TED2007
Deborah Scranton: An Iraq war movie crowd-sourced from soldiers
Filmed:
Readability: 3.3
574,571 views
Filmmaker Deborah Scranton talks about and shows clips from her documentary The War Tapes, which puts cameras in the hands of soldiers fighting in Iraq.
Deborah Scranton - Filmmaker
The director of the award-winning documentary The War Tapes, Deborah Scranton is committed to using new technology to give people power to tell their own stories. Full bio
The director of the award-winning documentary The War Tapes, Deborah Scranton is committed to using new technology to give people power to tell their own stories. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:26
Three years ago, I got a phone call, based on an earlier film I had made,
0
1000
3000
00:29
with an offer to embed the New Hampshire National Guard.
1
4000
4000
00:33
My idea -- and literally, I woke up in the middle of the night,
2
8000
3000
00:36
and we've all have those moments. You know, you go to sleep --
3
11000
2000
00:38
I was excited, with this phone call.
4
13000
3000
00:41
I was thinking, I just finished making another film about World War II vets,
5
16000
3000
00:44
and I realized I'd gotten to know their stories,
6
19000
2000
00:46
and I realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
7
21000
4000
00:50
to tell a warrior's story as it unfolded.
8
25000
2000
00:52
So I went to bed that night pretty excited.
9
27000
3000
00:55
Not sure of all the details, but excited.
10
30000
5000
01:00
It wasn't at four in the morning, but it was closer to midnight.
11
35000
2000
01:02
Woke straight up. Wide-awake as could be.
12
37000
2000
01:04
And I had this idea: what if I could, in effect, virtually embed,
13
39000
3000
01:07
and create a permeable relationship with the soldiers?
14
42000
3000
01:10
To tell the story from the inside out, versus the outside in?
15
45000
4000
01:14
So, I called back Major Heilshorn,
16
49000
2000
01:16
who's the public affairs officer of the New Hampshire National Guard.
17
51000
2000
01:18
And he knew me, so I was like, "Greg?"
18
53000
3000
01:21
He's like, "Yes, Deborah?"
19
56000
2000
01:23
Told him my idea, and you know,
20
58000
3000
01:26
he is one of the bravest men in the world,
21
61000
2000
01:28
as is General Blair, who, in the end, gave me permission to try this experiment.
22
63000
5000
01:33
Within 10 days, I was down at Fort Dix.
23
68000
2000
01:35
He gave me my pick of units.
24
70000
2000
01:37
I picked one unit -- Charlie Company, Third of the 172nd,
25
72000
3000
01:40
they're mountain infantry -- for two reasons.
26
75000
2000
01:42
One, they're infantry.
27
77000
2000
01:44
Number two, they were going to be based at LSA Anaconda,
28
79000
3000
01:47
so I knew they would have Internet access.
29
82000
2000
01:49
The caveat for my access was I had to get the soldiers to volunteer.
30
84000
2000
01:51
This was a big thing that
31
86000
2000
01:53
I think when Major H told me,
32
88000
2000
01:55
I wasn't really totally gathering what that would mean.
33
90000
3000
01:58
So what that meant was, when I went down to Fort Dix,
34
93000
2000
02:00
I had to hop out in front of 180 guys and tell them of my vision.
35
95000
4000
02:04
You can imagine the hailstorm of questions I got.
36
99000
2000
02:06
The opening one was,
37
101000
2000
02:08
"What the fuck do you know about the National Guard?"
38
103000
2000
02:11
I started with the 1607 Massachusetts Bay Colony Pequot Indian Wars.
39
106000
5000
02:16
Gave them about a nine minute response,
40
111000
3000
02:19
and there we went.
41
114000
2000
02:21
So, I'd like to show the clip of the film.
42
116000
3000
02:24
It's our trailer, because I know, obviously you guys are busy,
43
119000
3000
02:27
many of you may not have had a chance to see it.
44
122000
2000
02:29
So, I want to show the trailer,
45
124000
2000
02:31
and then I'm going to take apart one scene in detail.
46
126000
3000
02:34
If we could roll?
47
129000
2000
02:43
(Video) Stephen Pink: This is Sergeant Stephen Pink.
48
138000
1000
02:44
Michael Moriarty: Specialist Michael Moriarty.
49
139000
2000
02:46
Zack Bazzi: Do I really want to go? Probably not.
50
141000
2000
02:50
Soldier: We're not supposed to talk to the media.
51
145000
2000
02:52
SP: I'm not the media, dammit!
