In Guantanamo Airs: Irregularly
In Guantanamo Status: Airing
vodo releases david miller's 'in guantanamo': a premiere filesharing release
documentary, 2009, 22mins
vodo is proud to present a premiere release: 'in guantanamo' by david miller.
‘could be the saviour of budding film-makers...’ - the independent, uk.
'i hope a lot of filmmakers give vodo a try.' - ted hope, producer, 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon'
following the stunning success of ivo gormley's us now, distributed to 250,000 downloaders in around two weeks, vodo.net has gone live with its second release: in guantanamo, by david miller. the film explores the us military's presentation of the infamous detention camp during a three day tour granted the filmmaker in 2008. it is a premiere release and was produced in conjunction with vodo & prsnl pictures.
a distribution system for the post-copyright age, vodo harnesses the power of filesharing for filmmakers and other creators. its revolutionary coalition of p2p sites and services promises unprecedented reach of the kind previously only possible through mainstream media.
what is vodo?
'vodo could be a valuable tool for indie filmmakers who recognize that obscurity is a much bigger threat to their efforts than piracy.' - mike masnick, techdirt.
founded by jamie king, one of the figures behind the well-known filesharing documentary steal this film (www.stealthisfilm.com), vodo brings filmmakers together with the distribution power of the filesharing community. it aims to offer fresh, quality films on a free-to-share basis, promoted and distributed through a 'coalition' of filesharing partners that includes big names like the pirate bay, mininova, miro, torrentfreak, veehd, isohunt, plube, oneddl vuze and and frostwire, amongst many others.
'together, the filesharing community has a distribution capacity that rivals and even exceeds that of the mainstream media,' says king. 'vodo leverages that power for the benefit of filmmakers and other creators. by sharing films freely through the most popular and fastest growing filesharing sites, we're building audiences in the hundreds of thousands for our artists. that has material value for these filmmakers, through raised profile, donations and marketing. it's a win-win situation and it's the future of distributing media after copyright.'
vodo lets creators manage their own donation links, choosing their own payment provider; all donations go directly to the filmmaker. regular supporters of the vodo project receive access to all the films being considered for release and can contribute to the selection process.
vodo aims to release at least one film per month during the rest of 2009 and 2010. king says that fiction titles, animation shorts and even stand-up comedy will also be on the distribution list. 'during 2010 vodo will build out a series of revenue opportunities for its creators, with the free-to-share model at their core,' he explains.
about 'in guantanamo'
guantanamo naval base, 'gitmo', covers forty five square miles of cuba inside an area under a controversial 'permanent lease' to the united states. since 2002, the base has become synonymous with its detainment facilities for suspected terrorists. although barack obama has given orders for the detention camp to be closed, the facilities remain open to this day. david miller's quiet, powerful film is the result of three days the filmmaker spent touring the camps in May 2008 as part of a small group of media representatives allowed there. although the event was presented as a chance to 'see inside' the working of guantanamo, it was in fact a carefully staged pr exercise designed to yield predictable, stale, controlled media images.
the film was produced in 2008/2009 in conjunction with yvonne ridley, prsnl pictures and the vodo team. special thanks to editor luca lucarini.
in guantanamo is released via vodo under a creative commons non-commerical no-derivs attribution license. the filmmaker does not permit remixes but would like the work to be shared freely for non-commercial purposes.
about the team
vodo collaborators include nils hellberg of piratbyran (sweden, design). rama cosentino of burnstation (argentina, programming), and adnan hadzi (goldmiths college, uk, research) with programming support by dan o' huiginn (uk). members of the advisory board include ashwin navin, ex-ceo of bittorrent inc., and peter sunde of the pirate bay. vodo, which has been in development since 2008, has been produced in conjunction with the channel 4 british documentary film foundation, with the support of arts council uk, emerald fund and goldsmith's college, london.
