Deborah Scranton‘s latest “virtual embed” documentary film, Bad Voodoo’s War, premieres April 1, 2008, on PBS’s Frontline and online. From the Frontline site:
In June 2007, as the American military surge reached its peak, a band of National Guard infantrymen who call themselves “The Bad Voodoo Platoon” was deployed to Iraq. To capture a vivid, first-person account of the new realities of war in Iraq for Frontline and ITVS, director Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes) created a “virtual embed” with the platoon, supplying cameras to the soldiers so they could record and tell the story of their war. The film intimately tracks the veteran soldiers of “Bad Voodoo” through the daily grind of their perilous mission, dodging deadly IEDs, grappling with the political complexities of dealing with Iraqi security forces, and battling their fatigue and their fears.
The show airs on New York’s Channel 13 on April 1 at 9pm, and April 5 at 5am. Find air dates in your area, and watch the preview >>
For more background, check out Deborah Scranton’s TEDTalk about The War Tapes, her groundbreaking “virtual embed” documentary about Charlie Company, a team of National Guardsmen during Operation Iraqi Freedom, as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty.
Titles for Bad Voodoo’s War were created by TEDster Jakob Trollbäck, whose own TEDTalk will be appearing on TED.com this month.