Director:
Thorkell Hardarson, Örn Marino Arnarson
Editors:
Thorkell Hardarson, Örn Marino Arnarson
Director of Photography:
Halldor Gunnarsson
Executive Producer:
Diana Holtzberg
Composer:
Steingrimur E. Gudmundsson
Consulting Editor:
Jeremy Stulberg
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Browse Films | Films: Beginning With F | Section: World Documentary Feature Competition | BackFeathered Cocaine
(Falkasaga)
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World Documentary Feature Competition
[FEATH] | 2010 | 80 min | Feature Documentary
Directed by: Thorkell Hardarson and Örn Marino Arnarson
IcelandWorld Premiere
Interests: Animals, Crime, Documentary, Middle Eastern, Politicsww.featheredcocaine.com
Cast & Credits
Program Notes
Behind drugs, people, and weapons, falcon smuggling has become the world's most mysterious and profitable illegal trade. To the wealthy elite throughout the Persian Gulf, falcon hunting is a passion beyond compare. The coveted birds regularly command prices from $25,000 to $1 million, earning them the nickname "feathered cocaine" as thieves race to ransack vast areas of the world in an addictive quest.
In their directorial debut, Icelandic filmmakers Thorkell Hardarson and Örn Marino Arnarson unspool the shady connections between this falcon trade and royal dynasties, the CIA and KGB, the oil industry, American government, and Al-Qaeda. At the center of their story is Alan Parrot, aka Hari Har Singh Khalsa. After graduating high school in the early 1970s, Alan tricked his parents and took off on a one-way ticket to Tehran, Iran; obsessed from an early age, all he ever wanted was to work with falcons. Raising and training the exotic creatures for the royal court, he went on to export falcons to the president of the UAE professionally, implicating him as the one who first spurred the modern economy for the birds. Hardarson and Arnarson's bold investigation reveals not only the wild behavior of men obsessed with a bird of prey, but the unlikely character behind the movement to impede their smuggling.
May 06, 2010 11:38 AM
Jill Schindler said:
Falcons
Thank you SO much for the hours of dedication for this film !!! I can't wait till it begins to make a difference.
May 06, 2010 12:12 PM
Dennis Maynes said:
Based Upon Fallacy
The assertion that Arab falconers require or want wild-caught falcons is false. The most valued falcons are female Domestic-bred white or black Gyrfalcon/Peregrine hybrids. These 'man-made' birds, even the best examples, sell for well under ten thousand dollars. They cannot be acquired from the wild! The credibility of this film is highly suspect. Alan parrot, now being touted as a falcon protectionist, was well known to American falcon breeders as a shady 'middle man' trying to buy falcons for resale. In the 1980's he went by the name of Hari Har Singh Khalsa. The falcon breeders called him Harry Har-har because they thought he was a joke! He is mentioned in the book 'The Pilgrim and the Cowboy' by Paul McKay which is an expose of wildlife enforcement and the supposed world of falcon smuggling. Hardarson and Arnarson should do their research.
May 06, 2010 12:31 PM
Kenny said:
Been DUPED!!!!
These two film makers have been DUPED! Alan Parrot, aka Hari Har Singh self professed as "one of the worlds formost Falconers" (from an article on Fox News) is one of the best scam artists in American falconry history,and a legend in his own mind, Second only to Jeff McPartlin of Great Falls MT. (the mind behind the illegal Federal sting, "operation Falcon") Mr. Parrot and Mr. McParllan have been ostracised by the Falconry community because of their unethical self serving activities. My advice: Ignore them, as the falconry Community has.
May 06, 2010 02:07 PM
Mick Boon said:
Complete and utter bollocks
I wish it were true, if it were I could have paid off my mortgage many years ago. I am amazed that people could still be so gullible as to believe any of this rubbish. I have bred birds of prey for over 30 years,and have yet to sell any of the many high quality falcons I have bred for over $5000.
May 06, 2010 02:27 PM
Mick Boon said:
PS
The falcon seen in the picture with Parrot is worth a MAXIMUM of $4000.
May 07, 2010 02:04 PM
Ali said:
No Falconry in Iran
I grew up in Iran, and you can ask any Iranian you know; the falconry is practiced only by Arabs, and usually rich, not by Iranians. So why did Mr Alan Parrot, out of its passion for falconry, decided to go to Iran? This looks like a sloppy piece of propaganda by Rupert Murdock/zionists to associate Iran with Al-Qaida and terrorism to prepare the public opinion that it is OK to go and kill the evil Iranians. I haven't seen this movie and don't plan to see it. It sounds too absurd.
