Taxi to the Dark Side

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Taxi to the Dark Side
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alex Gibney
Produced by	Alex Gibney, Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman
Written by	Alex Gibney
Starring	Karyn Plonsky, Moazzam Begg, Willie Brand, Jack Cloonan, Damien M. Corsetti, Ken Davis, Carlotta Gall, Tim Golden, Tony Lagouranis, Carl Levin, Alfred W. McCoy, Alberto J. Mora, Anthony Morden, Glendale C. Walls, Lawrence Wilkerson, Tim Wilner, John Yoo
Music by	Ivor Guest, Robert Logan
Editing by	Sloane Klevin
Distributed by	THINKFilm
Release date(s)	April 30 2007
Running time	106 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney, and produced by Eva Orner and Susannah Shipman that won the 2008 Academy Award for "Best Documentary Feature".^[1]

The film focuses around the controversial death in custody of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar.^[2] Dilawar was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Air Base.

Taxi to the Dark Side also goes on to examine America's policy on torture and interrogation in general, specifically the CIA's use of torture and their research into sensory deprivation. There is description of the opposition to the use of torture from its political and military opponents, as well as the defence of such methods; the attempts by Congress to uphold the standards of the Geneva Convention forbidding torture; and the popularisation of the use of torture techniques in shows such as 24.

The film is said to be the first film to contain images taken within Bagram Air Base.

1 Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival
2 Academy Award
3 Why Democracy?
4 Discovery Channel controversy
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival

On April 28, 2007, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.^[3]

In an interview with Beckey Bright of the Wall Street Journal Gibney was asked about the demoralizing effect his film might have on the American GIs:^[3]

Beckey Bright:	What impact do you think the film will have? Do you think the movie will be demoralizing for members of the military and their families?
Gibney:	I hope not to have an impact on morale. The military felt it had clear guidelines that were being fiddled with and undermined by civilian leadership. It's up to officers to instill guidelines and it's up to leadership to ensure guidelines are being followed.

[edit] Academy Award

In November 2007, Taxi to the Dark Side was named by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as one of 15 films on its documentary feature Oscar shortlist.^[4]^[5] On February 24, 2008, in his acceptance speech for the "Best Documentary Feature" Academy Award, Alex Gibney said:

“

This is dedicated to two people who are no longer with us, Dilawar, the young Afghan taxi driver, and my father, a navy interrogator who urged me to make this film because of his fury about what was being done to the rule of law. Let’s hope we can turn this country around, move away from the dark side and back to the light.^[6]

”

[edit] Why Democracy?

Taxi to the Dark Side is part of the Why Democracy? series. The series consists of ten documentary films from around the world questioning and examining contemporary democracy. As part of the series Taxi to the Dark Side will be broadcast in no less than 35 different countries around the world between the 8^th and 18^th of October 2007. The BBC cut their broadcast down to 79 minutes.

[edit] Discovery Channel controversy

In June 2007, the Discovery Channel bought the rights to broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side. However, in February 2008, they made public their intention never to broadcast the documentary due to its controversial nature.^[7] HBO then bought rights to the film and announced that it would be broadcast in September 2008, after which the Discovery Channel announced it would broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side in 2009. Many pundits and bloggers derided the decision, claiming that the Discovery Channel did not wish to risk Gibney criticizing the network at the Academy Awards should his movie win the Best Documentary Oscar, and also pointed out that the Discovery Channel's projected 2009 broadcast date would occur after President George W. Bush left office.^{[citation needed]}