Mediastan (2013)

On the road with Wikileaks.

Director:

Johannes Wahlström

Writers:

Julian Assange (concept by), Katerina Suvorova (concept by)

Stars:

Julian Assange, Vladimir Gubanov, Sultanbek Joumagulov

Cast

Credited cast:
Julian Assange	...	Self
Vladimir Gubanov	...	Self
Sultanbek Joumagulov	...	Self
Bill Keller	...	Self
Vladimir Komarov	...	Self
Fedor Lyass	...	Self
Anne-Charlotte Malm	...	Self
Marat Mamadshoev	...	Self
Alina Mityushova	...	Self
Enayat Najazafida	...	Self
Mehrabon Odinaev	...	Self
Babak Qayum	...	Self
Alan Rusbridger	...	Self
Rassul Rysmambetov	...	Self
Andrey Skirka	...	Self

Storyline

The bleak, mountainous terrain and quiet, lonely roads set the tone for this compelling venture into the heart of 'the Stans'. The first stop is Asia Plus, a newspaper in Tajikistan. "If we were to talk too freely about our taboos, what kind of taboo would that be?" asks the Editor-in-Chief, Marat Mamadshoev, with a smile. "We'd rather get approval from our superior first..." he says nervously. "The Washington DC overlord of Asia Plus!" Given the go-ahead, the team pours over the material. Speaking over Skype, Assange warns, "Read all of it. If you go searching for particular things you will bring your own prejudice to the material." But as the Wikileaks team move on to their next meeting, soon the call comes, "the problem is that there are many things in the cables that we cannot publish...because we will get into trouble". At the offices of the Kazakh Telegraph Agency the team receive a more frosty reception. "Why have you come here? If an unskilled man gets access to this data it ...

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Taglines:

A WikiLeaks Road Movie

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Quotes

Julian Assange: Where you approached by the British Government or the US Government?
Alan Rusbridger: Before November 29th ? We had... It was decided that the New York Times would approach the US Government proactively. Separately we had two sets of communication with the American Government. One was via the Embassy in London who came along to see what we could tell them which was not very much because we already had the channel through the New York Times. The second channel was a phone call setup by the State Department but ...

User Reviews

Excellent documentary about pressures on media publishers

The first thing that struck me about this documentary was how beautifully it was filmed. The stunning snow-capped mountain scenery of Central Asia in the opening shots got me hooked immediately. This is a road film that travels through some of the most remote and rugged territory in the world that is rarely seen by people in the West. It is where the old Silk Road used to run between Europe and China that is now a geopolitical battleground between East and West.

An intrepid team of Wikileaks supporters tours the capital cities of the "Stans", the Muslim states of former Soviet Central Asia, looking for local media organisations to partner with and to publish Cablegate files relevant to their countries. The interviews with local editors and journalists provide some sobering insights into the pressures on them from both local state authorities and their corporate owners. The negotiations with editors also shed light on the Wikileaks' approach to disclosures and the need to protect vulnerable people via redactions.

The team--including Swedish director Johannes Wahlstrom--enters a Swedish military base in northern Afghanistan and films a memorable encounter with the person in charge of development aid about the reality of her role in this military intervention.

The film ends up back in the West interviewing editors in the UK and US about the pressures they also face--hammering home the fact that it is not just publishers in dictatorships that face problems.

Highly recommended.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish Russian English

Release Date:

11 October 2014 (UK)

Also Known As:

Медиастан

Filming Locations:

Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sixteen Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1