Two experts on the global arms trade, the renowned journalist Chris Hedges and the mysterious dealer Riccardo Privitera, describe their hard experiences. Two opposing viewpoints that, edited alongside file footage with Johan Grimonprez’s characteristic subtlety, makes for a profound critique on the dark story behind governments financing their trade worldwide. (MMF)
- Millenium Festival (2018)
- Zagreb Dox (2018)
- IDFA - European Premiere (2017)
Johan Grimonprez
The critically acclaimed work of Johan Grimonprez (Belgium, 1962) dances on the borders of practice and theory, art and cinema, documentary and fiction, demanding a double take on the part of the viewer. Informed by an archaeology of present-day media, his work seeks out the tension between the intimate and the bigger picture of globalization. It questions our contemporary sublime, framed by a fear industry that has infected political and social dialogue. By suggesting new narratives through which to tell a story, his work emphasizes a multiplicity of histories and realties.
His feature films include Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997), Double Take (2009) and Shadow World. Traveling the main festival circuit from the Berlinale to Sundance, they garnered several Best Director awards, the 2005 ZKM International Media Award, a Spirit Award and the 2009 Black Pearl Award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Feature in both Edinburgh and Valladolid.