A top American documentary film director, Alex Gibney, was recently in action on Queensland’s Magnetic Island working on the Julian Assange story for Universal Pictures . There he had extensive dealings with George Hirst, editor of the Magnetic Times online newspaper, which ran the world exclusive story about Assange’s mother when she lived on the island with her young son. Esquire magazine last year described Gibney as becoming the most important documentarian of our time .
Films Gibney directed in the past have included Enron:The Smartest Guys in the Room , nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature ; Taxi to the Dark Side,about an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed at Bagram Air Force base in 2002 , recipient of an Academy Award ; Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S. Thompson (2008); Freakonomics and Casino Jack and the United States of Money ( both 2010); Client 9. Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer ,shortlisted for 2011 best doco . Gibney also writes for the influential Huffington Post blog. *** Drawing of Assange by Magnetic Times editor, George Hirst, a former exhibitions officer at the Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville, increasingly involved in making films with a message. FOOTNOTE : Wikileaks documents released in recent weeks contained US Embassy cables revealing highly critical comments by and about key players in the Timor-Leste regime and apparently went unnoticed by the Darwin media.
