WASHINGTON, March 1, 2018: The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is proud to announce that
The New Barbarianism, a CSIS Global Health Policy Center (GHPC) feature documentary, makes its PBS debut on March 24, 2018 on WSBE-TV (Rhode Island PBS).
This original film puts a powerful spotlight on the dramatic surge in deliberate, targeted violence against medical and other humanitarian workers, across multiple open-ended wars, in flagrant defiance of the Geneva Conventions. It dissects what is driving this “new normal” in warfare in the age of counter-terror, while detailing the death, destruction and mass migration this widely embraced tactic of war now creates. It both reveals the formidable challenges to stemming the violence and profiles the continued, courageous efforts of diplomats, medical providers, humanitarians and advocates to create protection and accountability.
“This important film is not easy to watch, but the reality it exposes is a story that needs to be told,” said David W. Piccerelli, President of Rhode Island PBS. “We are proud to present the award-winning story that touches us from the other side of the globe.”
“We are delighted and grateful that Rhode Island PBS is taking this step. It is a great opportunity for us to expand the reach of our film, at this moment when violence in Syria against the health sector and civilians has reached new highs. We welcome feedback from Rhode Island PBS viewers. Interest among audiences in American and European settings where we have screened the film has been huge, exceeding all expectations,” said J. Stephen Morrison, CSIS Senior Vice President and Global Health Policy Center Director. He and Emmy and Peabody winning journalist
Justin Kenny (Owner,
Small Footprint Films / Former PBS NewsHour Foreign Editor) teamed up to direct the film. Morrison was also the film’s executive producer. Kenny was the documentary’s writer.
In addition to the local presentation, Rhode Island PBS is working with the film’s team to facilitate distribution of the film to PBS stations nationally.
The 58-minute film features dozens of interviews (including
Sen. John McCain,Doctors Without Borders President
Dr. Joanne Liu, & Former British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband) and original footage obtained from inside
Syria,
Yemen and
Afghanistan. It builds on several years of extensive GHPC work on the intersection of health and security, the role of militaries, and the human tragedies seen in Syria and Yemen
.
The New Barbarianism was produced in collaboration with the CSIS Andrea C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab and is CSIS’s most ambitious video project to date.
Paul Franz (CSIS Andreas C. Dracopoulos Chair, Innovation and Creativity, Director of Technology, Ideas Lab) edited the
The New Barbarianism and was also the lead graphics/animation artist and director of photography.
The New Barbarianism – Other News
- On January 31, 2018, the Impact Docs Awards announced that The New Barbarianism had won two “Awards of Excellence” (“Feature Documentary” & “Writer/Script”) in the international film competition. The documentary is also an “Official Selection” in the upcoming “Los Angeles Film Awards,” “The Oniros Film Awards” and the “Docs Without Borders Film Festival” competitions.
- The New Barbarianism was featured at the Munich Security Conference on February 16th at a roundtable focused on "Health under Siege.” J. Stephen Morrison led a discussion by panelists Dr. Joanne Liu (President, of Doctors Without Borders), Swedish Deputy Foreign Minister Annika Soder, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Mauer and others.
- Screenings and panel discussions of The New Barbarianism will take place at Stanford University (March 5), University of California, Berkeley (March 7), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (April 5), and the House of Sweden (co-sponsored by embassies of Sweden and The Netherlands) in Washington (April 13). These screenings follow several successful earlier events at the Newseum, the National Academy of Sciences, Tufts University Fletcher School, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, the CSIS Global Security Forum and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Follow @newbarbarianism on Twitter for other event announcements.
- The New Barbarianism was featured in the December 29 2017 broadcast of the PBS NewsHour, when co-director J. Stephen Morrison discussed the crisis of attacks on hospitals with NewsHour anchor Hari Sreenivasan and Syrian American Medical Society President Dr. Ahmad Tarakji.
Additional images from the film are available here.
For media interviews, please contact CSIS Chief Communications Officer H. Andrew Schwartz (
aschwartz@csis.org/ 202.775.3242).
