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Sunday, November 23, 2008, 8:00 pm, $100 billion in annual revenues and 70,000 employees in Iaq alone, the private military industry is booming, yet few cvilians know anything about it. Its time we all started asking the question: What are we really risking by allowing profit-motivated corporations into the business of war? - Film directors Bicanic and Bourque
Shadow Company by Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque
Shadow Company
by Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque (Canada, 2007, 85 minutes)
Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourques Shadow Company examines the profession of the private security contractor, the most recent euphemism for the age-old profession of the mercenary. Nick Bicanic trained with Blackwater in order to make this film which follows some of the private security contractors in Iraq, where the use of private military companies (PMCs) is far more extensive than in any other war in modern history. The film also explores other sites of contemporary conflict where mercenaries play a significant role and examines the history of the profession through interviews with war journalists, historians, ethicists, soldiers and mercenaries themselves.
With over
$100 billion in annual revenues and 70,000 employees in Iaq alone, the private military industry is booming, yet few cvilians know anything about it. Its time we all started asking the question: What are we really risking by allowing profit-motivated corporations into the business of war? – Film directors Bicanic and Bourque
Fascinating, evenhanded documentary about the big business of guns for hire. Flourishes of style – comic-book illustrations, video-game scenes and news footage swirled together in an Oliver Stone-esque mélange give a flavor of the personalities involved while academics and security experts fill in the historical and political context. – LA Weekly
Kino21 regrets that due to unavoidable circumstances concerning international screening rights, we are not able to screen Romuald Karmakars Warheads for its final HOW WE FIGHT: Mercenaries program. Instead, we are substituting a free screening of the also excellent and excellently titled Canadian film Shadow Company, a work which takes us back where we started the series: Iraq today.