52
147000
1000
02:56
MM: The day is here. Life will change.
53
151000
2000
02:58
Voice: The real deal, man! Narrator: You ready?
54
153000
2000
03:00
Soldier: Bring it on! Narrator: You ready? Voice 2: Iraq, here we come!
55
155000
4000
03:06
ZB: Every soldier eventually wants to go in combat.
56
161000
2000
03:08
It's natural instinct.
57
163000
1000
03:09
SP: If you let fear get to you,
58
164000
2000
03:11
then you're not going to be doing your job.
59
166000
2000
03:13
MM: Every single time you go out there, there's attacks.
60
168000
2000
03:15
It's unbelievable.
61
170000
2000
03:19
ZB: Hey, Nestor, your ass crack is right in my face.
62
174000
3000
03:24
Soldiers: IV! Are we on fire? IV!
63
179000
2000
03:26
Man down! Man down!
64
181000
4000
03:30
MM: Keep going, brother. You wanna play?
65
185000
1000
03:33
Michael Moriarty's Wife: It's really hard for him to not have his dad.
66
188000
2000
03:36
MM: This little kid is in the middle of a war zone.
67
191000
3000
03:42
Stephen Pink's Girlfriend: In the beginning, he's like, "Write something dirty!"
68
197000
3000
03:46
George W. Bush: The world's newest democracy.
69
201000
2000
03:52
MM: They're shooting at me.
70
207000
2000
03:54
SP: You don't put 150,000 troops in there,
71
209000
2000
03:56
and say we're there to create democracy.
72
211000
2000
03:58
Soldier: We've got a drive through window at Burger King now.
73
213000
2000
04:00
SP: We're here to create money.
74
215000
2000
04:02
MM: I support George Bush. We're not there for the oil.
75
217000
2000
04:05
Jon Baril: The worst thing in my life.
76
220000
2000
04:07
SP: Baril, don't look at it, bud.
77
222000
2000
04:09
Michael Moriarty's Wife: He's not the same person anymore.
78
224000
2000
04:11
MM: I will not go back.
79
226000
2000
04:16
Kevin Shangraw: The Iraqi people are who we are there to help --
80
231000
2000
04:18
and we just killed one.
81
233000
1000
04:19
Soldiers: Sergeant Smith is down! Sergeant Smith is down?
82
234000
3000
04:22
There they are! Right there! Fire, fire!
83
237000
3000
04:32
JB: It'll be a better country in 20 years, 'cause we were there.
84
247000
4000
04:36
I hope.
85
251000
1000
04:48
(Applause) Deborah Scranton: Thank you.
86
263000
1000
04:49
One of the things I'd like to talk to you about
87
264000
3000
04:52
is having a conversation about something that is difficult to talk about.
88
267000
4000
04:56
And I'd like to relate an experience I had here at TED.
89
271000
3000
04:59
I don't know how many of you might imagine it,
90
274000
3000
05:02
but there's actually a TEDster who recently got back from Iraq.
91
277000
5000
05:07
Paul? Come on, stand up.
92
282000
2000
05:09
This is Paul Anthony.
93
284000
2000
05:11
He served -- (Applause) -- with the Marines,
94
286000
5000
05:16
and I want to tell you a little, brief story.
95
291000
4000
05:20
We were one of the lucky ones
96
295000
2000
05:22
to get in the class with the Sony cameras and the Vista software.
97
297000
4000
05:26
Right? And we started talking.
98
301000
1000
05:27
People will see my tag, and they'll see "The War Tapes,"
99
302000
2000
05:29
and then we'll start talking about war.
100
304000
2000
05:31
We got in a conversation with some other people in the class,
101
306000
4000
05:35
and it went on and on.
102
310000
2000
05:37
I mean, we were there for an hour, talking.
103
312000
2000
05:39
And it really highlighted something that I would like to ask
104
314000
2000
05:41
you guys to think about and hopefully to help with,
105
316000
4000
05:45
which is, I think a lot of us are very afraid to have conversations about war,
106
320000
3000
05:48
and about politics.
107
323000
1000
05:49
And really -- because maybe we're going to disagree.
108
324000
2000
05:51
Maybe it's going to get uncomfortable.
109
326000
2000
05:53
How do we open it up to really be able to have a conversation?
110
328000
4000
05:57
And you know, Paul was talking,
111
332000
5000
06:02
and he then turned to Constance and said,
112
337000
3000
06:05
"You know, I wouldn't have this conversation if she weren't here,
113
340000
3000
06:08
because I know she has my back."
