National Bird · Screening + Q&A · Tickets
Organised by FreeAssange-Berlin.de in partnership with Disruption Network Lab & Disruption Network Institute
Screening followed by a discussion with the director Sonia Kennebeck, Tatiana Bazzichelli - Disruption Network Lab, Daniel Lücking - Journalist, editor and former editor of the German Armed Forces.
English / OmU · 92 min
“National Bird” follows the dramatic journey of three whistleblowers determined to break the silence on one of the most controversial issues of our time: the US's secret drone war. At the center of the film are three veterans of the US military. Plagued by guilt over their involvement in the killing of faceless people in foreign lands, they decide to speak out publicly despite the potential consequences. Their stories take a dramatic turn and lead one of the protagonists to Afghanistan, where she learns of a horrific incident. But her journey also gives hope for peace and redemption. National Bird gives a rare glimpse into the US drone program through the eyes of veterans and survivors, connecting their stories in a way never before seen in a documentary. The images leave the viewer wanting more, bringing a faraway subject close to home. National Bird Website
In March 2017, “National Bird” received the prestigious Ridenhour Documentary Award, given annually to a documentary “that defends the public interest, advances or promotes social justice, or illuminates a more just vision of society“. Codebreaker FIlms
Part of the series Whistle – Free Speech
Also screening:
Fri 19.09. 19:00 Der Fall Assange: Eine Chronik (Deutsch)
Thu 26.09. 19:00 Free Speech Fear Free (OmU)
Guests
Sonia Kennebeck
Film Director, MY/DE/US
Sonia Kennebeck is an independent documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist with more than 15 years of experience as a director and producer. She has directed eight television documentaries and more than 50 investigative reports. Foreign Policy magazine recognized Sonia Kennebeck as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2016, and Filmmaker Magazine named her one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2016. Sonia Kennebeck holds a master's degree in international affairs from the American University in Washington, D.C. She was born in Malacca, Malaysia and lives in New York, NY. https://www.codebreakerfilms.com/about
Tatiana Bazzichelli
Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE
Tatiana Bazzichelli is the founder and artistic director of the Disruption Network Lab (https:// www.disruptionlab.org). Her work focuses on whistleblowing, network culture, art and hacktivism. She is the author of “Whistleblowing for Change” (2021), “Networked Disruption” (2013), “Disrupting Business” (2013) and “Networking” (2006). From 2011 to 2014 she was program curator at transmediale in Berlin. She received her PhD in Information and Media Studies from the Faculty of Arts at Aarhus University, Denmark, in 2011.
Daniel Lücking
Editor and former editor of the German Armed Forces, DE
Daniel Lücking holds a degree in cultural (MA) and online journalism (BA) and has been working as a research assistant for a member of the Bundestag for Der LINKE since 2022. As a journalist, he intensively accompanied the NSA and Breitscheidplatz committees of inquiry in the Bundestag for several years with live tickers, podcasts and articles and also works as an editor at ND-Der Tag on security and defense policy issues. He currently writes for KONKRET magazine from time to time. His time in the German Armed Forces with several deployments in Afghanistan as an editor for the German-Afghan radio project “Voice of freedom” - Sada-e-Azadi - not only sharpened his eye for reporting on the military and from war and crisis zones, but also for the consequences of deployments for all those involved. The picture that whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning showed of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is closer to Lücking's experiences than the official government press releases.