The screening on Thursday the 21st of September was followed by a Q&A with director Kate Stonehill, human rights activist Muhammad Rabbani and lawyer Richard Parry.
When a human rights activist, returning home to the UK, refuses to give border police access to his electronic devices, he is arrested and prosecuted under British Anti-Terror laws that came into force 20 years ago.
Following the journey that led Muhammad Rabbani (Director of human rights organisation CAGE) to that airport interrogation room, and the subsequent case against him, Phantom Parrot unravels a secret British government surveillance programme designed to copy the personal data of individuals at airports and border crossings.
From there, the dominoes start falling in all directions in a dark detective film about technology, surveillance and structural racism in a time where knowledge might still equal power but where data is even better. Director Kate Stonehill has crafted a razor-sharp analysis that unveils unsettling questions about the rule of law, modern espionage and digital privacy.
The screening on Thursday the 21st of September was followed by a Q&A with director Kate Stonehill, human rights activist Muhammad Rabbani and lawyer Richard Parry, who represents a French publisher who made international headlines when he was detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act in April 2023, while on his way to attend the London Book Fair.