You Don't Like the Truth to serve as evidence in resuming Guantanamo trial

Toute suite after Thursday’s world premiere in Montreal at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema, the documentary You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantanamo will become “evidence” in the resuming military trial in late October in Cuba, and compete in the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) in November.

“Part of the evidence going to the jury is this documentary,” Canadian lawyer Dennis Edney told Screen after the premiere of the film, which was shot mainly in English by two French-Canadian filmmakers — Luc Cote and Patricio Henriquez, who attended the premiere with Edney. 

“I leave tomorrow for Guantanamo,” Edney added, confirming he is Canadian detainee Omar Khadr’s attorney in the case which is reportedly now scheduled to resume hearing Oct 27 after a number of delays.

Reminiscent of Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line or Standard Operating Procedure, You Don’t Like The Truth (a statement actually made by Khadr in the interrogation footage) is a politically loaded documentary. It combines raw interrogation footage (released by the Canadian government in 2008) of the then 16-year-old Khadr in Guantanamo (2003) with recent analysis by psychiatrists, lawyers, journalists, soldiers and most notably, an acknowledged torturer of Khadr himself (Damien Cosetti).

 Films Transit’s Jan Rofekamp, who has world rights, also attended the FNC Focus program opener.