Citizen Cam

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Movie
Original title Citizen Cam
Country of production France / Iceland
original language Icelandic
Publishing year 1999
length 25 minutes
Rod
Director Jérôme Scemla
script Jérôme Scemla
music David Magnusson
cut Youmi Chapperon
occupation

Citizen Cam is a documentary- style satire (see Mockumentary ) on the surveillance society that deals with the fictional Icelandic TV channel Humani TV .

action

In the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, there are 200 police-operated surveillance cameras in public places. In 1996, the police chief Felix Bachmann invented the new TV channel Kanal 8 , which was immediately renamed Humani TV by the population . Since December 21, 1996, the images from a camera have been shown in a specific sequence for 20 seconds each time without commentary or processing. The ad-free channel is very popular with Iceland's 270,000 population and beats all audience records. The film Citizen Cam reports on the TV station and interviews both supporters and opponents of ubiquitous video surveillance. It is also shown how artists use the system for art purposes. Towards the end, the film asks the question whether the latest, ultra-modern surveillance technology is being tested in Iceland, and draws a possible connection to the Echelon system in the USA .

Facts and the dissolution of fiction

The shown channel Humani TV does not exist. In fact, there are fewer than 20 police-operated cameras in Reykjavík. These are not connected to a TV system. The satire is only dissolved at the very end of the film. This resolution is often overlooked. Viewers of the film therefore partially perceive it as a representation of reality. Real events took place that dealt with the content of the film (assumed to be true). The Austrian daily Der Standard reported in 2004 that even the former Austrian Interior Minister Ernst Strasser had taken the film at face value and discussed its content during a press conference on security issues.

The following references to the satire are given at the end of the film:

  • The credits name the actors and their roles.
  • During the end credits, the text "La théorie transforme la réalité" (in the German subtitle: "Theory transforms reality by describing it") is displayed.
  • The end credits are followed by a short sequence with the text "Tout ce que vous avez vu est faux. Sauf ça" (German subtitles: "That's all wrong. Just not") and the radomes of an Echelon system that were previously shown in the film are shown again.

Awards

  • Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual Programming (2000): Winner "Golden FIPA" in the category "Short Programs"

swell

  1. ↑ The Standard of March 19, 2004 article

Web links