Idaho International Film Festival
 

ECHELON:
THE SECRET POWER

David Korn-Brzoza
2004, France, 82 minutes
French and English with English subtitles


Echelon  

And you thought you were paranoid before...

"If you phone, fax or email a friend to say 'Let's go see Echelon: The Secret Power,' be advised, you'll doubtless end up on a list somewhere. Juicy, entertaining and densely informative documentary demonstrates the extent to which private communications are illegally and constantly spied on by the title network, which spans the globe, plumbs the ocean depths and beams into outer space and back. (The) visually and intellectually lively film, designed to mimic an espionage thriller, is a riveting, spine-tingling account of five sneaky English-speaking nations (the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) working in collusion.

"In 1998, at the request of the European Parliament, U.K. investigative specialist Duncan Campbell authored a report called 'The Listening Alliance,' which established the existence of a secret network (Project F415 a.k.a. Echelon). It uses giant domes (called 'radomes'), satellite dishes, satellites and networked supercomputers to intercept, sift through and analyze millions of fax, land line, cell phone and email messages around the globe. Campbell puts it thus: 'There is no privacy.'" - Variety magazine.

Echelon: The Secret Power is an unforgettable and disturbing examination of (theoretically) private communications in the 21st Century.


Boise Centre on the Grove, Friday, October 1st at 12:00pm

Boise Centre on the Grove, Saturday, October 2nd at 7:00pm