114
343000
2000
06:10
And I want to say, I was nervous.
115
345000
2000
06:12
Because I'm used to doing Q&As.
116
347000
2000
06:14
I really related to what James was saying yesterday,
117
349000
1000
06:15
because I'm behind the camera.
118
350000
2000
06:17
You know, I can answer questions about my movie,
119
352000
2000
06:19
but for me to come up and talk for 18 minutes is a really long time.
120
354000
2000
06:21
So, I wanted to say, Paul, I'm happy you're here,
121
356000
3000
06:24
because I know you have my back.
122
359000
2000
06:27
This film was not about the Internet,
123
362000
2000
06:29
but it could not have been made without it.
124
364000
3000
06:32
The guys' tapes on average took two weeks to get from Iraq to me.
125
367000
3000
06:35
In the meantime, the soldiers -- we would email and IM.
126
370000
4000
06:39
I didn't save all of them,
127
374000
4000
06:43
because I didn't realize at the beginning
128
378000
2000
06:45
that it would be something that I would want to keep track of.
129
380000
3000
06:48
But there were 3,211 emails and IMs and text messages
130
383000
5000
06:53
that I was able to save.
131
388000
2000
06:55
The reason I quantify that is because we really embarked on this as a mutual journey
132
390000
7000
07:02
to really get inside of it.
133
397000
2000
07:04
So I wanted to show you a clip,
134
399000
2000
07:06
and then I was going tell you a little bit of how it got put together.
135
401000
3000
07:09
If we could roll the clip.
136
404000
1000
07:11
(Video) SP: Today is sport. [Unclear] Radio: [Unclear] Christian soldiers.
137
406000
3000
07:14
SP: We like to give these insurgents a fair chance.
138
409000
4000
07:18
So, what we do, we ride with the windows down.
139
413000
3000
07:21
Because, you know, we obviously have the advantage. I'm just kidding.
140
416000
6000
07:27
We don't fucking ride with the goddam windows down.
141
422000
2000
07:30
It's not true. Very unsafe.
142
425000
5000
07:36
Whoa.
143
431000
1000
07:37
Soldier: Right there.
144
432000
1000
07:39
SP: All right, let's get over to that site.
145
434000
3000
07:43
Be advised, we're leaving Taji right now.
146
438000
3000
07:46
We believe that the blast was right outside the gate of Taji,
147
441000
4000
07:50
we're heading to that location now.
148
445000
2000
07:54
Soldier: That's a fucking car bomb!
149
449000
2000
07:56
Soldier: Motherfuckers!
150
451000
1000
07:57
Soldiers: Get your vest on!
151
452000
2000
07:59
Hey, get over the fucking -- yeah, yeah.
152
454000
2000
08:01
Any one-four elements get to the gate!
153
456000
2000
08:03
SP: Sheriff one-six, or any one-four elements,
154
458000
3000
08:06
we need you at the gate of Taji right now, over.
155
461000
3000
08:09
Soldier: I'll walk you through it.
156
464000
2000
08:11
(Voices)
157
466000
6000
08:17
SP: Stay low. Head over to the right.
158
472000
3000
08:20
Get your bag, get your bag!
159
475000
3000
08:24
(Screams)
160
479000
5000
08:29
SP: It was mass casualties.
161
484000
2000
08:31
Probably 20 dead, at least 20 or 30 wounded Iraqis.
162
486000
4000
08:42
SP: It just looked like, you know,
163
497000
2000
08:44
someone had thrown a quarter through a guy,
164
499000
2000
08:46
and it was just like -- there was no blood coming from the shrapnel wounds.
165
501000
3000
08:49
Everything was cauterized,
166
504000
2000
08:51
and it was just like there was a void going through the body.
167
506000
4000
08:55
This is the scene north.
168
510000
3000
08:59
They just removed a burnt body, or half a body from here.
169
514000
4000
09:03
I don't think there was anything left from his abdominal down.
170
518000
4000
09:10
This is blood.
171
525000
3000
09:13
And you know, you walk,
172
528000
2000
09:15
and you hear the pieces of skin.
173
530000
5000
09:20
And that's it, that's all that's left.
174
535000
3000
09:23
I remember giving three IVs, bandaging several wounded.
175
538000
3000
09:26
Soldiers sitting in the corner of a sandbag wall, shaking and screaming.
176
541000
5000
09:31
Medics who were terrified and couldn't perform.
177
546000
3000
09:35
I later heard that Iraqi casualties were not to be treated in Taji.
