In Bitter Lake, BBC documentary maker Adam Curtis consciously tells a complex story - his answer to the excessive dumbing-down of politics and the media that he sees all around him. Bitter Lake, which contains a wealth of fascinating archive material, deals principally with the post-war history of Afghanistan: how the country played a pivotal role in the Cold War, with ever-shifting political affiliations in its relationships with the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia. A history that is all about oil, power and Wahhabism: the influential, ultra-conservative Islamic ideology that plays a considerable role in political relations in the Middle East.
Bitter Lake provides an overview full of irony; revolutionaries who grew up in the West and proper English ladies showing off their Afghan hounds. A story of decisions that go wrong and naive errors of judgment; a complex story in which, according to Curtis, it is not enough to think in simple terms of good versus bad.
On Tue 27 Jan before the film screening with the Modern Propaganda Talk in which Adam Curtis shares his vision on the modern way of propaganda lining.
- Director
- Adam Curtis
- Premiere
- World premiere
- Country of production
- United Kingdom
- Year
- 2015
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2015
- Length
- 135'
- Medium
- DCP
- Language
- English
- Producer
- Lucy Kelsall
- Production Company
- BBC
- Sales
- BBC
- Screenplay
- Adam Curtis
- Cinematography
- Lucy Kelsall
- Editor
- Adam Curtis