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Standard Operating Procedure

OVERVIEW

Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Country of Origin: USA
Release Date: April 25, 2008
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

CAST & CREW

Director: Errol Morris
Producers: Julie Bilson Ahlberg, Errol Morris

SYNOPSIS

Is it possible for a photograph to change the world?

Twelve photographs from Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America’s image of itself. And yet, a central question remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic torture and abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few “bad apples”?

In STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (THE FOG OF WAR, THE THIN BLUE LINE) examines the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? Morris talks directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Many journalists have asked about “the smoking gun” of Abu Ghraib.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE answers by illustrating that Abu Ghraib is the smoking gun. The underlying question: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib—and the subsequent coverup—could happen?

PRESS MATERIALS

Press Notes
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Press photos
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Official film poster

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Scene from Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Director Errol Morris on the set of Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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On the set of Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Director Errol Morris on the set of Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Left: Cinematographer Robert Richardson; Right: Director Errol Morris
Photo by Mark Lipson ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Scene from Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Director Errol Morris on set of Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Scene from Standard Operating Procedure
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Production Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Sabrina Harman - Specialist 372nd MP Company
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

Ken Davis – Sergeant 372nd MP Company
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved
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Tony Diaz – Sergeant 372nd MP Company
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Jeremy Sivits – Specialist 372nd MP Company
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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Jeffery Frost – Specialist 372nd MP Company
Photo by Nubar Alexanian ©2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

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