which was barely 15 miles away from the Central Command, the military base of the United States. Before leaving for Cairo, when Noujaim called her agents in Hollywood, she was told this was the worst idea ever "since after 9/11 people did not want to watch war, but things that were comforting to them." Noujaim had raised $US60,000 for the film and says she did the film "as cheaply as she could". She rented an inexpensive Pakistani hotel in Doha and called upon her cinematographer friend Hani Salama to join the project. They both carried their own cameras, Noujaim with a Sony VX2000 and Salama with a Sony PD150. Noujaim was only in the Middle East for 30 days to complete filming for Control Room. From the 200-hour footage that was filmed, Noujaim says initially they had six characters, but then decided to review the footage chronologically, picked out the best scenes and characters, and tried to weave each narrative together. Noujaim wanted to "convey surprise, confusion, discovery -- reproduce her own process in making the film". Four editors of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds volunteered their time for six months to complete editing of the film. Payback for everyone involved in the film depended on how well the documentary was received. Noujaim says she edited her movie both in Egypt and in the US, as the contrast between the worlds became central to her understanding of the war. Cinéma vérité genre Control Room is a Cinéma vérité film which attempts to present an un-narrated behind-the-scenes focus on the functioning of Al-Jazeera and of the US Central Command during the Iraq War. The film, in its style, recalls The War Room, a cinema vérité documentary by Noujaim's mentors Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, which had a similar behind the scene focus on media spinning during Bill Clinton's campaign of 1992. Release Control Room premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2004. Shortly after, the film was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. Magnolia stated "Control Room wasn't extreme in filmmaking, but the sort of effect it had on viewers was extreme. People were conditioned in the US to think that Al-Jazeera were rabid, American hating, and will do anything to plant a bomb. But they were reasonable journalists. We rushed the film for release, taking dates, making posters even before the contract had been signed." It was released on