Control Room

The bristling documentary about Al Jazeera, the satellite news network, during the American invasion of Iraq is a seminal film that explores how truth is gathered, presented, and ultimately created by those who deliver it. Control Room goes behind the scenes and stirs up a stew of contradictions by asking the vexing question, "What is truth?"

Directed by Jehane Noujaim (Startup.com), an award winning Arab-American filmmaker who has lived within and embraced both worlds, Control Room provides a balanced view of Al Jazeera's presentation of the second Iraq war to their worldwide Arab audience, and in so doing calls into question many of the prevailing images and positions offered up by the U.S. news media. Control Room's view inside Al Jazeera - a network branded "Osama Bin Laden's mouthpiece" and subject of intense criticism from U.S. administraton officials for showing images of Iraqi casualties and American POWs that American viewers never saw - suggests that its views on news reportage might actually be more in tune with democratic ideals than those of its Western counterparts.