"Truth Detectives"
(a film by Anja Reiß)
to find on Facebook Truth Detectives
All around the world, human rights activists, journalists and lawyers collect evidence of human rights violations - with the help of the people affected. Using mobile devices to film and photograph their experiences, they become digital witnesses. Amateur videos of bombs exploding, people being abused or even shot dead, are distributed almost in real time via social media. Aside from the capabilities of modern mobile phones, access to satellite images and GPS data is now also considerably easier. In social networks, it is possible to track almost every move a person makes.
Digital investigators use various forensic methods, from internet tracking to geolocating, to analyze and verify this deluge of images, supporting them with other evidence and scientific expertise.
These criminological investigations have only one purpose: to bring to justice those who violate human rights.
On missions in the world's conflict and crisis zones, we learn about these technologies and the specialists who use them. We meet investigative teams and document their research into the war in Ukraine, the destruction of Mali's cultural heritage, the search for mass graves in Columbia and the "Black Friday" bomb attacks in Gaza. We witness the entire investigative procedure, from training and visiting the scene of the crime, securing and analysing forensic evidence, to presenting their evidence in court.
Director: Anja Reiss
Director of Photography: Jonathan Saruk
Editor: Jann Anderegg
Motion Design: Carmen Büchner
Composer: John Gürtler
Sounddesign: Oscar Stiebitz, Dominik Leube
Executive Producer: Brigitta Schübeler
Commissioning Editor: Christiane Hinz
World Sales: New Docs
Documentary 86/52 min, 2017
Produced by doc.station Medienproduktion for WDR/arte
Country of production: Germany
Locations: Ukraine/ Israel/ Gaza/ Columbia/ Netherlands/ Great Britain/ Switzerland
Languages: Ukrainian/ Russian/ Hebrew/ Arabic/ English/ French/ Spanish
Subtitles: English
Voiceover: German/ French
Festivals (Selection):
International Film Days Hof, Germany 2017
Biberacher Filmfestspiele, Germany 2017
International Filmfestival San Jose, Costa Rica 2017
Watch Docs, Warsaw, Poland 2017
Cinema Verité, Tehran, Iran 2017
International Documentary Filmfestival Peloponnisos, Kalamata, Greek 2018
Movies that Matter, The Hague, Netherlands 2018
Broadcasted on arte 20th of March