The Oath, which is streaming free on ITVS Indies Showcase from September 11-13, follows the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals.

Moderated by NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan, Monday’s live chat will feature a panel of experts including:

• Abdul-Ghani Aliryani
Political Analyst and Co-founder of the Democratic Awakening Movement
Abdul-Ghani Aliryani is a Yemeni political researcher and analyst, who played an advisory role to filmmaker Laura Poitras in the making of The Oath. He is based in Sana’a, Yemen.

• Lt. Cmdr. Brian L. Mizer
Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of Virginia
Lt. Cmdr. Brian L. Mizer served as Salim Hamdan’s lawyer at Guantanamo and is featured throughout the documentary The Oath.

• Laura Poitras
Filmmaker, The Oath
Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras has directed several acclaimed documentaries including Flag Wars (2003) and My Country, My County (2006). Her film The Oath is part of a trilogy of films about America post 9/11 and earned top honors for cinematography at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

• Andrea Prasow
Senior Counterterrorism Counsel, Human Rights Watch
Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Andrea was a defense attorney with the Office of Military Commissions. She served as assistant counsel for Salim Hamdan alongside Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer.

Join us for the event on BTB on Monday, September 12 at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.

The Oath is the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the first man to face the controversial military tribunals.

Filmed in Yemen, The Oath is the second installment in a trilogy about America post 9/11.  The first film, My Country, My Country, documented the U.S. occupation of Iraq from the perspective of an Iraqi family. The third film will focus on domestic surveillance.

Check out the trailer for The Oath below and be sure to watch Tuesday, August 16 on POV.

The Oath is also one of the 20 documentaries selected as part of ITVS’s Indies Showcase and will stream free on that site from September 11-13.

Independent Lens

Art & Copy by filmmaker Doug Pray
• Nominated for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming

A Village Called Versailles by S. Leo Chiang
• Nominated for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story – Long Form

Deep Down (The Virtual Mine) by filmmakers Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin
• Nominated for New Approaches to News and Documentary Programming

The Eyes of Me by filmmaker Keith Maitland
• Nominated for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction

The Longoria Affair by filmmaker John J. Valadez
• Nominated for Outstanding Historical Programming – Long Form

ITVS

The Oath by Laura Poitras
• Nominated for Best Documentary
• Nominated for Outstanding Investigative Journalism – Long Form

Off and Running by filmmakers Nicole Opper and Sharese Bullock
• Nominated for Outstanding International Programming – Long Form

A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman by filmmaker Peter Raymont
• Nominated for Outstanding Editing

You can find the entire list of nominations for the 32^nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards on their website.

The winners of the International Documentary Association’s 2010 IDA Documentary Awards were announced this week with several ITVS films earning high praise, including:

Waste Land
***Airing this season on Independent Lens

The IDA Pare Lorentz Award, in homage to the pioneering filmmaker’s legacy, was awarded to Lucy Walker for Waste Land. The documentary follows artist Vik Muniz on a transformative journey from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho.

For Once In My Life
***Airing this season on Independent Lens

The IDA Music Documentary Award went to Jim Bigham & Mark Moorman for For Once In My Life, which explores the struggles and triumphs of a unique band of 28 singers and musicians who have a wide range of mental and physical disabilities, as well as musical abilities that extend into ranges of pure genius.

Bhutto
***Airing this season on Independent Lens

The IDA ABC NEWS VideoSource Award, for best use of archival news footage, went to Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara for Bhutto, their riveting look at the world’s first woman to lead a Muslim nation.

The Oath
***Aired last season on P.O.V.

The 2010 IDA HUMANITAS Award for films that strive to unify the human family honored filmmaker Laura Poitras’s The Oath, an engaging story about two men whose fateful encounter set them on a journey that would lead to Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

All of the ITVS films will receive their awards during a gala ceremony at the Director’s Guild Theater on December 3, along with a number of additional winners whose awards will be announced that night.

Several ITVS films were nominated, including a handful from Independent Lens. Winners will be announced on December 3 at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles in a ceremony hosted by award-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

See the ITVS nominees below and join us in congratulating all the filmmakers!

Distinguished Feature Nominees

The Oath
Director: Laura Poitras

Producers: Laura Poitras
Co-Producer: Nasser Arrabyee, Aliza Kaplan, Jonathan Oppenheim
Associate Producer: Robert Hatch-Miller, Katy Scoggin, Pandora Zolotor
ITVS, POV/American Documentary, Praxis Films, Zeitgeist Films

Waste Land
Director/Writer: Lucy Walker
***Airing this season on Independent Lens

Producers: Angus Aynsley, Hank Levine
Executive Producers: Jackie De Botton, Miel De Botton, Fernando Meirelles, Emillia Mello
Almega Projects, O2 Filmes, E1 Films Canada, Arthouse Films

Limited Series Nominees

Have You Heard From Johannesburg
Directors/Producers: Connie E Field

KQED, Clarity Films

IDA Music Award Nominees

For Once In My Life
Directors: Mark Moormann, Jim Bigham
***Airing this season on Independent Lens

Producer: Jim Bigham
Executive Producer: Lourdes Little
OPS Inc

When I Rise
Director: Mat Hames
***Airing this season on Independent Lens

Producers: James Moll, Michael Rosen,
Executive Producer: Don Carleton
Allentown Productions, Alpheus Media, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History

We’re also pleased to report that director Jeff Malmberg of Marwencol, which will appear on Independent Lens this spring, will be honored with the 2010 IDA / Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.

See the complete list of nominees here.

War Insight, Beyond Bang-Bang
At midlife, in a soft job, and nagged by questions that no one was answering, Carol Dysinger boarded a plane from New York to Dubai and then caught a connecting flight into Kabul. The answers, and new questions, emerge in her documentary, Camp Victory, Afghanistan, which she made over five years of listening, watching and asking.
Read more >>

Cambodia Vs. ‘Chea’
The director of Who Killed Chea Vichea?, a documentary about the 2004 slaying of the Cambodian union leader, is asserting that the Cambodian government has banned screenings of the film. U.S. helmer Bradley Cox says the government has been preventing showings of his film for the past month in the first banning of a politically charged film since the 1980s.
Read more >>

An Interview With The Director Of ‘The Oath,’ About Osama Bin Laden’s Driver And Bodyguard
Laura Poitras’ documentary, The Oath, … paints close-up portraits of Osama bin Laden’s driver Salim Hamdan and bodyguard Nasser al-Bahri (aka Abu Jandal). She won’t tell how she found the footage.
Read more >>