4/25/2005|||111442215751477801||||||
HONOURS LIST

Because I don't pay too much attention to gong shows, I only just noticed that Adam Curtis's documentary series, "The Power of Nightmares" won the Factual Series category at the BAFTA awards. Form beats content, again. It now looks as if the programme will follow the Michael Moore trail to Cannes.

Ahead of screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival, Curtis set out his stall last week in The Village Voice:

The film touched a nerve—a public feeling that there was something not quite right or real about the fundamentals of the war on terror. No U.S. networks have so far expressed any interest in showing it.

As a matter of fact, I think the series should be shown in America, if only to generate a reasoned debate about its, er, eccentric thesis. (Curtis likes to imply that only neo-con "outriders" disliked the programme. I don't think David Aaronovitch quite falls into that category. Sadly, most of the UK coverage that I saw was woefully uncritical.) In a BBC Q&A, Curtis laments the lack of a response from Tony Blair. But he does point out (and I assume he's being ironic again) that he has one or two VIPs on his side:

...[T]he Archbishop of Canterbury liked it and the President of Venezuela has asked for a tape.
If you haven't yet seen the series, try this link.

UPDATE: Melanie Phillips has more. She also highlights Tom Gross’s Jerusalem Post article(registration required) on London’s latest hit play, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie”. As I predicted the other day, the Royal Court production has been a big success with the youth audience.

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2005/04/honours-list-because-i-dont-pay-too.html|||4/25/2005 11:11:00 am|||||||||
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