Chavez: Inside The Coup

This provocative and controversial program was created from footage gathered by Irish documentarians Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain during the 2002 coup d’etat attempting to oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez from office. Bartley and O’Briain had come to Venezuela to make a film about Chavez and had secured full access and cooperation in order to produce a close, personal profile of the president. Elected by landslide in 1999, the charismatic leader had already become a lightning rod for conflict, beset by critics and cheered by supporters inside and outside Venezuela. On April 11, 2002, news programs throughout the world announced that Chavez had been removed from office and replaced by an interim government. Forty-eight hours later, he returned amid cheering crowds to resume his position. The filmmakers were present—on the inside—for the entire sequence of actions, demands, decisions, and revisions. Among the most astonishing scenes presented here are those recording events in the Presidential Palace as the crisis developed minute-by-minute. Edited by Angel Hernandez Zoido, the project was produced in association with The Irish Film Board, NPS & COBO, RTE, BBC, ZDF/ARTE, and YLE. For capturing the personal as well as the political struggles involved in momentous national and international affairs, a Peabody Award goes to Chavez: Inside the Coup.