Post-Gaddafi documentary premieres at Venice

Michael Mann's film "Witness: Libya" premiered at the 69th annual Venice Film Festival - showing audiences a post-Gaddafi Libya through the eyes of war photographers.

(SOUNDBITE) Michael Mann, director, saying (English):

"I'm fascinated with the unique way in that the show inserts the audience in a very intimate and human way inside a conflict zone, it could be a conflict zone of large scale and headlines, like Libya but the insertion through the war photographer who goes right into the front lines is a unique perspective and that perspective is human and it's sensitised, it's not an external survey and it's not a history lesson, and that's what's unique about it."

The veteran director chose photographer Michael Christopher Brown as one of his voices to illustrate the environment and the bonds formed between journalists and the Libyan people.

(SOUNDBITE) Michael Christopher Brown, photographer, saying (English):

"Well while the war was going on it was very clear why journalists and why photographers were there, they were there to record what was happening and the revolutionaries saw it as basically helping them because we were showing how these people were affected by war and what was happening."

HBO will air the four-part documentary series in November.