Film takes critical look at Gitmo

By Tara Nelson

A controversial new film documenting the experience of three former Guantanamo Bay prisoners will make its debut in White Rock next week as part of a series highlighting the troubled lives led by many people in the Middle East.

In his film, The Road to Guantanamo, Michael Winterbottom, follows the journey of three Muslim-British citizens who were held for two years without charges in the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The film is the second in a series of six in the Community Arts Council of White Rock & District’s “Get Reel” independent film series and the winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The three (known as the “Tipton Three,” in reference to their hometown of Tipton, Britain) had been on their way to a wedding in Pakistan just as the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and were subsequently captured by the Northern Alliance, and imprisoned in Camp X-Ray and later at Camp Delta.

They were eventually released. No formal charges were made against them at any time during their ordeal, however,
The next film, Kandahar, documents an Afghani-Canadian woman’s search in her native land for her suicidal sister (Persian with subtitles) and is scheduled for January 16, followed by Offside, a comedic look at the struggle of women to view men’s sporting events in Iran (Persian with subtitles), in February, and Turtles Can Fly, a sobering look at the lives of young children in war-torn regions of the Iraqi-Turkish border (Kurdish with subtitles), in March.

The Road to Guantanamo is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 24 at the Caprice Theatre at 2381 King George Hwy in White Rock, B.C. Tickets are $11. The council will donate $2 from each ticket sold to UNICEF.

A trailer for the film can be viewed at www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com.
For more information, call 604/536.8333 or visit www.whiterockartscouncil.com.