EMILY GRANDCOLAS

      CLASSIFIED is an animated sequence based on the torture of Guantanamo detainee Ammar al Baluchi (Ali Abdul Aziz Ali), depicted in the 2009 film Zero Dark Thirty. The scene was screened by Ammar’s defense during his 9/11 trail in February 2016. The screening was in response to being denied access to information regarding Ammar’s torture that was shared with the director and writer of the film.

     The piece plays upon the use of animated sequences in documentary films to illustrate difficult concepts. By creating this animated sequence and putting it in the public domain, CLASSIFIED gives documentary filmmakers the opportunity to use information that was exclusively shared with Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers. They are free to share information with the public through their own work, exempt from expectations or conditions from the government.
     

     CLASSIFIED calls the relationship between Hollywood and the American Government into question and examines who gets access to information and why.

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Achievements:

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Premiered at the Gayle and Ed Roski Masters of Fine Arts Gallery

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Featured at the Fisher Museum of Art