Syriana

Description

Kanbar Award: Stephen Gaghan

For his indelible contributions to American cinema, the Film Society presents the 2014 Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting to Stephen Gaghan. Join the Festival in honoring Gaghan with an onstage interview prior to a screening of Syriana, for which he received a best original screenplay Oscar nomination.

A CIA agent searches for a missile he is convinced has gone missing, despite the objections of his superiors. An oil contract is offered to a Chinese company instead of its American competitor, much to the dismay of the various American factions set to benefit from the deal. A Saudi worker is laid off, losing his visa in the process and leaving him feeling like he has nowhere to turn. An economist’s young son dies in a freak swimming pool accident, tearing his family apart both personally and professionally. These plotlines and others all come together with unpredictably thrilling and tragic results in this modern American classic. Academy Award–winning writer/director Stephen Gaghan expertly shows how the seemingly smallest of decisions made on one continent can have wide-ranging and unexpected results throughout the world. An all-star cast lead by George Clooney (in his Oscar-winning role), Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright bring the strands of this story to vivid life, carefully constructing a film that at various points plays as a conspiracy-laden espionage thriller, a view into behind-the-scenes political bargaining, a sensitive look at the seduction of religious extremism and an intimate family drama. These sections combine to show the undeniable truth in the film’s tag line: “Everything is connected.” –Jason Berger

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