Stay up to date on the latest Tribeca news and special offers with our newsletter. Sign up now.
My Trip to Al-Qaeda

Encounters

World Premiere

USA | 86 MINUTES | English |

MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA

Documentary

Academy Award® winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) collaborates with Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright to bring Wright's titular one-man play to the screen. Wright made waves in 2006 with his best-selling book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, chronicling fundamentalist Islam's rise to power, and the roots of modern religious extremism and terrorism.

In contemplating how to adapt his book for the stage, Wright ultimately chose to refocus on his own experience researching and writing the book, and his struggle to maintain objectivity as a journalist investigating Islamic terror. The resulting work is less a literal adaptation and more a personal, emotional complement piece to the objectivity of his nonfiction book. It debuted to rave reviews in March 2007. With Gibney's documentary on the performance, the layers of adaptation are taken a step further. Channelling equal parts Spalding Gray and An Inconvenient Truth, Gibney captures both the emotional power and political implication of Wright's work in a distinctly cinematic way, making My Trip to Al-Qaeda a riveting travelogue/performance piece.


CAST & CREDITS

Directed by Alex Gibney

Alex Gibney directed the Oscar®-winning Taxi to the Dark Side and the Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. He is currently at work on a feature doc about Lance Armstrong for SONY. His Sundance 2010 film Casino Jack and the United States of Money hits theaters May 7.
Executive Producer
Patricia Barnes Matthews, Dana O'Keefe
Primary Cast
Lawrence Wright
Producer
Alexandra Johnes, Alex Gibney, Alison Ellwood & Kendall McCarthy
Director
Alex Gibney

CONTACTS

Publicist
Holly Cara Price
Donna Daniels Public Relations, LLC
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 347 254 7054
hcp@ddanielspr.net
Publicist
Lisa Gray
Donna Daniels Public Relations, LLC
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 347 254 7054 x105
ddprasst@ddanielspr.net
Technical Contact
Ali Johnes
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212 352 3010
ali.johnes@jigsawprods.com