.html
https://twitter.com/gjbarker
http://www.facebook.com/thelip.tv
http://www.facebook.com/BYODOC
https://twitter.com/#!/onditimoner
EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
00:01 Welcome to BYOD.
00:41 Introducing Greg Barker.
03:19 The inspiration to make the film about the real story of Bin Laden and society.
06:49 MANHUNT, clip: The sisterhood.
09:00 The everyday life of the CIA.
11:47 The early days of Al Qaeda investigation.
14:36 MANHUNT, clip: The discovery of Al Qaeda.
17:20 The connection to SERGIO,
18:57 MANHUNT, clip: Waterboarding and torture.
20:18 Having the torture debate in public.
25:53 War and real life crisis of human drama.
26:53 GHOSTS OF RWANDA, clip: Fleeing Rwanda.
29:37 Seven years working on the film for Rwanda.
33:42 Making SERGIO, about UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello
35:20 SERGIO, clip: A bright star at the UN goes to Cambodia.
39:57 How Greg came to make Sergio.
41:04 SERGIO, clip: From Brazil to the world.
46:20 Making different cuts of the film.
50:56 SERGIO, clip: Tension builds.
54:47 Having to shoot reenactments.
59:23 Sergio, clip: “Something is wrong.”
