The UK broadcast premiere is tonight at 23:35 on BBC1 - please tune in and let us know your thoughts on the film!
Today’s leader column in the Guardian also highlights the film and places it in the context of the wider debate about torture in the war on terror. There’s also an interview with Jim over on the Future Movies website and the Director’s Notes film site have a podcast interview you can listen to as well as clips from the film to view.
Last night we had the privilege of showing the film in the Houses of Parliament to an audience of MPs, Peers and representatives of Human Rights organisations. Organised by Andrew Tyrie MP, the chairman of the All Party Group on Extraordinary Rendition (who have done a huge amount of work raising the issue at governmental level both here and in the States), the screening (which took place in a Parliamentary committee room) was a fantastic opportunity for the film to illustrate the human side of this very real political scandal.
We were extremely fortunate to have celebrated human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve with us to introduce the film. His descriptions of his first-hand work representing rendition victim Binyam Mohammed were extremely powerful and made a strong link between the film and the real world scandal of kidnap and torture in the war on terror. The film was well received and a rigorous question and answer session followed from an audience that included Dame Shirley Williams, Chris Mullin MP, Diane Abbott MP, Lord Hodgson, to name just a few.
As film-makers it was great to be able to screen to people in a position to directly lobby for change and accountability on this subject - we hope our contribution can help to fuel the debate in any way.
This morning we were interviewed by Paul Ross on the BBC Radio London breakfast show, broadcast live from the new Movieuem film museum in County Hall on the South Bank. You can hear the interview here: click on the link then fast-forward to timecode 2:34:00 to hear the interview which runs to 2:41:00.
If you can’t afford the price of the DVD right now don’t worry: Britfilms.tv are giving away five copies in an online competition. Head over there now for a chance to win…
The UK release is approaching fast and we’ve just had our air date and time confirmed for the BBC broadcast premiere. We’re delighted to say that the film will be going out on BBC1 on Weds 30th April at 23:35 - please tune in!
It’s fantastic that the movie will be broadcast on the BBC’s main channel and will therefore have the opportunity to connect with the widest possible audience - we look forward to people’s responses and hopefully this prominent slot will allow us to do our bit to push the issue of torture in the war on terror up the public agenda.
Meanwhile the DVD will be out at the same time, hitting stores nationwide on Monday 28th April, so make sure you grab a copy.
There’s a new interview with Jim and I currently up on Netribution and there’s also an interview with Jim in today’s edition of The Times which you can see online as well.
We’re very happy to announce that the US festival premiere of Extraordinary Rendition will be on Friday 16th May at the Berkshire International Film Festival in Massachusetts (on the same day that the festival is awarding its Achievement in Film Award to the great Kevin Bacon). I hope as many of you as possible will be able to make it along:
In the meantime the DVD is now available to buy in the USA on general release. It is in rental and retail stores nationwide and can also be bought from Amazon amongst others: grab yourself a copy and let us know your thoughts on the movie.
We’re delighted to say that the film’s been selected for this year’s edition of the Belfast Film Festival. It will be screening on April 18th at 20:30 in the BFF Studio Cinema - do make it down there if you can.
The DVD is going to be released in the UK on the 28th April 2008 and the broadcast premier on the BBC will be synchronised for the same week. There are also going be festival screenings around this time - we’ll keep you up to date with all the news here.
In the meantime you can pre-order your copy of the DVD from Amazon or Play.co.uk - make sure you’re at the front of the queue! The disc is packed with extra features including a comentary which Jim and I recorded last week. It was fascinating to sit down together and watch the film for the first time in several months and be able to explain some of the highs and lows of the production, as well as the reasons we set out on this journey in the first place - we hope you enjoy it.
‘Extraordinary Rendition’ will be showing in Switzerland this month as part of the 6th Geneva Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights which runs from the 7th - 16th March and promises to be a lively event.
We’ve posted the trailer on Youtube - it’ll be embedded here shortly as well: enjoy…