Manufacturing Consent; Noam Chomsky and The Media, a 2 hour special on CBC-TV's Witness will be broadcast on Monday February 28 at 10:00 PM and subsequently followed by a Newsworld broadcast.
The AML has followed the production of this documentary with great interest. Noam Chomsky is one of the most important media literacy thinkers in the world today and a rough cut of this film was presented by the filmmakers at the last AML conference in Guelph.
The New York Times Book Review once called Noam Chomsky "arguably the most important intellectual alive". In 1988 he received the Kyoto Prize, Japan's equivalent to the Nobel Prize.
Funny, provocative and surprisingly accessible, Manufacturing Consent explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, world-renowned linguist, philosopher and radical activist. It is a dynamic collage of original footage, archival gems and imaginative illustrations, highlighting Chomsky's probing analysis of the mass media.
Chomsky focuses on the theory and practice of propaganda in democratic societies where, he argues, populations are subjected to subtle forms of thought control. He reveals how mainstream news coverage of world events mobilizes public support for the "special interests" that dominate us through a process he calls "manufacturing consent". Drawing on wide-ranging and persuasive examples, including the media coverage of Cambodia and East Timor, he shows us how information must be "filtered" to serve the agendas of those with power. But, as a counterbalance to this daily dose of information-overload, Chomsky encourages us to undertake "a course of intellectual self-defense" to make the media more democratic. He sketches a vision of a new society where citizens will participate meaningfully in social and political life.
An innovative, epic project that stands at the end of 5 years of labour, Manufacturing Consent is the first and only film about Chomsky. As a boy during the Depression he ran a newsstand in Manhattan. Today he is a fiercely outspoken critic and one of America's leading dissidents. He has written more than 40 books. His current bibliography contains over 700 entries. A new collection of essays about him is 8 volumes long. According to one recent study of citations, Chomsky is the most-quoted living author in the Arts and Humanities indices. But he is also a humble man with the moral courage to state his beliefs openly, aligning his values with the so-called "ordinary" person. He has stated: "I'm not trying to convert, but to inform. I don't want people to believe me, any more than they should believe the party line I'm criticizing academic authority, the media, the overt state propagandists, or whatever."
Manufacturing Consent is the first feature film by co-directors Peter Wintonick and Mark Achbar. A co-production between their Montreal company, Necessary Illusions and the National Film Board of Canada, the film also was supported by Telefilm and several Canadian and international broadcasters. The directors traveled with Chomsky through 7 countries and 23 cities witnessing a tireless man challenging, and being confronted by, the public and the press. The result is a mosaic portrait fashioned from 125 hours of original shooting and images gathered from over 185 archival sources. Several hundred crew members, volunteers and supporters are listed in the film's credits.
Over the last year Manufacturing Consent has won 12 awards in more than 50 international film festivals (including Gold Prizes at the Lyon, Chicago and National Educational Film and Video Festivals.) Presently touring theatres in Australia, North America and Europe, it has been acquired for broadcast by 12 national TV networks. Audiences and critics love it, attracted to its rich brew of humour and politics. Many screenings are standing-room-only. Vincent Canby in The New York Times: "An invigorating introduction to one of the least soporific of American minds." Variety said it was: "insightful, informative, accessible and surprisingly entertaining." The Hollywood Reporter called it "eye opening, mind-expanding entertainment at its best."