178
550000
6000
09:41
They can work on the post for pennies, but can't die there.
179
556000
3000
09:44
They've got to die outside.
180
559000
3000
09:49
If one of those incompetent medical officers told me to stop treatment,
181
564000
4000
09:53
I would've slit his throat right there.
182
568000
3000
10:06
21:00 hours, and it's just our squad
183
581000
2000
10:08
going through today's events in our heads,
184
583000
3000
10:11
whether we want to or not.
185
586000
3000
10:14
News Anchor: More violence in Iraq.
186
589000
2000
10:16
Twin suicide car bombings killed eight Iraqis and wounded dozens more
187
591000
4000
10:20
near a coalition base north of Baghdad.
188
595000
2000
10:22
SP: We made the news.
189
597000
1000
10:23
I feel exploited and proud at the same time.
190
598000
2000
10:25
I've lost all faith in the media --
191
600000
2000
10:27
a hapless joke I would much rather laugh at than become a part of.
192
602000
5000
10:32
I should really thank God for saving my lucky ass.
193
607000
3000
10:35
I'll do that, then I'm gonna jerk off.
194
610000
2000
10:37
Because these pages smell like Linds,
195
612000
2000
10:39
and there won't be any time for jerking off tomorrow.
196
614000
3000
10:42
Another mission at 06:00.
197
617000
2000
10:48
DS: Now -- (Applause) -- thanks.
198
623000
4000
10:52
When I said earlier, to try and tell a story from the inside out, versus the outside in --
199
627000
5000
10:57
part of what Chris said so eloquently in his introduction -- is this melding.
200
632000
5000
11:02
It's a new way of trying to make a documentary.
201
637000
3000
11:05
When I met the guys, and 10 of them agreed to take cameras --
202
640000
4000
11:09
in total, 21 ended up filming.
203
644000
2000
11:11
Five soldiers filmed the entire time.
204
646000
2000
11:13
There are three featured in the film.
205
648000
2000
11:15
The way I learned about Taji was Steve Pink sent me an email,
206
650000
4000
11:19
and in it, attached a photo of that burned body out at the car.
207
654000
3000
11:22
And the tone from the email was,
208
657000
2000
11:24
you know, it had been a very bad day, obviously.
209
659000
3000
11:27
And I saw in my IM window that Mike Moriarty was at the base.
210
662000
4000
11:31
So, I pinged Mike and I said,
211
666000
2000
11:33
"Mike, can you please go get that interview with Pink?"
212
668000
3000
11:36
Because the thing that very often is missing is,
213
671000
2000
11:38
in the military what they call "hot wash."
214
673000
2000
11:40
It's that immediate interview after something immediately happens, you know.
215
675000
3000
11:43
And if you let time go by,
216
678000
2000
11:45
it kind of softens and smooths the edges.
217
680000
2000
11:47
And for me, I really wanted that.
218
682000
3000
11:50
So, in order to get the intimacy,
219
685000
2000
11:52
to share that experience with you, the guys --
220
687000
3000
11:55
the two most popular mounts --
221
690000
2000
11:57
there was a camera on the turret, the gun turret,
222
692000
2000
11:59
and then on the dashboard of the Humvee.
223
694000
2000
12:01
Most of the Humvees, we ended up mounting two cameras in them.
224
696000
5000
12:06
So you get to experience that in real time, right?
225
701000
4000
12:10
The interview that you see is the one that Mike went and did
226
705000
4000
12:14
within 24 hours of that episode happening.
227
709000
3000
12:17
Steve Pink reading his journal
228
712000
2000
12:19
happened five months after he came home.
229
714000
2000
12:21
I knew about that journal, but it was very, very private.
230
716000
2000
12:23
And you know, you earn someone's trust,
231
718000
3000
12:26
especially in doc filmmaking, through your relationship.
232
721000
3000
12:29
So, it wasn't until five months after he was home
233
724000
3000
12:32
that he would read that journal.
234
727000
2000
12:34
Now, the news footage I put in there to try to show --
235
729000
4000
12:38
you know, I think mainstream media tries to do the best they can
236
733000
4000
12:42
in the format that they have.
237
737000
2000
12:44
But the thing that I know you all have heard a lot of times,
238
739000
2000
12:46
American soldiers saying,
239
741000
2000
12:48
"Why don't they talk about the good stuff that we do?"
240
743000
2000
12:50
OK, this is a perfect example.
241
745000
3000
12:53
Pink's squad and another squad spent their entire day outside the wire.
