Guantanamo's Child

Synopsis

The documentary features the story of Omar Khadr, who was captured in 2002 by Americans in Afghanistan and was charged with war crimes. The film takes an in-depth look at how Khadr, at 15 years old, became the center of one of the first American war crimes trials since the 1940s through Khadr's perspective. For the first time, Omar Khadr was allowed to speak for himself on camera. Khadr pleaded guilty to five war crimes in October 2010 for a plea deal that gave him a chance to possibly return to Canada and an eight-year sentence. Omar Khadr spent a decade at Guantanamo,"Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr features unprecedented access and exclusive interviews with Khadr during his first few days of freedom in Edmonton, where he was released on bail on May 7, 2015". The film is in part based on Michelle Shepard’s book Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr; the documentary follows through the timeline between Khadr's childhood and his time at Guantanamo till his current life of freedom.

Production

The film was produced by White Pine Pictures, in association with Al Jazeera and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A version of the film aired on Al Jazeera English in June 2015. It had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. In December, the film was announced as part of TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten screening series of the so-called ten best Canadian feature films of the year.

Reception

Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr was nominated for an Emmy at the 37th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. The film was nominated in the Outstanding Coverage of Current News Story—Long Form category, along with PBS Frontline projects, Secrets, Politics and Torture and Inside Assad’s Syria. The documentary also received the Donald Brittain Award and the award for Best Direction in a Documentary Program at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards.

References

References

1. "GuantanamosChild Press Kit".
2. Stephen Hunt. (26 September 2015). "CIFF: Guantanamo's Child features first interview with Omar Khadr". Calgary Herald.
3. (2015). "Guantanamo's Child: Omar Khadr (programme note)". Toronto International Film Festival.
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150808015948/http://www.etcanada.com/blogs/etc_151714/guantanamos-child-omar-khadr-set-to-make-its-world-premiere-at-tiff/film/ "'Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr' Set To Make Its World Premiere At TIFF"]. ''[[ET Canada]]'', August 5, 2015.
5. (February 2022)
6. Peter Howell. (5 August 2015). "Finally knowing the real Omar Khadr". Toronto Star.
7. [http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2015/06/guantanamo-child-omar-khadr-150531111517474.html "Guantanamo's Child - Omar Khadr"]. [[Al Jazeera English]], June 7, 2015.
8. "2015 Award Winners Announced".
9. [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/tiff-reveals-canadas-top-ten-film-festival-line-up/article27649543/ "TIFF reveals Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival line-up"]. ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', December 8, 2015.
10. "Guantanamo's Child, Outbreak receive Emmy noms".
11. (7 March 2017). "Gala Honouring Excellence in Non-Fiction Programming".