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In 1981, Hardie graduated from Film School in London with a B.A. (Hon’s) in Photographic Arts (Film). He entered the film industry the following year on Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as a production assistant and camera department trainee. While continuing to explore the possibilities within the industry by brief stints in the special FX make-up department (Highlander) and the art department (Never Say Never Again, Half Moon Street and Hammer Horror), Hardie also pursued his cinematography passion, shooting a few small independent projects. Eventually settling in the art department, Hardie made his debut as a Production Designer on Clive Barker’s Nightbreed at Pinewood Studios.

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Andy Grieve grew up north of Chicago, half way to Kenosha.  He left the Midwest to study film at New York University, graduating with the class of ‘99. For the next few years he continued to learn the craft, absorbing the twisted wisdom of editor/mentor Hank Corwin.

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Robert Richardson (ASC) studied film and art at the Rhode Island School of Design before earning his master’s degree at the American Film Institute. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Cinematography, for The Aviator (2004) and JFK (1992), and has also earned Oscar nominations for Snow Falling on Cedars (2000), Born on the Fourth of July (1990), and Platoon (1987).

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Beginning as a video artist in the Alternative Media movement in New York, Robert Chappell went on to become a successful documentary cameraman, shooting an eclectic list of projects in the U.S. and around the world. The projects ranged from experimental films with Yoko Ono; to the avant-garde Robert Wilson’s Civil Wars; to HBO’s production of Elliot Erwitt’s The Great Pleasure Hunt; to Lebanon’s war zones in Coming of Age in Armageddon; and numerous films for British and German television. Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure is his latest film.

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Julie Ahlberg produced independent feature films and television movies before turning her talents to making award-winning documentaries and commercials. In 1994, she served as Supervising Field Producer for 500 Nations, a documentary miniseries on Native Americans for CBS, executive-produced and hosted by Kevin Costner. For commercial director Joe Pytka, Ahlberg produced numerous spots for national and international campaigns for such clients as Lotus, FedEx, Pepsi, Apple and Coors. She’s also worked with European directors, producing commercials for Credit Suisse, Volkswagen, Estrella, and Miller Lite.

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Director’s Statement on STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America’s image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few “bad apples”?

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It has been a quarter since HD DVD lost its contest with Blu-ray, and the market has absorbed the consequent impacts while remaining open to changes. To clear inventory, HD and universal players are selling at deep discounts; HD and universal drives will no longer ship after 2008, leaving HD DVD discs orphaned, and Best Buy has removed HD DVDs from its shelves to make room for more standard DVDs and Blu-ray titles. But the Blu-ray player and optical drive markets must undergo further evolution before reaching their full potential.

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Errol Morris films have won many awards, including the Oscar, the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America, the Golden Horse (Taiwan International Film Festival), the Grand Jury Prize (Sundance Film Festival) and have appeared on many ten best lists. They have been honored by the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, the New York, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles film critics. Roger Ebert, in fact, has placed Morris’s first feature Gates of Heaven on his list of the 10 Best Films of All Time. In 1988, the Washington Post surveyed 100 film critics around the country and picked The Thin Blue Line as the best film of the year.

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Danny Elfman was born in 1953, in Los Angeles, California, where he currently resides. Over the last 20 years, he has established himself as one of Hollywood’s leading film composers. In addition to his score for Standard Operating Procedure, Elfman has written close to 50 film scores featuring his unique sound, including Batman, Spider-man, Men in Black, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. In addition to these signature soundtracks, he has scored such diverse films as Big Fish, Good Will Hunting, Dolores Claiborne, Midnight Run, To Die For, Dead Presidents, Sommersby and Chicago. For television, Elfman created the infectious themes to The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives. His honors include a Grammy, an Emmy and three Academy Award nominations.

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Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy,” “Blade 2”) will direct “The Hobbit” and its sequel, it was jointly announced today by “The Hobbit” Executive Producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line Cinema’s President and COO Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, Chairperson, Worldwide Motion Picture Group, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM).

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