The Art of Argument
Frederico Frost, a top agent for Riesland’s intelligence service, hands over gigabytes of data to the press in neighboring Amestonia—proving Riesland's mass surveillance of Amestonia and its citizens. The subsequent diplomatic crisis brings the two nations directly before the International Court. This fictional case, inspired by the Edward Snowden scandal, is the setting for the Jessup Moot Court, the world championship in international law. About 150 teams from top universities across the globe gather to compete as lawyers for the two fictional nations. In simulated trials, the teams find loopholes, persuade top judges, and checkmate their competitors rhetorically. Who said that law was boring?
Gereon Wetzel was born in Bonn, in 1972. He received his MA in Archeology from the University of Heidelberg, and completed the documentary filmmaking program at the University for Film and Television in Munich, where he currently lives and works as a freelance author and filmmaker.
Melanie Liebheit received her MA in Social Anthropology in Munich and Manchester, and documentary filmmaking at the University of Television and Film Munich. In 2001–2011 she worked for Documentary Campus. In 2007 she co-founded the documentary film festival, Nonfiktionale, in Bad Aibling (Germany), which she has led, together with Tamara Danicic, since 2016.