''The Pirate Tapes'' is a documentary filmed by Somali-Canadian
Mohamed Ashareh in
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
and edited and produced by Palmira PDC in Canada.
The film follows Ashareh, as he infiltrates a Somali pirate operation, giving a first person view of how they recruit and organize. The documentary premiered at the
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...
in 2011.
It was picked up for distribution by
HBO Documentary Films
HBO Documentary Films is an American production and distribution company and a division of the cable television network HBO that produces non-fiction feature films and miniseries.
The division releases between 10 and 15 documentaries per year fo ...
.
The Plot
Ashareh lives undercover with
pirates in Somalia for months during 2009, filming their activities with a small camera hanging around his neck.
Some of the filming was done by a second cameraman. Ashareh was frequently in danger, and at one point they were both arrested and spent time in a Somali jail.
Reception
The film has been heavily criticized for shortcomings attributed to Ashereh's lack of journalistic and filming experience.
There has also been a dispute between Ashareh and Palmira PDC over the rights to the footage filmed by Ashereh.
Andrew Moniz of Palmira PDC maintains the contracts "clearly" state Palmira would own the footage.
References
External links
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Piracy in Somalia
Documentary films about crime
Canadian documentary films
Somalian documentary films
Pirate films
2011 films
2011 documentary films
English-language Somalian films
2010s English-language films
2010s Canadian films
English-language documentary films
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