242
748000
4000
12:57
They didn't have to go outside the wire.
243
752000
2000
12:59
There were not Americans hurt out there.
244
754000
2000
13:01
They spent their entire day outside the wire trying to save Iraqi lives --
245
756000
5000
13:06
the Iraqis who work on the post.
246
761000
2000
13:08
So, when you may hear soldiers complaining,
247
763000
3000
13:11
that's what they're talking about, you know?
248
766000
2000
13:13
And I think it's such an amazing gift that they would share this
249
768000
4000
13:17
as a way of bridging.
250
772000
2000
13:19
And when I talk about that polarity I get at so many different Q&As,
251
774000
5000
13:24
and people are really opinionated.
252
779000
2000
13:26
But it seems like people don't want to hear so much,
253
781000
2000
13:28
or listen, or try to have an exchange.
254
783000
2000
13:30
And I'm as fiery as the next person, but I really think --
255
785000
3000
13:33
you know, different speakers have talked about their concern for the world,
256
788000
5000
13:38
and my concern is that we have to have these conversations.
257
793000
3000
13:41
And we have to be able to go into scary places where we may, you know,
258
796000
4000
13:45
we think we know.
259
800000
2000
13:47
But we just have to leave that little bit of openness, to know.
260
802000
4000
13:51
There's such a disconnect.
261
806000
2000
13:53
And for me, it's trying to bridge that disconnect.
262
808000
5000
13:58
I'll share one story.
263
813000
2000
14:00
I get -- I'm often asked, you know, for me,
264
815000
2000
14:02
what have been some of the special moments from having worked on this film.
265
817000
4000
14:06
And at screenings, inevitably --
266
821000
2000
14:08
you know, as I'm sure all of you obviously do speaking stuff --
267
823000
4000
14:12
usually you have people who hang around and want to ask you more questions.
268
827000
4000
14:16
And usually, the first questions are,
269
831000
2000
14:18
"Oh, what kind of cameras did you use?"
270
833000
2000
14:20
Or you know, these things.
271
835000
1000
14:21
But there's always a few guys, almost always, who are the last ones.
272
836000
5000
14:26
And I've learned over time that those are always the soldiers.
273
841000
4000
14:30
And they wait until pretty much everybody's gone.
274
845000
4000
14:34
And for me, one of the most profound stories someone shared with me,
275
849000
9000
14:43
that then became my story, was --
276
858000
2000
14:45
for those of you who haven't seen the film, and it's not a spoiler --
277
860000
5000
14:50
it's very common there are a lot of civilian accidents,
278
865000
2000
14:52
where people get in front of Humvees and they get killed.
279
867000
3000
14:55
In this film, there is a scene where an Iraqi woman is killed.
280
870000
5000
15:00
A soldier came up to me and stood, you know really, pretty close,
281
875000
7000
15:07
a foot away from me.
282
882000
2000
15:09
He's a big guy.
283
884000
2000
15:11
And he looked at me, and I smiled,
284
886000
2000
15:13
and then I saw the tears start welling up in his eyes.
285
888000
5000
15:18
And he wasn't going to blink.
286
893000
3000
15:21
And he said, "My gunner was throwing candy."
287
896000
3000
15:24
And I knew what he was going to say.
288
899000
3000
15:27
The gunner was throwing candy.
289
902000
3000
15:30
They used to throw candy to the kids.
290
905000
3000
15:33
Kids got too close, very often.
291
908000
3000
15:36
And he said, "I killed a child.
292
911000
3000
15:39
And I'm a father. I have children.
293
914000
4000
15:43
I haven't been able to tell my wife.
294
918000
2000
15:45
I'm afraid she's going to think I'm a monster."
295
920000
2000
15:52
I hugged him, of course,
296
927000
2000
15:54
and I said, you know, "It's going to be OK."
297
929000
2000
15:56
And he said, "I'm going to bring her to see your film.
298
931000
3000
15:59
And then I'm going to tell her."
299
934000
3000
16:05
So when I talk about a disconnect,
300
940000
7000
16:12
it's not only for maybe those people who don't know a soldier,
301
947000
3000
16:15
which there obviously are. You know, these days,
302
950000
2000
16:17
it's not like World War II, where there was a war front and a home front,
303
952000
3000
16:20
and everybody seemed involved.
304
955000
2000
16:22
You can go for days here and not feel like there's a war going on.
