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Trouble with Pirates
Monday August 8 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network
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Trouble with Pirates
Watch the full film. Please note: This film is only available online for 30 days after the last broadcast date.
90:15 min 
The Trouble with Pirates witnesses high seas piracy in action, from the dramatic seizure of ships off Somalia, to high stakes ransom negotiations in London, and heart-breaking hostage rescues. Following four characters, the documentary tells the story of the piracy explosion, with unique access to the coastal towns of war-torn Somalia.
Sam Egag is a Somali exile who returns to his former country to try to understand what’s happening. Many of Sam’s cousins live in Eyl, a fishing town in Somalia from where the pirates operate. He has unique access to the local people who feel the impact piracy has on the country, and to a notorious former pirate.
Stephen Askins is a British shipping lawyer and ex Royal Marine. With experience in maritime rescue missions, ship owners call him in to help recover their hijacked ships and crew. The documentary follows Stephen as he negotiates a high stakes ransom. It’s a profitable business model for the pirates who continue to increase their ransom demands - the reported payment for hijacked ships has soared into the millions. Acting for owners and insurers, Stephen navigates through the legal and financial quagmires of a hijacking.
Robert Karjel is a pilot with an EU task force, flying helicopter patrols across the Gulf of Aden. Prompted by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who called for a more aggressive response to piracy in the international community, the European Union assembled its first ever naval force.
In July 2008 Frenchwoman Chloe Le Mason and her husband Florent set sail on their yacht Tanit. By the following spring they had made their way from the Suez Canal towards Kenya, heading through the Gulf of Aden. In April 2009, making slow progress south and in the Indian Ocean, the Tanit was the target of pirates, and forced to steer towards the Somali coast. French military approached the Tanit and launched an assault. In a rescue attempt gone terribly wrong, Florent was killed by French Special Forces.
Another small yacht was taken in October 2009. Paul and Rachel Chandler, a retired British couple were sailing from the Seychelles when they were hijacked by pirates and taken into Somalia. As of October 2010, they remain in captivity – they’ve been held over twice as long as the average hijacking for a commercial ship. Despite a Royal Navy ship being nearby at the time, unlike the French, it chose not to intervene.
As of October 31, 2010 estimates suggest there are about 20 ships being held off the Somali coast with more than 435 crew held hostage.
The film explores questions of globalisation, force, freedom and culpability – but who are the winners and where and how will it end?
The Trouble with Pirates is directed by James Rogan and produced by Lucy Morgan and James Rogan. A Films of Record Production for BBC in association with ZDF, SVT and Worldview.
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