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EPISODE 302
Airdate: January 8, 2004
Overview
TV and Web Credits
Press
>>Transcript
OVERVIEW
Iran, FORBIDDEN IRAN
A reporter's undercover journey
A harrowing report from inside Iran, where FRONTLINE/World
reporter Jane Kokan risks her life to secretly film shocking
evidence of the torture and murder of students and journalists
opposed to the regime. Kokan, in disguise, escapes the constant
surveillance of Iranian authorities to interview underground
and jailed activists. read
more
Spain, THE LAWLESS SEA
Investigating a notorious shipwreck
In November 2002, an aging oil tanker sank off the coast
of Spain, causing one of Europe's worst environmental disasters.
FRONTLINE/World reporter Mark Schapiro investigates what
went wrong with the Prestige, and uncovers a largely
unregulated maritime system that offers few safeguards against
environmental disasters. read
more
Belize, THE EXILE'S SONG
Reclaiming African roots
Over four hundred years, the Garifuna
people of Central America's Caribbean coast have evolved a musical
tradition that blends the African rhythms of their ancestors
with indigenous instrumentation. FRONTLINE/World sent
PRI's The World
reporter Marco Werman to Belize, where Garifuna music is being
kept alive by a new generation. read
more
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TV AND WEB CREDITS
FORBIDDEN IRAN
Reporter/Videographer: JANE KOKAN; Additional Camera: MOHAMMED
MOUJAHIR; Produced and Directed: CARLA GARAPEDIAN; Editor: CAMILLA
TRESS; Associate Producer: ALISON AYLEN; Consultant: BEHZAD
YAGHMAIAN; Additional Footage: REUTERS, LASSO FILMS AND TV (NETHERLANDS),
IHA, IRIB; Music: MICHAEL ORMISTON; Executive Producer: DAVID
HENSHAW; A Hardcash Productions Film for FRONTLINE/World
and Channel 4
THE LAWLESS SEA
Reporter: MARK SCHAPIRO; Producer: ORIANA ZILL DE GRANADOS;
Co-Producer and Videographer: CAMILLE SERVAN-SCHREIBER; Editor:
DAVID RITSHER; Associate Producer: ALISON PIERCE; Researchers:
KARI LUNDGREN, DIANE SOLOMON, FRANCINE MILLER; Additional Camera:
JOSIAH HOOPER, DAVID RITSHER; Fixers: CLARA TARRERO, MERCEDES
VILLAR; Music: FIA NA ROCA, NORDESIA PRODUCCIONS; Additional
Footage: DEPARTEMENTO DE SALVAMENTO MARITIMO, MINISTERIO DE
FOMENTO, ATLAS ESPANA TELE 5, NUNCA MAIS, WILDLIFE HEALTH CENTER,
UC DAVIS, OCEAN FUTURES SOCIETY, ABC NEWS VIDEOSOURCE, AMERICAN
BUREAU OF SHIPPING, AP / WIDE WORLD PHOTOS; Special Thanks:
DEER CREEK FOUNDATION AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION OF AMERICA;
Produced in association with the Center for Investigative Reporting
THE EXILE'S SONG
Reporter: MARCO WERMAN; Videographer/Field Producer: JASON
LONGO; Producer: Ken DORNSTEIN; Editor: BILL ANDERSON; Music:
STONETREE RECORDS; Marco Werman reports daily for public radio
on PRI's The World.
