In the 1950s the CIA and Canada covertly funded Scottish born psychiatrist Dr Ewen Cameron to embark on the darkest program of psychological experimentation in modern history. Subjecting his “patients” to sensory deprivation, forced comas, LSD injections and extreme physical and mental torture, Cameron’s techniques have since been used in 27 countries around the world.
With testimony from senior American psychologists, military personnel and key whistle blowers, director Stephen Bennett shines fresh light upon claims of collusion between doctors and the state and lays bare the legacy of pain left behind by Cameron. Eminent Monsters is an urgent call to the international community to right the wrongs of the past and protect us from a dangerous future.
In the summer of 2019 the film was taken to the UN in Geneva where an internationally esteemed panel of experts discussed how the film contributes to the wider discussion around "The Faultlines Between Psychological Torture and Coercive Interrogation". The event catapulted the film to the forefront of the debate around the moral responsibilities of the international community to such an extent that the UN Special Rapporteur for Torture, Professor Nils Melzer, has cited the film in the report that he will submit to the UN member states in March to coincide with the film's cinema release and UK TV broadcast.
Preceded by an on-screen introduction by the UN Special Rapporteur for Torture, Prof Nils Melzer.
Eminent Monsters contains a sequence of flashing lights which might affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.