World Premiere
The War Tapes
| USA | 97 MINUTES | EnglishDocumentary
Since Homer's time, storytellers have struggled with the challenge of how to describe the experience of war. The War Tapes suggests that the best storytellers aren't looking on from an emotional and physical detach-they're on the battlefield. Using footage shot by three members of the National Guard deployed in Iraq, Deborah Scranton has crafted a documentary that is humorous, gut wrenching, and deeply authentic. This is war as experienced by its most intimate players. Sergeant Steve Pink is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Sergeant Zack Bazzi is a Lebanese-American college student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Specialist Mike Moriarty is a father who seeks honor and redemption. Part journal, part jokebook, part witness, The War Tapes offers a view of war rarely seen-from the inside out. We are illuminated on what the soldiers are thinking every step of the way, from their views on the media's coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom to how they miss loved ones back home. Caught between the bravery and the hypocrisy of war, the men allow us to step into a their daily lives, which can be both beautiful and shocking to watch. Audiences will be hard-pressed to find a more objective look into the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
Cast & Credits
Directed by
Deborah Scranton
First time feature film director, single mother and former U.S. ski team member Deborah Scranton lives on her family's farm in New Hampshire with her six-year old son Benjamin. The War Tapes grew out of her locally acclaimed WWII documentary, Stories from Silence, Witness to War - and her own commitment to using new technologies to give people the power to create their own media and to tell their own stories. Declining an offer from the New Hampshire National Guard to embed herself in Iraq, she instead directed The War Tapes using near-perpetual instant messaging to answer questions, share techniques, and explore stories with the soldiers that filmed their very personal experiences. Previously, Scranton spent 15 years working as a television reporter and freelance producer at MTV, ESPN, CBS Sports and the ABC and FOX affiliates in Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated from Brown University with a degree in Semiotics.