FOR FRONTLINE/WORLD 302
Coordinating Producer for KQED: RACHEL RANEY; Associate Producer:
SHERAZ SADIQ; Business Manager: SUZANNE ROMAINE; Web Producer:
ANGELA MORGENSTERN; Web Editor: SARA MILES; Web Site Design:
SUSAN HARRIS, FLUENT STUDIOS; Web Reporting: KELLY WHALEN; Promotion:
ERIN MARTIN KANE; CHRIS KELLY; Community Engagement: BRENT QUAN
HALL; ELLEN SCHNEIDER, ACTIVE VOICE; Interns: JUVERIA ALEEM;
WANG FENG; SHILPI GUPTA; Legal: ERIC BRASS; DAVID MOYCE; Satellite
Photos: SPACE IMAGING; Theme Music: SUPREME BEINGS OF LEISURE;
Online Editor: MICHAEL H. AMUNDSON; Sound Mix: JIM SULLIVAN;
Post Production Supervisor: CHRIS FOURNELLE; Post Production
Assistant: CHETIN CHABUK; Series Design: JOHN MACGIBBON; FRONTLINE
Coordinating Producer: ROBIN PARMELEE; FRONTLINE Production
Manager: TIM MANGINI; FRONTLINE Series Manager: JIM BRACCIALE;
KQED VP, TV Station Manager: DEANNE HAMILTON; Executive in charge
for KQED: SUE ELLEN MCCANN; Executive in charge for WGBH/FRONTLINE:
SHARON TILLER; Series Editor: STEPHEN TALBOT; Executive Producer:
DAVID FANNING
WEB SITE 302 (Iran, Spain, Belize)
Web Producer: ANGELA MORGENSTERN; Web Site Design: SUSAN HARRIS,
FLUENT
STUDIOS; Web Editor: SARA MILES; Copyeditor: JOAN SAUNDERS;
Series Editor: STEPHEN TALBOT; Associate Producer: SHERAZ SADIQ;
Web Reporting: CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING, DAVID MONTERO,
KELLY WHALEN; Interactive Interns: JUVERIA ALEEM, WANG FENG;
Web Web Promotion and Outreach: BRENT HALL, JESSICA SMITH; Special
Thanks: AMANDA HIRSCH, JESSICA LUDWIG, SAM BAILEY, WEN STEPHENSON,
SUZANNE ROMAINE, ERIC BRASS, DAVID MOYCE, CAROL CICERONE
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PRESS REACTION
FRONTLINE/World examines another timely, important issue
with "Forbidden Iran: A Reporter's Undercover Journey."
--USA Today At a moment when the world is gripped by images of the devastating
earthquake that struck Iran late last month and the American
government is preoccupied with more menacing forms of Islamic
fundamentalism, focusing on the oppression of Iran's pro-democracy
movement seems almost an indulgence. And that makes this FRONTLINE/World
segment all the more inconveniently timely. The documentary
is Ms. Kokan's video diary of her trip last fall to Iran, which
she visited by pretending to be an archeologist on a group tour.
Her goal was to interview pro-democracy Iranian students and
expose the torture and killings of dissidents in jail ... The
interviews Ms. Kokan manages to obtain, at considerable risk,
are fascinating mostly because they are so hard to get. At one
point a dissident with a nom de guerre of Arzhang arranges for
Ms. Kokan to have a telephone interview with a prominent student
leader, Amir Fahravar, in jail ...
The piece is personal, quixotic and odd -- both affecting
and affected. Ms. Kokan, while unquestionably brave, spends
a lot of time on her own perils: we see her walking around and
donning Muslim dress and sneaking out of her hotel to send coded
e-mail messages from an Internet café. In her first person-narrative,
she never says "we" or explains that a colleague came along,
disguised as a teacher, to film her every step and to record
interviews.
Still, perhaps because it is so jagged, the piece is a sharp
reminder of the injustice that goes on, almost unnoticed, in
Iran. According to the documentary, Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian
human rights lawyer who in 2003 became the first Muslim woman
ever to win the Nobel Peace prize, has agreed to investigate
the death of Ms. Kazemi. The documentary works best as a tribute
to Ms. Kazemi and to the story she never had a chance to finish
reporting.
--The New York Times
"Courageous" is not a word used often in conjunction with TV
journalists, but it's unavoidable with reporter Jane Kokan,
who risks her life to report about student protests in Iran
... It's one of three strong stories on FRONTLINE/World,
which also reports on an oil spill in northwestern Spain that
spilled twice as much as the Exxon Valdez in Alaska but was
lost among the news of impending war in Iraq. There is also
a story on a strain of African music in Central America called
paranda.
--The Hartford Courant
Canadian journalist Jane Kokan has a remarkable story: At
age 27, she jumped off the career ladder as a financial reporter,
broke up with her fiance and went off to cover the war in Bosnia.
Since then she has devoted herself to telling the stories of
the people oppressed by war and dictatorship--and on at least
one occasion nearly paid for it with her life. Unfortunately
her latest investigation, "Forbidden Iran," shows either Kokan
or her producers a little too eager to call attention to her
willingness to stand in harm's way. The report follows Kokan
during her visit last fall to Iran to look into charges that
the mullahs running the country are cracking down brutally on
student dissent ... Posing as an archeologist, she entered the
country with a tour group. From there she was shadowed by an
official Iranian "minder," her phone was tapped and her email
monitored. In this way "Forbidden Iran" reminded me of "Welcome
to North Korea" and "Beneath the Veil," other documentaries
made under repressive conditions. But Kokan doesn't deliver
much new or compelling information about what's going on in
the Iranian dissident community. The film spends way too much
time pushing our emotional buttons, juxtaposing gruesome photos
of Iranian torture victims with reminders of how much trouble
Kokan will be in if the police wise up to her. In the end, I'm
not sure I learned anything that couldn't have been reported
from London (or heaven, forbid, New York.)
--The Kansas City Star
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