Theaters of War
| Theaters of War | |
|---|---|
 First edition | |
| Directed by | Roger Stahl |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Edited by | |
Production company | Chiasmus Films |
| Distributed by | |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Theaters of War is a 2022 American documentary film that probes the influence of the Pentagon and CIA in shaping Hollywood and television scripts. The film examines a trove of internal state documents in addition to interviewing academics, government officials, veterans, and industry players like Oliver Stone.[1][2]
Production
The film is directed, edited, and narrated by Communication Studies professor Roger Stahl and co-produced by Matthew Alford, Tom Secker and Sebastian Kaempf. Source material consists of thousands of pages of internal state documents acquired by Tom Secker through the Freedom of Information Act and thousands more acquired by Roger Stahl from various archival sites. Some case studies draw analysis from Matthew Alford and Tom Secker's National Security Cinema and David Robb's Operation Hollywood.[3][4][5]
Reception
The film's release coincided with the release of the military-supported blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, which Stahl wrote about in an editorial for the Los Angeles Times.[6] After selling on online platforms, Theaters of War premiered at the 2022 Lone Star Film Festival and later won Best Feature Documentary at the 2023 I Will Tell Festival.[7][8] CounterPunch called it a "fantastic new film [that performs] an important public service."[9] Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and journalist David Sirota called it a "must-see documentary."[10] Journalist and media watchdog Norman Solomon described it as "dramatic smoking-gun evidence of methodical and deadly manipulation."[11] Comedian Alexei Sayle discussed the film's content before joking about how the CIA would rewrite ITV's soap opera Emmerdale in an episode of Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar.[12] Chris Moukarbel featured the film in his 2024 documentary The Honey Trap on Paramount+.
See also
References
- ^ "Top Gun for hire: why Hollywood is the US military's best wingman". The Guardian. May 26, 2022.
- ^ Beijing’s Movie War Propaganda—and Washington’s. FAIR. December 31, 2021. Reprinted in Alternet, January 1, 2022.
- ^ "Theaters of War". Media Education Foundation. January 1, 2025.
- ^ "Abolish the Military-Entertainment Complex". jacobin.com.
- ^ "How the Pentagon dictates Hollywood storylines". Middle East Eye.
- ^ Stahl, Roger (May 30, 2022). "Op-Ed: Why does the Pentagon give a helping hand to films like 'Top Gun'?". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Riveting new doc "Theaters of War" is grabbing international attention". Media Education Foundation. December 14, 2023.
- ^ Barricks, Hannah (November 10, 2022). "Festival-Goers Guide to the Lone Star Film Festival". Fort Worth Magazine.
- ^ The Pentagon and CIA Have Shaped Thousands of Hollywood Movies into Super Effective Propaganda https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/10/the-pentagon-and-cia-have-shaped-thousands-of-hollywood-movies-into-super-effective-propaganda/ January 10, 2022
- ^ Sirota, David (June 8, 2022). "America's Top Gun Problem".
- ^ "Theaters of War". Media Education Foundation. January 1, 2025.
- ^ Secker, Tom (October 31, 2022). "Theaters of War on Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar". Spy Culture.