305
957000
3000
16:25
And often, I'll hear people say,
306
960000
2000
16:27
who maybe know that I did this film,
307
962000
2000
16:29
and they say, "Oh, you know, I'm against the war, but I support the soldiers."
308
964000
6000
16:36
And I've started to ask them,
309
971000
3000
16:39
"Well, that's nice. What are you doing?
310
974000
3000
16:42
Are you volunteering at a VA?
311
977000
3000
16:45
You go and see anybody?
312
980000
2000
16:47
Do you, if you find out your neighbor's been, do you spend some time?
313
982000
7000
16:54
Not necessarily ask questions, but see if they want to talk?
314
989000
4000
16:58
Do you give money to any of the charities?"
315
993000
2000
17:00
You know, obviously, like Dean Kamen's working on that amazing thing,
316
995000
3000
17:03
but there's charities where you can sponsor computers for wounded soldiers.
317
998000
5000
17:08
I think, I challenge us to say --
318
1003000
5000
17:13
to operationalize those terms, when we say we support someone, you know?
319
1008000
3000
17:16
Are you a friend to them?
320
1011000
2000
17:18
Do you really care?
321
1013000
2000
17:20
And I would just say it's my hope, and I would ask you guys
322
1015000
4000
17:24
to please, you know, reach out a hand.
323
1019000
6000
17:30
And really do give them a hug.
324
1025000
4000
17:34
Thank you.
325
1029000
2000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Deborah Scranton - FilmmakerThe director of the award-winning documentary The War Tapes, Deborah Scranton is committed to using new technology to give people power to tell their own stories.
Why you should listen
Deborah Scranton made her feature film directorial debut with the award-winning documentary THE WAR TAPES, which premiered and won Best Documentary Feature at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. Hailed by the New York Times as "raw, honest and moving … one of the formally most radical films of 2006" and described as "the first indispensable Iraq documentary", THE WAR TAPES went on to win Best International Documentary at the 2006 BritDoc Festival, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2007. In 2008, Scranton reprised her ‘virtual embed’ directorial technique in BAD VOODOO’S WAR which was commissioned and broadcast by WGBH/FRONTLINE on PBS during the height of the Iraq War troop surge.
Her second feature EARTH MADE OF GLASS, a political thriller set in post-genocide Rwanda and France, premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in Documentary Competition. Broadcast on HBO in April 2011, EARTH MADE OF GLASS was one of six films nominated for Best Documentary Feature of the Year by the Producer’s Guild of America in 2011 and won a Peabody Award the same year.
Scranton was commissioned by HBO for her third feature, WAR DOG: A SOLDIER’S BEST FRIEND which reveals the intimate relationship between U.S. Army Special Operations Command dog handlers and the multi-purpose canines that serve together as human/animal teams in combat around the world. The film had its worldwide HBO broadcast premiere Veteran’s Day weekend November 2017.
Scranton is currently in pre-production on a hybrid documentary film series tracing the history of American and Soviet/Russian military from the American Revolutionary War through the Global War on Terror still underway in Afghanistan.
In 2007, she was a visiting fellow at The Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University working with the Global Media Project in the Global Security Program. During her fellowship, Scranton created and co-taught a senior seminar on documentary filmmaking and social change. She also created and organized a two day conference, “Front Line, First Person: Iraq War Stories”, which featured speakers representing the direct experience of war.
More profile about the speakerHer second feature EARTH MADE OF GLASS, a political thriller set in post-genocide Rwanda and France, premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in Documentary Competition. Broadcast on HBO in April 2011, EARTH MADE OF GLASS was one of six films nominated for Best Documentary Feature of the Year by the Producer’s Guild of America in 2011 and won a Peabody Award the same year.
Scranton was commissioned by HBO for her third feature, WAR DOG: A SOLDIER’S BEST FRIEND which reveals the intimate relationship between U.S. Army Special Operations Command dog handlers and the multi-purpose canines that serve together as human/animal teams in combat around the world. The film had its worldwide HBO broadcast premiere Veteran’s Day weekend November 2017.
Scranton is currently in pre-production on a hybrid documentary film series tracing the history of American and Soviet/Russian military from the American Revolutionary War through the Global War on Terror still underway in Afghanistan.
In 2007, she was a visiting fellow at The Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University working with the Global Media Project in the Global Security Program. During her fellowship, Scranton created and co-taught a senior seminar on documentary filmmaking and social change. She also created and organized a two day conference, “Front Line, First Person: Iraq War Stories”, which featured speakers representing the direct experience of war.
Deborah Scranton | Speaker | TED.com