Amnesty international campaigns to stop torture

Human rights group Amnesty International which has more than a quarter of a million members and supporters in the UK and over two million worldwide, successfully campaigns for individuals at risk and on issues such as abolishing the death penalty and torture, controlling the arms trade and stopping violence against women.

As part of their latest campaign Amnesty International have released a new hard-hitting short film about torture as part of its 'Unsubscribe' campaign www.unsubscribe-me.org.

Unsubscribe is a movement of people united against human rights abuses in the war on terror. Thousands of unsubscribers have now joined up. The threat of terrorism is real, but trampling over human rights and abandoning our values is not the answer.

The 90-second film, 'Stuff Of Life', will try to encourage Americans to reject the practice of 'waterboarding', the hugely controversial practice of torturing prisoners by partially drowning them. The film will initially be seen on the big screen from Friday 9th May at 50 Picturehouse cinemas nationwide.

Amnesty International UK Unsubscribe campaign manager Sara Mac Neice said, "We were thrilled at what the producers of this film came up with - it’s a shocking subject captured in an arrestingly beautiful and innovative way. Basically, this film shows you what the CIA doesn’t want you to see - the disgusting reality of half-drowning a person then calling it 'enhanced interrogation'."

The US claims waterboarding is an 'enhanced' interrogation technique, but human rights groups like Amnesty International say it amounts to torture. President George W Bush has threatened to veto any Bill that bans the CIA from using waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh interrogation methods permitted during the war on terror.

The Amnesty film looks like an advert looking from the start as though it could be promoting spring water until it is revealed that the water is being poured into a man who is fixed to a table. Producer and DJ Adam Freeland created the accompanying upbeat soundtrack.

The film was directed and produced by critically award winning film-makers Marc Hawker and Ishbel Whitaker The film’s opening water sequences were created by specialist effects company Pennicott Payne (PPL), which also worked on the famous Radiohead 'No Surprises' video. PPL used one of only two Phantom HD cameras available in Europe, which allowed them to capture shots of flowing water at ultra-slow speeds.

Director Marc Hawker said, "The film is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It had to be authentic, but waterboarding is so horrific you can only watch a few seconds of it. So the majority of the film lulls the audience into thinking it's just another advert. We show water as the giver of life - a strange, compelling image. Then the reality hits you in the stomach as we jump into real time. We wanted to create an unforgettable image. What this film achieves is a way of smashing through our expectations and showing in a radical way that this is torture!"