Film tells the untold story of Kashoggi's life, and murder
CHICAGO, Illinois -- In 2018, the world was captivated and horrified by the brutal murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But nearly two years after his death, few know anything of his life.
Directed by Rick Rowley (16 Shots; Dirty Wars) and executive produced by Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) and Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower; Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief ), and written by Wright, KINGDOM OF SILENCE takes viewers beyond the simplistic view of Khashoggi, and tells a far more interesting tale: the story of an insider who became slowly disillusioned by the government he had always trusted, and upon whose good graces he had always depended. Despite that loyalty, Khashoggi ultimately evolved, breaking with the Kingdom in response to the dramatic flowering of freedom movements across the Arab world in 2011.
"We began this film because Jamal was one of our own. He was a journalist, and we are all called upon to rescue what we can of our colleagues’ stories from the silence their killers would impose," says director Rick Rowley. "Jamal’s life was a constant battle between hope and cynicism, truth and propaganda. But after a lifetime navigating tortured compromises, the contradictions became too stark. He chose a side and spoke out."
KINGDOM OF SILENCE is the untold story of Jamal Khashoggi -- a man who lived his life at the center of the violence and chaos unleashed by America’s toxic relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, until it killed him.
From his youthful reporting on Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s, to his work as spokesman for the Saudi government after 9/11, to his relationship with the revolutions of the Arab Spring, to the shocking details of his final hours -- including the old friend who became his assassin -- Khashoggi's life has never been examined in such depth and scope. Nor has his death been so movingly recalled.
KINGDOM OF SILENCE premieres Friday, October 2, 2020 on SHOWTIME.