In Janson Media’s continued effort to highlight the influential filmmakers we partner with, we now profile Ground Productions, an independent, international production company based in Oregon, New York, and Norway and founded by Tonje Hessen Schei and David Bee. Through its experienced team and effective grassroots fundraising achievements, Ground Productions is able to create inspirational films that bring awareness to important issues that effect our society.

Their mission statement:

“At Ground Productions we believe media can change the world. Our mission is to work toward a more just, equitable and sustainable society, where everyone has a voice. Our films encourage critical thinking and debate and aim to promote peace through understanding.”

Ground Productions partners Tonje Hessen Schei and David Bee have a combined 30 years of experience in film making, directing and producing films that deal with essential subject matter like Play Again and the award winning Independent Intervention: Breaking Silence. Janson Media is proud to hold the exclusive rights to the Independent Intervention, licensing it to worldwide Television, VOD, Nontheatrical, and New Media markets.

Independent Intervention: Breaking Silence is an award-winning documentary about U.S. corporate-controlled media coverage of the Iraq War. The film tells an important story that has not been fully explored until now: how the major U.S. broadcast networks, all divisions of multinational entertainment conglomerates, sanitized their presentation of the Iraq War, ignored the human suffering on the ground, and “produced” Operation Iraqi Freedom as a nightly entertainment show, a ratings winner, and the first “made-for primetime war.”

Independent Intervention captures the “disconnect” between the war the American people saw on their television sets and the grim realities on the ground in Iraq. The documentary features interviews with Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Dahr Jamail, Danny Schechter, Norman Solomon, David Barsamian, Kalle Lasn, James Zogby and Jim Hightower.  It also includes the voices of Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Bill Moyers, Arundhati Roy, Jeremy Scahill, U.S. Senators and Iraqi citizens.

Janson Media today announced the release of Independent Intervention: Breaking Silence, an award-winning documentary about U.S. corporate-controlled media coverage of the Iraq War, to worldwide Television, VOD, Nontheatrical, and New Media markets. Focusing on the human costs of war, the film contrasts the mainstream media’s coverage of the invasion of Iraq with independent media reports of the brutal realities on the ground.

This film tells an important story that has not been fully explored until now: how the major U.S. broadcast networks, all divisions of multinational entertainment conglomerates, sanitized their presentation of the Iraq War, ignored the human suffering on the ground, and “produced” Operation Iraqi Freedom as a nightly entertainment show, a ratings winner, and the first “made-for primetime war.”

Independent Intervention captures the “disconnect” between the war the American people saw on their television sets and the grim realities on the ground in Iraq. The documentary features interviews with Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Dahr Jamail, Danny Schechter, Norman Solomon, David Barsamian, Kalle Lasn, James Zogby and Jim Hightower.  It also includes the voices of Howard Zinn, Michael Moore, Bill Moyers, Arundhati Roy, Jeremy Scahill, U.S. Senators and Iraqi citizens.

Independent Intervention: Breaking Silence, was produced by Ground Productions. The film was directed by Tonje Hessen Schei and edited by David Bee.

” [Independent Intervention] shows the absolutely critical importance of the independent media, which, in a culture dominated by corporate wealth, gives us hope for democracy,” said Howard Zinn, Professor Emeritus of History at Boston University.

Established in 1989, Janson Media is an independent content distribution company based in the United States, with a rights portfolio of over 1,500 hours of exclusive programming available for licensing to worldwide television, VOD, DVD/video, and emerging new media platforms. The company has licensed programming to virtually every country in the world, and its clients include nearly every major broadcaster or media company, as well as a wide range of DVD labels and distributors. Janson Media is also a publisher/ manufacturer of award-winning DVDs.

Ground Productions is an independent, international production company based in Portland, Oregon and New York, founded by Tonje Hessen Schei and David Bee. The company believes media can change the world, and its mission is to work toward a more just, equitable and sustainable society, where everyone has a voice. Ground Production’s films encourage critical thinking and debate and aim to promote peace through understanding.