Sundance Channel and Court TV have re-teamed to co-produce a film by Oscar nominated director Alex Gibney ( Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). Titled 'The Human Behavior Experiments', the hour-long documentary explores persistent questions about why human beings commit deeply unethical acts under certain social conditions. This marks the second venture between Sundance Channel and Court TV. Their first co-production, 'The First Amendment Project,' aired in 2004. 'The Human Behavior Experiments' premieres Thursday, June 1 at 10 PM ET/PT on Sundance Channel and Court TV.
Gibney will produce the project, which revisits three well-known psychological experiments from the 1960s and 70s within the context of contemporary events, such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and a tragic fraternity hazing. This exploration attempts to shed light on the way certain social conditions encourage the worst of human behavior and address why, despite knowledge of the past, humankind seems condemned to repeat it.
The three experiments include, first, the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, a 1971 study in which 24 young men were placed in a fabricated prison environment, some as guards and some as prisoners. After only six days, tensions between prisoners and guards erupted, and the experiment was stopped. Second, The Milgram Experiment (1961-1962) explored the question of how people blindly obey authority even when told to inflict seemingly lethal pain on other experimental subjects. Finally, The Columbia Experiments in 1969 studied the phenomenon of 'diffusion of responsibility,' the idea that the more people there are to witness an event, the less responsibility any one individual feels to assist.
'The Human Behavior Experiments' is produced for Sundance Channel and Court TV by Jigsaw Productions. Lynne Kirby is the Executive Producer for Sundance Channel, and Robyn Hutt is the Executive Producer for Court TV. Overseeing the project are Ed Hersh, Executive Vice President for Current Programming and Specials at Court TV and Laura Michalchyshyn, Executive Vice President, Programming and Marketing, Sundance Channel.
An Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and director, Alex Gibney won the 2006 WGA Award for Documentary Writing and has been nominated for an Oscar for his documentary film 'Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.' He just finished producing 'Possibilities,' a film about Herbie Hancock and is directing and producing 'Going Going Gonzo,' about Hunter Thompson. He recently produced Lightening in a Bottle, a film directed by Antoine Fuqua, which premiered in 2004 at the Berlin Film Festival and which was released by Sony Classics. In 2003, Gibney served as the Series Producer for 'The Blues,' an Emmy®-nominated series of seven films in association with executive producer Martin Scorsese. Gibney also produced The Soul of a Man the film by Wim Wenders for that series (also an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival), and was awarded a Grammy Award for producing the 5-CD box set based on the series. In 2002 Gibney produced, with Eugene Jarecki, and wrote 'The Trials of Henry Kissinger.'
