Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space

Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space is a documentary film by Denis Delestrac with a music score by Amon Tobin. The film deals with the issue of space weapons and their politics, featuring interviews with several key United States military personal, academics such as Noam Chomsky and others, including Martin Sheen. The film won the Best Documentary award at the 2009 Whistler Film Festival and has been selected in a number of international film festivals.[1][2]

Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space
Directed byDenis Delestrac
Produced byLucie Tremblay, Jeremy Edwardes, Brice Garnier, ARTE France
Written byDenis Delestrac, Harold Crooks
Narrated byMikela Jay
Music byAmon Tobin
CinematographyJean-Pierre Saint-Louis
Edited byDavid LeGuerrier
Distributed byFilms Transit International
Running time
85 minutes
CountryCanada - France
LanguageEnglish - French

Synopsis

The prospect of Earth being ruled from space is no longer science-fiction. The dream of the original Dr. Strangelove, Wernher von Braun (from Nazi rocket-scientist to NASA director) has survived every US administration since World War II and is coming to life. Today the technology exists to weaponize space, a massive American industry thrives, and nations are maneuvering for advantage.

Production

Among the challenges faced by the production team was the difficulty to get the authorization to bring a camera inside the Air Force Space Command bases and other US military and government locations. After four months of investigation, the US Department of Defense's public relations office decided to grant Denis Delestrac and his crew the access to the locations they had requested. It is the first time most of the Air Force Space Command bases have been filmed by a civilian crew.

Locations

Interviews
Martin Sheen at an anti-war protest in October 2007.

The film features interviews with prominent weaponization of space advocates, space policy analysts, politicians, diplomats, military officials and peace activists. The following individuals were interviewed for the film:

Versions

Theatrical version

The 85-minute theatrical version was screened at international film festivals since November 2009 and released in theaters across Canada in June 2010.

ARTE version

A 76-minute version, titled "Pax Americana ou la conquête militaire de l'espace", was created for French-German broadcaster and co-producer ARTE. It was broadcast in March 2010 and was followed by a debate on the weaponization of space including French TV host Annie-Claude Elkaïm with Samuel Black (Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington DC), Otfried Nassauer (Berlin Information Center for Transatlantic Security, Berlin) and Xavier Pasco (Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, Paris)

52 minutes version

A 52-minute version was edited for the French-Canadian public broadcaster Radio Canada (dubbed and narrated in French) and for the international TV market (in English).

CBC version

This 43-minute version, titled "Masters of Space", premiered on CBC-TV and repeated on CBC News Network in April 2010 as part of the scientific and environmental program "The Nature of Things", presented and narrated by acclaimed Canadian environmental activist David Suzuki.

Festivals and awards
  • Best Documentary Award, Whistler Film Festival 2009 (Canada)
  • Official Selection, International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam « IDFA » 2009 (Netherlands)
  • Official Selection, Festival international de programmes audiovisuels « FIPA » 2010 (Biarritz, France)
  • Official Selection, Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2010 (Greece)
  • Official Selection, Victoria Film Festival, 2010 (Canada)
  • Official Selection, Planete Doc Review Film Festival, 2010 (Varsaw, Poland)
  • Official Selection, « DOXA » Documentary Festival, 2010 (Vancouver, Canada)
  • Official Selection, London International Documentary Festival, 2010 (London, UK)
  • Official Selection, Sci-Fi London, 2010 (London, UK)
  • Official Selection, Madrid International Documentary Festival, 2010 (Madrid, Spain)
  • Official Selection, Encounters International Documentary Festival, 2010 (Cape Town, South Africa)
  • Opening Film, Oxdox International Documentary Festival, 2010 (Oxford, UK)
  • Official Selection, DocAviv International Documentary Festival, 2010 (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack was composed by electronic artist and DJ Amon Tobin who created the Pax Americana Theme and other exclusive tracks for the movie. Additionally, Pax Americana features a number of artists signed by the London-based label Ninja Tune like Coldcut, Blockhead, Bonobo and Neotropic as well as Montréal based DJ Champion.

References
  1. Dodds, Katherine (2010-05-11). "PAX AMERICANA and the Weaponization of Space tonight at DOXA in Vancouver!". rabble.ca. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20100108024433/http://www.whistlerfilmfestival.com/blogs/2009/12/06/and-the-winners-are/. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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