In Zero Days, Oscar winner Alex Gibney travels to the dark side once again. This time his due diligence and perfectionist work ethics were aimed at digging beneath the rock of secrecy within the CIA and the U.S. military. Gibney and his team of computer experts, including Symantec Security Technology and Response Group’s Liam O’Murchu and Eric Chien, researched the computer worm Stuxnet. This malware was developed by a team-up between America and Israel. The self-replicating malicious software was aimed at destroying Iran’s nuclear program.
While uncovering top-secret secrets, Gibney learned about an even bigger threat: Stuxnet was only a small piece of a larger cyber operation against Iran, code-named “Nitro Zeus.” Zero Days is the most detailed reveal of a clandestine mission that sounds like a spy thriller. But the truth in this documentary is the potentially apocalyptic consequences of cyberwarfare.
Watch the trailer:
Gibney’s award-winning films include Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks. One of my personal favorites is Magic Trip, about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and their search for a “Kool” place. Author Tom Wolfe immortalized that LSD-fueled adventure in his bestseller, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (which, by the way, I read four times).
Prolific Gibney is responsible for over 30 films and many focus how much people lie—to themselves and the world. Learn more by visiting his production company, Jigsaw Productions. Zero Days premiered at the 66th annual Berlin International Festival earlier this year. It was picked up by Magnolia Pictures and is now in theaters and available for home viewing.
Next up for Gibney is directing his first feature film, The Action. It is based on the 2014 book, The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI by former Washington Post reporter Betty Medsger. A fascinating tale of eight daring protesters who broke into a Philadelphia FBI office to steal files that proved the U.S. government was illegal spying on its civilians.
Watch excerpts from my interview with Gibney:
