July 10th Film Insider Series: Official Secrets
Exclusive Screening of
OFFICIAL SECRETS with Post-Screening Discussion with Director Gavin Hood
Synopsis: She risked everything to stop an unjust war. Her government called her a traitor. Based on world-shaking true events, Official Secrets tells the gripping story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a British intelligence specialist whose job involves routine handling of classified information. One day in 2003, in the lead up to the Iraq War, Gun receives a memo from the NSA with a shocking directive: the United States is enlisting Britain’s help in collecting compromising information on United Nations Security Council members in order to blackmail them into voting in favor of an invasion of Iraq. Unable to stand by and watch the world be rushed into an illegal war, Gun makes the gut-wrenching decision to defy her government and leak the memo to the press. So begins an explosive chain of events that will ignite an international firestorm, expose a vast political conspiracy, and put Gun and her family directly in harm’s way.
Cast: Keira Knightly, Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith, Adam Bakri, Matthew Goode, John Heffernan
Directed by Gavin Hood
SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
5:30 Cocktail Party
6:30 Screening & Discussion with Director Gavin Hood
8:30 Post-Reception
Cocktail party will feature bites by Craft Pizza, The Melting Pot, and Eureka! Guests will enjoy healthy frozen desserts from Frill, CBD infused lemonade mocktails by Urbn Leaf, craft cocktails by Liberty Call Distillery, complimentary wine and beer by Stella Artois. The post-screening reception will include champagne and desserts by The Cravory.
HOW TO ATTEND:
VIP Member Pass holders, Film Insider Series Pass holders and Patron Circle Members will receive their exclusive invitation via email. Please RSVP quickly as this screening will be full.
We invite you to join us! Get a VIP Member Pass to attend.
To support the San Diego International Film Festival all year long, join our Patron Circle.
To learn more about the San Diego International Film Festival and how you can attend CLICK HERE.
To learn more about our Film Insider Series CLICK HERE.
GAVIN HOOD – DIRECTOR
About Gavin Hood:
Gavin Hood first came to prominence in the U.S. as the screenwriter and director of the acclaimed Academy Award-winning South African film, TSOTSI. Prior to becoming a filmmaker, he graduated with degrees in Economics and Law from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. After a brief spell at a law firm and a few years working as an actor in Johannesburg, he moved to Los Angeles to study screenwriting and directing at UCLA.
After completing his studies, Gavin returned to South Africa, where he got his first writing and directing work making educational dramas for the national Department of Health, which was just beginning to feel the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For his work in generating greater awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS through educational television, Gavin won an Artes Award (a South African Emmy.)
His first low budget feature, A REASONABLE MAN, was inspired by a true story of ritual murder and based on a series of court cases he’d studied while at law school that dealt with the question of whether a genuinely held religious belief could ever be admitted as a defense to a crime. On the strength of this film, Gavin was named by Variety as one of their “Ten Director’s to Watch” in 2000.
In 2005 Gavin wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning film TSOTSI based on a novel by acclaimed South African playwright, Athol Fugard. The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award, and won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. TSOTSI was followed by RENDITION, which focused on the U.S. practice of covertly sending terrorist suspects to be interrogated in foreign countries with less rigorous regulations for the humane treatment of prisoners. This was followed by X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, starring Hugh Jackman and then ENDER’S GAME, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford and Sir Ben Kingsley.
EYE IN THE SKY, a dramatic thriller set in the world of modern drone warfare, starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, and Alan Rickman, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015. It was released in March 2016 in the U.S. to overwhelming critical acclaim and has generated considerable public discussion around the moral and ethical questions raised by the use of armed UAV’s – unmanned aerial vehicles, or “drones.”
In October 2016 Gavin was presented with the 2016 Sidney Lumet Award for Integrity in Entertainment at the annual Human Rights First dinner in New York for his work on EYE IN THE SKY.
