WITNESS
NOMINATED | 2013 INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION (IDA) AWARDS | Best Limited Series
OFFICIAL SELECTION | 2012 VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
Exec. Producer: Michael Mann
Director: David Frankham, Abdallah Omeish
Production: HBO Documentary, Bluelight Media, Forward Pass, Little Puppet Productions
Mako edited two (2) episodes: "WITNESS: LIBYA" and "WITNESS: RIO"
SYNOPSIS | "WITNESS: LIBYA"
Michael Christopher Brown has been to Libya five times during the conflicts that brought down Gaddafi’s rule. Now, the revolution is over, but the chaos has only begun; the current situation in Libya is even more complicated. Internecine fighting continues, not unexpectedly. After 42 years of Gaddafi and no democratic tradition, Libya was not going to magically turn into Connecticut. On an earlier trip, in April 2011, Brown was in Misrata with veteran photo journalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros. He remembers having an uneasy feeling, saying, “The city was like a shooting gallery that day.” Then a mortar round struck nearby, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed, and Brown was wounded. In WITNESS: LIBYA, Brown is in the extreme moments of present-day chaos and reliving the loss of his friends and mentors.
SYNOPSIS | "WITNESS: RIO"
Though Rio de Janeiro will host the Summer Olympics in 2016, the city currently remains crippled by a war raging between police and powerful drug gangs. Over 2,000 Brazilian military have taken to the streets in a largest offensive in decades. They are taking on the Red Command and Amigos de Amigos, two powerful gangs, in an attempt to regain control of the city’s hilltop favelas before the world’s eyes focus on Brazil as it hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The powerful drug gangs have fought back with a series of urban terror attacks on cars, buses and police stations. Several journalists have been murdered. Photographer Eros Hoagland is one of only a few willing to venture into the dangerous favelas like Mangueira, which overlooks the Olympic stadium. Mysteries are revealed: In some areas of “pacification,” Red Command have been warned in advance and have already left for more remote parts. Rio’s murder rate is said to be falling, yet missing persons cases are dramatically on the rise. “Is this ‘social cleansing’?,” Hoagland asks. “Where are the bodies?” As he journeys deeper into the dangerous streets he finds some of the answers – disturbing images of bodies in alleys, buried in wells or burned beyond recognition.