May 08, 2010 08:02 PM
lee said:
The Iraq war situation and participation by Denmark and Norway led al-zawahiri and USAMA to leave the UN safe houses outside Copenhagen and spydeburg, Norway and the related memorial day tape in 2003 and the newly formed DHS attack on the SS Norway may 25th 2003. Uuuuuu usama bin laden was dumped back in Afghanistan in April of 2003, then traveling between UN asylum locations including Iran. As it is a violation of UN policy to order assassinations of heads of state and royalty, Usama was an immediate refugee. Based on documents from the April 4th 2001 hearing of the usa vs usama court case, especially testimony of Gordon M Brown of FbI, the federal case was failed leading to the June concoction of the OSAMA character. Clinton issued executive order regarding Usama unrelated to Osama. The failed 2003 attempt to establish "al-qaEda in Iraq" with the memorial day attack on cruise ship SS Norway is not unrelated. Al-qaEda is unrelated to 1990s entity al-qaIda. Hopefully Parrot will help clarify this timeline.
May 14, 2010 09:56 AM
Rachel Dickinson said:
why this guy?
As author of Falconer on the Edge (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009) I can tell you right now that although Alan Parrot is probably pretty interesting to non-falconers, he's a joke in the falconry community and very little that comes out of his mouth can be trusted.
May 17, 2010 01:25 PM
Editors said:
Thorkell Hardarson said: Shooting the messenger. I am one of the two directors/producers of Feathered Cocaine and I find it interesting to see that the people who obviously have not seen this film have the strongest opinions about it - and even state they are not going to see it. As for the ridiculous statement that the filmmakers have been duped ... We spent years corroborating these facts as every investigative journalists do - the facts speak for them selves. The Persian Gulf Power Elite created a man made decimation of falcons and prey in Central Asia and Alan Parrot is one of the very few opposing them. Many others who are busy badmouthing Mr Parrot are selling falcons to the Persian Gulf and contributing to the Central Asian Nature disaster that is already out of hand. As for doing our research as Mr Dennis Maynes suggested ... we did our research on him: At the criminal level, Maynes faces 45 counts dating from 2005 to 2007 related to the unlawful possession, import, export, traffic, and transport of raptors without valid permits, failure to submit accurate wildlife records, and obstructing conservation officers who were seeking to inspect his premises and access wildlife.
May 17, 2010 01:26 PM
Editors said:
continued from above
... The charges fall under the provincial Wildlife Act and federal Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act. His trial is set for Sept. 13, 2010, in Surrey Provincial Court. This puts Mr Maynes in a new light, does it not? It is interesting to note that the falconry community that Rachel Dickinson, Kenny and Mick Boon are talking about, promotes donations to help Mr Maynes with his lawyer costs. That says a lot about the problem of the falconry community - helping the people breaking the laws and badmouthing the people that are giving Nature the benefit of the doubt, such as Mr Parrot. Having said that ... I have to say that I am not against falconry as long as it is done in a sustainable manner and abides the law - the problem is the falconers who think they are above the law - not Mr Parrot.
May 24, 2010 11:13 AM
Nick D. said:
Bin Laden in Iran
From what I saw in the film, Mr. Parrot says he talked to an associate who then says "he has spoken to Bin Laden". This is NOT a reliable source...this is called hearsay. When the US revolted we fought against tactics exactly like this by the Kings loyal servants that would claim "someone told them". I can't comment on the other issues of the film, I'm not falconer.
May 24, 2010 11:18 AM
Nick D. said:
Looks like this guy has seen Bin Laden in other places as well Parrot told FrontPageMagazine at that time, “The Sheiks fly into falcon hunting camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan on C-130 military cargo planes filled with SUV’s, supplies and even steamer trunks full of cash. … They meet with al Qaeda leaders or bin Laden himself while in these camps and discuss their Muslim obligations and unity. When they leave, they leave all the vehicles, supplies and any other useful equipment behind as donations to al Qaeda for its efforts at jihad.”
May 26, 2010 08:41 AM
Thorkell Hardarson said:
First hand witness in Feathered Cocaine
Good to see your comments, Nick. I am one of the two directors of Feathered Cocaine and I am of the opinion the man interviewed in the film IS A RELIABLE SOURCE. He is a first hand witness to UBL's whereabouts - that is very different from many other reports from the Middle East and Central Asia where "someone heard something about someone". In many comments on the internet people say Sunni and Shiite never co-operate and therefore we, the filmmakers are liars or simpletons. I encourage those of you to look at this recent article from Associated Press:http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1989031,00.html