[BITList] GUN NATION

[Michael Feltham]

I hope you can open the short Documentary

Mike
——————————————————————————————————————

From Gun Nation to Desert Fire – welcome to Guardian documentaries

We’re excited to welcome you to the our new documentary film strand. Every month we’ll offer you a short documentary created by top international filmmakers and following unseen global stories

	
Photograph: Zed Nelson/Guardian
Gun Nation
In the 18 years since Zed Nelson’s seminal photography book Gun Nation <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae4362b7a4c47e260ddeac1d6749ad0ae630ee65abf0187bb9b8> was published, 500,000 Americans have been killed by firearms in the USA. Half a million people dead - and many more injured. Nelson returns to the people he met, photographs them, and asks why they think this is happening.

Avoiding stereotypical images of gang members or extremists, Nelson focuses instead on another side to America’s gun culture: the mainly white, middle-class Americans who sell and purchase guns in vast numbers, fuelling the nation’s insatiable appetite for firearms.

Nelson’s two-decade-long rapport with his photographic subjects gives unique and intimate access to the minds of American gun owners and seeks to understand why – despite the enormous death toll – there is such fierce resistance to gun control laws in the USA.

Gun Nation is commissioned as part of the Guardian Bertha documentary partnership <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae432d2a3ed6701a842f04676fcb59f212a71322e0d013fe0610>, which aims to tell international stories with global impact.

	
Gun Nation: watch the full documentary <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae43835091f79a03b96eefe9177c91230af94648d940b4f95b37> Photograph: Zed Nelson/Guardian
Film-maker portrait: Zed Nelson
Zed Nelson <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae4356aa12652acf8f9039d3e8e7c4565621c756bd66ab915f5c> is an award-winning photographer and film-maker based in London whose work is published and exhibited internationally. 

He spent four weeks in the USA visiting his original photo subjects and others affected by guns. Instead of the usual pictures of violence and victims, Nelson takes us on a revealing and disquieting journey, engaging with the reasons behind gun owners’ resistance to change and looking for a way forward.

Accompanying the film, Guardian Weekend magazine will be publishing a major photo article on 24 September, including past and present work by Nelson.

Guns in America
Gun Nation is part of a week-long focus on guns in the USA which also include the serialisation of Gary Younge’s book Another Day in the Death of America and a series of major new articles by Guardian US on super owners <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae4375f17829fe84d60fdc1487120618e223e12e0399cd70d73e> who own an average of 17 guns <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae43286d712982f1f8335d465a12fd2af3cce26946b0c049417b>. This follows recent major projects by the Guardian on gun control in the US  <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae4374ee324c2c64639aba757be9725c1eae3c362b889a4c24cd>including data on every recent US mass shooting <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae43050e6533b26687b6691697989fb581f609043c931968104e> and Lois Beckett <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae4315c3325d6ecdcb3f8b5ca0526765d7fbbecc47c9c08244a9>’s writing on gun policy including a long read on whether gun rights supporters are sometimes right <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae432bf5761965a9005319d046ade427da10bf83eb4c6f73d794>
Participate
Guardian Witness want your experiences of what made you change your mind about guns <http://click.mail.theguardian.com/?qs=bf4254bf3366ae4383c7c07087bb4d908652e90d6b58b1d1d4b19faadd565eb6>. They’re looking for stories from people who have crossed from one side of the gun debate to the other. Was there a moment that convinced you to become a gun owner for the first time? A moment that made you question your gun ownership? Or simply a moment, or a conversation, that transformed your understanding of the role of gun ownership in America? 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20160923/c4f22829/attachment-0001.html>