The Hostage Takers

Puk Damsgård, Søren Klovborg / Denmark / 2023 / Czech Premiere / 86 min.

synopsis

The Beatles was the nickname given to several Islamic State fighters originally from the UK who were responsible for a series of kidnappings, torture and executions of Western journalists and aid workers. A surviving Danish photographer tells his story and, with the help of testimony from others involved, gives a detailed account of the horrors he experienced. The second strand of the film features interviews with two of the detained members of the Islamic Beatles, conducted by a British journalist whose friend was executed by the group. This opens up moral dilemmas and questions about guilt and punishment: who deserves empathy and who is not entitled to it?

“If I had wanted to cause damage, I could have caused real damage, but that was neither the objective nor the aim.” — El Shafee Elsheikh

biography

Søren Klovborg is originally from Denmark. He works as an investigative journalist and has been working in documentary filmmaking in recent years as a producer, screenwriter and director. His film Maid in Hell (2018), about the labour and sexual exploitation of young immigrant women in wealthy households, was screened at the One World Festival. Puk Damsgård (1978) is a Danish Middle East correspondent and bestselling author. She received numerous prestigious awards, her book ISIS Hostage was adapted into a film.