Backed by insider analysis of the Stuxnet sabotage of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, Alex Gibney’s gripping new documentary argues that the architects of cyberwarfare have been both brilliant and insanely reckless.

"Investigative journalism meets conspiracy thriller as Alex Gibney (Going Clear, NZIFF15) goes on the trail of Stuxnet, the extraordinary computer virus that metastasised around the world before it arrived at its target, Iranian nuclear facilities, and performed its mission: exploding uranium-enrichment centrifuges. Undeterred by muzzled officials, the indomitable Gibney shows how Stuxnet was cooked up covertly by the US and Israel, creating a new level of virus complexity and a new class of weapon. Tehran retaliated in kind, attacking US institutions with malware and parading its own ‘cyber army’.

Gibney manages not only to illuminate in plain terms how Stuxnet worked, but to also issue a powerful warning about the Pandora’s box it opens. Echoing ideas explored in his WikiLeaks film We Steal Secrets, Gibney argues that in the face of an emerging cyber-conflict threat, which is analogous to that of nuclear weapons many decades ago, international norms and rules of engagement must be developed outside the shadows of denial." - Toby Manhire

Zero Days

USA 2016
116 mins
DCP
Exempt

Director/Screenplay: Alex Gibney

Producers: Marc Shmuger, Alex Gibney

Photography: Antonio Rossi, Brett Wiley

Editor: Andy Grieve

Music: Will Bates

With: Gary D. Brown, Eric Chien, Richard A. Clarke, Michael Hayden, Olli Heinonen, Chris Inglis, Vitaly Kamluk, Eugene Kaspersky, Emad Kiyaei, Ralph Langner, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Seán Paul McGurk, Yossi Melman, Liam O’Murchu, Gary Samore, David Sanger, Yuval Steinitz, Sergey Ulasen, Amos Yadin

Festivals: Berlin 2016

For tickets and details about films at other venues, please visit the New Zealand International Film Festival website.