DEBORAH SCRANTON, DIRECTOR, BAD VOODOO'S WAR

Deborah Scranton is an award-winning filmmaker and director of the FRONTLINE documentary Bad Voodoo's War (2008). She made her feature film directorial debut with The War Tapes, which premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Documentary Feature. Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the most formally radical films of 2006, ... raw, honest and moving," and described as "the first indispensable Iraq documentary," The War Tapes went on to win Best International Documentary at the 2006 BritDoc Festival, was named an official selection at the Rome Film Festival and IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam), and was released to critical acclaim in more than 120 cities.

Scranton's signature style of "integrative filmmaking" stems from her commitment to using new technologies to empower people to tell their own stories. Both Bad Voodoo's War and The War Tapes were directed seamlessly through "virtual embed" with the troops -- using e-mail and near-perpetual instant messaging with the soldiers as they filmed their very personal and vivid experiences on the ground.

As a speaker, Scranton often lectures on this new frontier in storytelling: the intersection where Web 2.0 meets technology meets documentary. She has been invited to speak at conferences and institutions including TED2007 (Technology, Entertainment, Design), Fortune/Aspen Institute's BRAINSTORM, Harvard, Yale, Center for Irregular Warfare-Quantico, Camp Lejeune and the Tribeca Cinema Film Series.

Scranton started her career in journalism freelancing for ESPN, CBS Sports, ABC Sports, MTV Networks, USA Networks and the Outdoor Life Network, covering a variety of world-renowned events, including the Tour de France, the Winter Olympics, the Davis Cup, U.S. Open tennis and Alpine World Cup skiing. A former member of the U.S. Ski Team, she resides on her family's farm in the mountains of New Hampshire.

Scranton graduated from Brown University with a degree in semiotics.

 

TOBY ("VOODOO") NUNN, PLATOON LEADER, BAD VOODOO PLATOON

“You've got to be careful where you emotionally release as a leader, because you don't want your moment of weakness to cost another soldier a moment of strength.”

Platoon leader Sgt. 1st Class Toby Nunn grew up in Terrace, northern British Columbia, just south of the Alaskan panhandle. It was little more than a large logging center in the middle of the wilderness. He was raised alone by his father, who had grown up on the prairies and worked in lumber camps from age 12 to provide for his family. As a teenager, Nunn moved to the United States and joined the Army -- partly for the education benefits and partly because the Army reinforced the values of integrity and honor that his father had taught him growing up.

As a Canadian, Nunn was prevented from going the officer route; the enlisted route was his only option. After basic training at Fort Benning, he was sent to Fort Hood, joined a mechanized infantry unit, and then was deployed overseas to the Balkans, where he first earned the nickname "Voodoo."

"I got a nickname back in the Balkans through an event where a Muslim and a Christian were arguing, and they felt like I might not be neutral," Nunn explained. "And I told them I didn't care either way what religion they were; it had nothing to do with mine. I told them I was Voodoo." After the Balkans, Nunn was deployed again overseas to Korea, then to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom I and II with a Stryker Brigade.

Nunn believes the biggest gift he has to give his men is opportunity. "I'm willing to put that mantle of leadership on other people and give them the opportunity to learn the lessons that I learned, because sometimes the inner self is the best teacher out there."

As an enlisted man, he likes to stay in the trenches with the men he leads and watch their progress. "We're asking extraordinary things from ordinary people. It's inspiring to watch, especially when you see that young 19- or 20-year-old boy who, if he was in America, the only thing that would be on his mind would be kegs, fast cars and girls. And now he's thinking about the big picture: running water, sewage plants, the welfare of children, school supplies."

Nunn lives in California with his wife and three children. His father continues to be his primary role model and hero.

Read Toby's blog, "Northern Disclosure."

 

JEAN-PAUL "J.P." BORDA, TEAM LEADER, BAD VOODOO PLATOON

“The media writes what is going to sell. They're a business, too. We're not a business. We're just writing what we're doing. We've got nothing to sell. We've got nothing to lose.”

Sgt. Jean-Paul Borda was 27 years old when he enlisted in the Army National Guard, a direct response to the 9/11 attacks. "Before that I was 200 pounds, sitting behind a desk, drinking beer, focused on my job and my family. So much has changed since then for me. I never pictured myself in uniform. My family still can't believe I'm doing this." On this deployment, Borda is a team leader of three men in a vehicle running convoy security.

Borda is perhaps best known for his work as the creator, editor and webmaster of Milblogging.com, the world's largest index of military blogs. The site was built in 2005 as a destination for people to easily read about the experiences of soldiers, veterans and soldiers' families in one place. Today, the site aggregates more than 1,900 military blogs from 36 countries.

A Virginia Tech graduate, Borda began blogging during his first tour in Afghanistan, posting pictures for his family and friends at home so they wouldn't worry about him. In one entry, he wrote about the Goofy stuffed animal that his son took everywhere with him because his daddy gave it to him, even buying it popcorn at the movies. Though Borda only expected his loved ones to read his blog, "The National Guard Experience," he was soon getting responses from anonymous readers and offers for publication from magazines.

Borda also built and maintains the Web site of the Bad Voodoo Platoon, where there is more about the soldiers, links to their Web sites or MySpace pages, and wish lists of things they would like to receive in care packages.

After Borda saw Scranton's 2006 documentary The War Tapes, he became interested in finding a way to tell his platoon's stories visually. He and Scranton e-mailed for nearly a year before they began to develop a plan to send the Bad Voodoo Platoon on tour in Iraq with cameras.

Borda was born in Paris, France, to a Colombian-French father and a Mexican-American mother. Upon his father's death, when Borda was 4 years old, he and his family moved to Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. Borda now lives in Virginia with his wife and their two sons.