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In an extract from the film Drone, which premieres in New York on Friday, a former drone sensor operator, Brandon Bryant, recalls making his first ‘kill’, guiding a Hellfire missile towards a human target in Afghanistan. Bryant is one of four former Us military personnel calling for an end to what they say is a misuse of drone technology for indiscriminate warfare

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Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s action comedy Børning received both the jury and the audiences’ film prize at the ceremony in Haugesund’s Maritim HallScroll down for full list of winners

Norwegian director Hallvard Bræin’s feature debut, Børning – a local twist of Cannonball Run (1981), which became last year’s most popular Norwegian film, taking 381,648 admissions – was also the big winner at the Amanda awards ceremony in Haugesund on Saturday (Aug 15).

At the TV2 Norge televised presentation in Haugesund’s Maritim Hall, preceding today’s opening of the 43rd Norwegian International Film Festival, Børning received Amandas – Norway’s national film prizes - including Best Norwegian Feature, the People’s Amanda, Best Supporting Actor (Henrik Mestad) and Best Sound Design (Fredric Vogel, Petter Fladeby).

The frontrunner for the awards - Norwegian director Bent Hamer 1001 Grams (1001 gram), which has so far toured 25 international film festivals – was nominated in six categories, but won only Best Original Screenplay.

For the first...

It was a beautiful sunny day on a quiet, out of the way cafe patio in Toronto that I had a chance to sit down with director Tonje Hessen Schei and speak at length about the politics, psychology, and current perception of drone warfare. Tonje is passionate and directly to the point in terms of her views and beliefs, and was able to elaborate on a number of threads and facets in her current documentary on the subject, Drone. Most alarmingly is how far things have come in the past few years, and that remain still in the early days in terms of what the rules and ethics will look like while the technology proliferates at an ever increasing rate.Kurt Halfyard:  The simple coincidence that...

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Recently, the news has been filled with stories about the Islamic State, the group of Sunni extremists who control territory in Iraq and Syria and are threatening to expand into other areas of the Middle East. The ferocity and the theocracy of Isil has brought attention back to the conflict in the region thanks to their repeated acts of barbarism, and there’s concern that further military adventures in Iraq and neighboring countries might be necessary to stop them. Here’s the thing, though: the War on Terror never really took a break. The troops came home, yes, but in 21st century warfare, the troops need not necessarily be in the theater of war to do damage.

The simply named Norwegian documentary Drone takes a serious and unflinching look at one of the things that truly changed the face of warfare: unmanned aerial devices, or, as they’re more commonly known,...

★★★☆☆ Drone warfare is a uniquely contemporary issue that is still plaguing many countries, especially those in the Middle East who find themselves consistently in the crosshairs of drone pilots. There is a coldness, a brutishness that seems to icily infect anyone this form of warfare touches. In Drone (2014), Tonje Hessen Schei crafts one of the most effective, in depth and well-rounded documentaries on the state of the war on terrorism today. Clinically-minded, touching on all the landmines of technicality embedded within its subject, this is a film that seeks to punch above its weight. The urgency in its voice throughout is enough to spur on any human rights activist in the middle of a viewing.

Unmanned drones have entered the Hollywood zeitgeist in a big way. In the next month alone, you’ll find them popping up in Ethan Hawke drama Good Kill and at the business end of Fast And Furious 7. Before then Drone, a documentary by Norwegian director Tonje Hessen Schei, offers a handy primer on a subject that will only get more and more prominent on the news agenda in the years ahead until we’ve all got one. Here’s a new clip from the film to give a taster. brightcove.createExperiences();Armed with Hellfire missiles and remote-controlled from bases in America, CIA drones are a none-more-controversial arm of Us foreign policy (and, in Fast 7, a massive nuisance to The Rock). The doc tackles the subject from the recruitment of pilots at gaming conventions to use of drones to target terrorists around the world. "In the midst of fast advancement...

Directed by award-winning female director Tonje Hessen Schei, Spectrum is pleased to announce the UK cinema release of Drone on 10th April 2015. This will be preceded by a special Q&A screening of the film with the director at Curzon Bloomsbury on 9th April 2015. A profound and at times terrifying insight in to the world of drone warfare, Drone offers unprecedented access to those with first-hand experience in one of the most controversial practices of modern day conflict. Drone covers diverse and integral ground: from the recruitment of young pilots at gaming conventions and the re-definition of “going to war”, to the moral stance of engineers behind the technology, the world leaders giving the secret “green light” to engage in the biggest targeted killing program in history, and the people willing to stand up against the violations of civil liberties and fight for transparency, accountability and justice. This is just the beginning.

Award season as come to a close, and we’ve all been witness to what is a historic unprecedented run for one urgent film. The ripple became a wave when we were on hand to witness Laura Poitras collect multiple awards at the Cinema Eye Honors, and as predicted, the Academy Awards capped off a historic awards season run with an Oscar win. Here is our roundup and recap of the previous month’s film festival and award season headlines related to the docu film world.

Academy Awards

While Citizenfour took home the award for best documentary of the year, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry’s Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 was given the Oscar for best short doc.

Berlin International Film Festival - Germany – February 5th – February 15th

When Darren Aronofsky and his presiding jury members announced the Berlinale winners, Patricio Guzmán’s long awaited follow-up to Nostalgia For The Light,...

Exclusive: UK, France, Australia deals on documentary.

Copenhagen-based sales outfit LevelK has inked a number of deals in major territories on Tonje Hessen Schei’s drone warfare documentary Drone.

The film has sold to Australia & New Zealand (Vandetta Films), UK (Kaleidoscope Film), France (Zylo), Spain (Indigenius), Finland (Yle), former Yugoslavia (Tricontinental Ltd Co.) and Estonia (Eesti).

Norwegian director Schei’s documentary charts the covert CIA drone war in Pakistan.

Earlier this week the film was named The Most Valuable Film of the Year at the Cinema for Peace Awards in Berlin.

The film previously won Best Norwegian Documentary and the Checkpoint Human Rights Award in Bergen and the Norwegian Peace Film Award in Tromsø.

Sales outfit LevelK is to debut Scandinavian horror-sci fi Encounters at the Afm.

Also on the slate are Anders Thomas Jensen’s Men and Chicken starring Mads Mikkelsen; Sucker, which stars Timothy Spall as a con-man; and documentary Drone.

Encounters, directed by Anders Johannes Bukh, follows a group of young filmmakers who travel into the Swedish woods to shoot a low-budget horror film. After they become lost one of the actors disappears only to return hours later, naked and in a catatonic state.

The film is set for a VOD release in conjunction with Danish horror festival Bloody Weekend.

Pre-sales will continue on Anders Thomas Jensen’s black comedy Men and Chicken, with Mikkelsen and David Dencik in the lead roles.

There will be a promo for Sucker, director Ben Chessell’s debut feature in which Timonthy Spall plays an ageing conman who takes a young novice under his wing.

Warfare doc [link...