Dotan Goldwaser - Corridors Of Power

Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?

Illustrated Sequences

For this BBC/SHOWTIME series five illustrated sequences containing nearly a hundred illustrations integrated into five of the eight episodes of the series.

The series is essentially about the stories we tell ourselves when genocide happens.

Why did the American administration ignore reports from Rwanda? What did Obama say to his advisors? And why did the Europeans not want to help the Muslims in Bosnia? The Director Dror Moreh sat down to talk with all the senior American officials - from James Baker to Hillary Clinton, from Tony Blinken to Condoleezza Rice. The stories and thoughts were meticulously and admirably stitched together eight episodes.

My task was to process the more personal parts of the stories in a way that would serve as an illustration of the interviewees' inner world and, in some ways, a small refuge for the viewer between the archival horrors and the interviews.

Darfur - Carrots for a War Criminal

A survivor tells a harrowing story of a Janjaweed attack on her village.

This was probably the hardest sequence in the series. It came late in production, so I was already confident with the style and cinematic language - but the content of the scene was quite devastating. It had to remain restrained and graphic while honoring the horror of the situation.

Iraq - For Every Insect There Is an Insecticide

With beer and sea spray in his hair, President George H. W. Bush and his chief of staff coined the term and policy of the New World Order. How the world changes in a moment.

Syria - The Risk of Doing Nothing

The American ambassador to Syria describes the moments before a mob breaks into the embassy and the tension and horror he felt. A static action scene - where we sought the grandeur of a Hollywood action scene without any movement.

Bosnia- Our Soldiers Are Not Toy Soldiers

This was the first scene we made. The main challenge was how to make this static scene of a man who can't sleep because of the atrocities he knows are happening cinematic and engaging.

The narration by Meryl Streep probably helped.

Rwanda – That Was a Local Thing

This was a similar scene but with a different emphasis - my goal was the create the space necessary to emphasize the feeling of isolation she felt and let the evocative narration charge the scene emotionally.