FOLCS is proud to have partnered with Showtime to offer a special advance screening of documentary Detainee 001. On September 9th, 2021, and in commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we were joined by Emmy® award-winning director Greg Barker for a conversation on the “American Taliban.”
When a 20-year-old Californian from the affluent enclave of Marin County was captured along with hundreds of Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan on November 25, 2001, his shocking presence set off a firestorm of controversy that continues to resonate to this day. The surreal story of John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” is explored in vivid detail in Detainee 001, a gripping documentary packed with never-before-seen footage of Lindh’s battlefield interrogations and the deadly prisoner-of-war uprising that took the life of CIA officer Mike Spann.
Watch Detainee 001: Advance Screening and Conversation here.
Greg Barker
Director
Writer, director and producer Greg Barker is drawn to strong personal narratives that explore the emotional nuance and complexities of the world we live in. His first narrative feature, Netflix’s Sergio, stars Wagner Moura, Ana de Armas and Bradley Whitford and is set in the chaotic aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It was hailed by The Hollywood Reporter as “one of those rare films (The Year of Living Dangerously and The Quiet American come to mind) in which a genuine concern for geopolitics coexists perfectly well with romance and old-fashioned moviegoing pleasures.”
Barker’s previous credits include The Final Year, a feature documentary that captures the emotions and human dynamics inside President Barack Obama’s national security team during its tumultuous last year in the White House; HBO’s Manhunt, a story of the CIA and its hunt for Osama Bin Laden (Primetime Emmy winner); the documentary version of Sergio (shortlisted for an Academy Award®, Sundance Film Festival winner); and the widely acclaimed Ghosts of Rwanda for PBS. Barker is described by The New York Times as “a filmmaker of artistic and political consequence.” Barker earned a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics, worked as a journalist in conflict zones across the Middle East and has filmed in over 65 countries. He lives in Los Angeles where he raises three children with his wife, Dr. Harriet Fraser.