U.S. Under the Lens: Under the Gun + Panel Discussion
Leading up to the 2016 elections, our U.S. Under the Lens film series presents bold new documentaries tackling the most polarising and hotly debated issues set to determine the outcome of the 2016 campaign.
This screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Stephanie Soechtig via Skype and others.
In the past few years, a drastic rise in mass shootings has ripped across the United States, compounding an epidemic of gun violence. Despite a growing body count at the hands of guns, and the outpour of shock and outrage that comes with it, the Obama administration has failed to respond with meaningful action. What is keeping the two sides of this debate — those favouring stricter gun control laws and Second Amendment purists like the NRA — from finding common ground?
Filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig and Katie Couric present a documentary that is scrupulously comprehensive and decidedly fair to both sides of one of the most polarising issues at play in the 2016 elections. Searingly powerful with never-before-seen footage and eye opening analysis of the influence of the NRA, Under the Gun gives a human face to a crisis that is scarring the conscience of a nation.
Directed by: Stephanie Soechtig
Narrated by: Katie Couric
Year: 2016
Runtime: 110′
Website: AtlasFilms.com
Chair:
Paul Adams is a correspondent for the BBC World Affairs Unit, based in London. He previously served as the BBC’s world affairs correspondent in London, before moving to Washington D.C. He regularly reports for BBC News, BBC World News, BBC Radio and the BBC One bulletins from various locations around the world.
Panelists:
Andrew Feinstein is the author of the critically-acclaimed The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade which reveals the corruption and malfeasance at the heart of the global arms business, both formal and illicit. The book is already in its 9th edition across a number of languages. “The Shadow World” was short-listed for the Alan Paton Prize for Non-fiction. A documentary feature film of the book premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April 2016, and was awarded Best Documentary Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He is Executive Director of Corruption Watch – an NGO that details and exposes the impact of bribery and corruption on democracy, governance and development.
Iain Overton is Director of Investigations at the London-based charity Action on Armed Violence and an investigative journalist who has worked in over eighty countries around the world. Reporting from the killing zones of Colombia, Iraq and Somalia, he has made films for the BBC, ITN and Al Jazeera, as well as working with The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times. He was founding editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and is author of Gun Baby Gun.
Dr Leslie Vinjamuri is Director of the Centre on Conflict, Rights and Justice and a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in International Relations at SOAS, University of London. Leslie is also Chair of the International Relations Speaker Series at SOAS. Her research areas include transatlantic relations, US foreign policy, the politics of international intervention, human rights and justice, and UN Security Council Diplomacy. Leslie is currently working on a project on international responses to mass atrocities and violent conflict which, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (2015-2016).
