Annie Machon

Review of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

A review on "Cinepolitics" of the new film of John Le Carre's classic spy novel, and its continuing relevance:

 

New Film by Ryan JW Smith

I had the pleasure recently of working with a talented film maker called Ryan JW Smith, and his partner/producer, Brianna. 

Brianna is an artist by training, and also a mean hand at producing. Ryan seems a bit of a renaissance man - film maker, poet, writer, actor.  In fact, he wrote a play called "New World Order" in, I believe, iambic pentameter, and performed it to packed audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe a couple of years ago, and recently had a short film called  "Army Strong" screened at a Polish film festival.

Anyway, they are in the middle of making a feature-length film about the post-apocalyptic, post-9/11 world we all share - the lies of intelligence and government, the illegal wars, the erosion of our democratic rights.  Just the sort of light material that I like to work with - and certainly what I think is of vital importance. 

I'm working on helping to promote the film later this year, and organise some screening tours for them across Europe and North America.

I think it's going to be a very powerful wake-up call to us all.  Watch this space for more news.

Here's a trailer Ryan and Brianna cut from my interviews with them called "Using Her Intelligence".  I like:

FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds

I strongly recommend you take the time to watch this film about FBI whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds. 

"Kill the Messenger"  joins some interesting dots, not just about what might have been going on round Sibel's case, but also adds a different perspective to the notorious outing of CIA officer, Valerie Plame.

Of course, a film that investigates how the might of the state can be used to stifle the legitimate dissent of a whistleblower will always resonate with me. 

Same message, different country.