Directed by Michael Mann with

As part of a series of events centered around Whistleblowers, Syracuse University has teamed up with the Government Accountability Project (GAP) to bring five modern Whistleblowers to both the university and the community during the month of March, culminating in a joint speaking event on Wednesday, March 26th at SU. ArtRage is honored to be in collaboration with SU & GAP to bring you related films and a public event with Whistleblower Michael Winston at the gallery. Stay tuned for more info on the full schedule of events both at ArtRage and Syracuse University.

Jeffrey Wigand was a central witness in the lawsuits filed by Mississippi and 49 other states against the tobacco industry which were eventually settled for $246 billion. Wigand, former head of research for Brown & Williamson, was a top scientist, the ultimate insider. No one like him had ever gone public before.

Meanwhile, Lowell Bergman, investigative reporter and “60 Minutes” producer, mostly for Mike Wallace segments, taped the famous Wigand interview with its devastating statements, and arranged a legal defense team for Wigand. However, before the most newsworthy “60 Minutes” segment in years could air, Bergman would lose to a CBS corporate decision to kill it and would experience the fracturing of loyalties and bitter divisions within “60 Minutes”.

Wigand would find himself sued, targeted in a national smear campaign, divorced and facing possible incarceration. Wigand, having wagered so much and now unable to deliver his testimony to the American people, and Bergman trying to defeat the smear campaign and fighting to force CBS to air the interview, are two ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances. They find themselves in a fight from which no one will emerge as he entered and nothing will be the same again.   In 2006, Premiere ranked Crowe’s performance #23 of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

Free to the Public