Drones. Siege at a Distance

7 pm Documentary Drone
8 pm Round table

Drones have called into question one of the founding principles of warfare: the presence of combatants on the battlefield. Enormous geographic distance between executor and victim, virtual representation on a screen and the aseptic, comfortable conditions of effortless killing all ensure that the real-life effects of frequently lethal drone warfare are progressively hazier for users of this technology, a fact that has serious ethical implications. Drones are giving a new dimension to warfare and everything suggests that their now routine use, for example in the U.S. covert war in Pakistan, will only extend in future.

Drone (Norway, 2014, 58')
Directed by Tonje Hessen Schei, the documentary Drone covers a range of aspects and personalities in the U.S. covert war in Pakistan, a paradigmatic case of the military use of drones. The film offers an assortment of first-hand testimonies from young pilots – recruited by the US Air Force at video games fairs and left with the moral burden of implementing a programme of selective murder – through to journalists and human rights activists who oppose the use of this technology. The film also constitutes a reflection on the redefinition of war and the silence of governments on the use of drones and their effects.

www.dronethedocumentary.com