The Forgotten War

ABC Nightline

Produced & Written by Richard Mackenzie


This is a portrait of a desolate and distant fire base near the Pakistan border in Afghanistan in 2004 -- from which American forces are conducting their hunt for High Value Targets. Richard Mackenzie and William Skinner had exclusive access to a location known as Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno, covering infantry troops conducting the war on terror in this distant, forsaken place.


Now available here in its entirety.

Afghanistan Revealed

Emmy Award-Winning Film

Produced & Written by Richard Mackenzie

National Geographic Television & MSNBC


This Emmy winning film introduced a stunned nation to a place few could have found on the map before September 11, 2001. It was, in part, a portrait of renowned guerrilla leader Ahmed Shah Massoud who was assassinated by al Qaeda two days before the attack on America. It excelled because of Mackenzie’s decades-long experience in Afghanistan and the work of Director of Photography: Stephen Cocklin.


Now available here in its entirety.

Tsunami - Animal Instincts

Animal Planet

Post Producer & Writer: Richard Mackenzie

Produced in weeks after the worst

tsunami in history struck South Asia,

this film examines the reaction and behavior of animals before, during and after the disaster.


Did the animals have innate advance notice that allowed large numbers to escape and survive? The film premiered in a Global Simulcast on Animal Planet.


The link is to the Open of this film.

Priest Among the Mullahs

MSNBC Afghan Journal

Producer: Richard Mackenzie


This is the story of Father Greg Rice, a Roman Catholic priest who worked more than 30 years along the Pakistan/Afghan border, helping save and restore the lives of drug addicts of all faiths. He offered a unique -- and at the time controversial -- perspective on U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

The link is to the Open of this film.

The Counterterrorist

MSNBC: Headliners & Legends

Produced & Written by Richard Mackenzie

Associate Producer: Amanda Fox


This film tells the story of Special Agent Brad Garrett. An ace investigator, Garrett hunted CIA shooter Mir Aimal Kasi, tracking him for four years through Pakistan and Afghanistan before, along with members of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, getting him in a dusty, desolate town in a Pakistani wilderness. He also helped arrest the mastermind of the first World Trade Center attack, Ramsi Yusef, in the Pakistan capital, Islamabad.


The Director of Photography for this film was Steve Cocklin with sound by Anne Cocklin.

Profiles from the Front Line

ABC


This series laid the foundation for media coverage of the later Iraq war. “Profiles” crews were embedded with U.S. Forces in Afghanistan and at other fronts of the war on terrorism.


Richard Mackenzie led the production in Afghanistan, working with Special Operations and with infantry units.


The link is to the Open to the first of this series.


Miracle in the Andes

Dateline NBC

Produced by Richard Mackenzie


A dramatic story of survival from an American Airlines crash in Colombia -- produced by Richard Mackenzie. As the feature begins, perhaps the most dramatic line is: "One hundred and sixty people on that plane had just 12 minutes left to live." This is the gripping story of a young man and his little daughter who survived the crash of an American Airlines 757 on approach to Cali Airport from Miami. The story the man and the child tell in their interview with correspondent Dennis Murphy is haunting.


The link is to the Open of this film.

Mackenzie Films


This is a selection of films by Mackenzie Productions covering almost 20 years

from Afghanistan to South America and beyond. The “menu” includes subjects as

varied as Special Forces, the Afghan War, Iraq, animal instincts in the Asian tsunami,

survivors of an American Airlines plane crash and a courageous mountain climber.


Mackenzie Productions

tel: +1 (202) 558-6897

e-mail: Richard@MackenzieProductions.com

skype: MackenzieFilms

fax: +1 (202) 403-3378

Terror Nation

CNN Presents


First broadcast in 1994, this film revealed how Afghanistan had become a haven for international terrorists and a booming drug trade, described as "blowback" or unintended consequences of CIA operations in the 1980s war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The biggest recipient of CIA funds at that time, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is now one of the most wanted High Value Targets in the U.S. war on terrorism (and has a million-dollar price on his head). This film was reported and produced by Richard Mackenzie and Peter Bergen.


This link shows one act of the film.

The Life and Death of Mr. Invincible

National Geographic Television


An appreciation of the life of an extraordinary mountain climber, Alex Lowe, who was killed in an avalanche at the peak of his amazing career.


Written by Richard Mackenzie

for National Geographic Television.


Now available here in its entirety.

Task Force Red Dog

A Co-Production

ABC News Nightline

& The Discovery Channel

By Mackenzie Productions


This film by Richard Mackenzie and William Skinner was broadcast on Nightline on December 20, 2004 -- the result of six months they spent with a Marine Corps squadron in Afghanistan.

The Kingdom of Cocaine

Special Edition of CNN Presents

Edward R. Murrow Award


This film tells the story of the global reach of drug barons in Colombia linking up with the Italian Mafia to market cocaine internationally.


Produced by the Special Assignment Unit at CNN for a special edition of CNN Presents.


It was filmed in half a dozen countries around the world.


The link is to the Open of this film.

Flight of the V-22 Osprey

Discovery Military Channel

Produced & Written by Richard Mackenzie

Co-Producer: John V. Collin Jr


In this exclusive documentary, Richard Mackenzie and John V. Collin Jr. embed with a U.S. Marine Corps squadron taking this controversial aircraft into combat for the first time.


One question was constant: Will it make the grade in Iraq?

Against All Odds

Profile of Dr. Abdullah

Mackenzie Productions

For al-Jazeera Television


The story of a 20-year struggle against some of Afghanistan's greatest challenges, this documentary came from a series of interviews with Dr. Abdullah, former right-hand man to Ahmed Shah Massoud and leader of the opposition in Afghanistan. They were filmed before he announced his earlier run for the Presidency of Afghanistan. Made by Mackenzie Productions for Al Jazeera...

Richard Mackenzie reports from Iraq

National Geographic for NBC


The oil wells of Southern Iraq were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi forces at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom.


Traveling with the general in charge of fighting the fires, Mackenzie examines how the fires were started and what the U.S. Army was doing to bring them under control and avert a repeat of the 1991 environmental disaster in which Saddam Hussein's troops sabotaged the entire oil fields of Kuwait.


Produced for National Geographic Television and Film, the report aired in its entirety on CNBC.

MSNBC Investigates

The New Leaders of Afghanistan

Produced & Written by Richard Mackenzie

Associate Producer: Amanda Fox


After the initial defeat of the Taliban, when the new Afghan government was formed in Bonn and the new leaders took control in Kabul, there were many questions raised. This documentary examined those questions -- interviewing the key players.


Much has changed since this film was made,  but much is still also unanswered.


The link is to the Open of this film.


More coming soon.

Picking Up The Pieces - One Woman’s Story

Producer: Richard Mackenzie

MSNBC: Afghan Journal


In this episode of "MSNBC Investigates," filmed shortly after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Producer Richard Mackenzie and Associate Producer Hamidullah Hamidi meet and profile an extraordinary woman who has come to help thousands of suffering women and their families here -- as she helps many more around the world. The film interviews and follows Zainab Salbi as she works to rescue Afghan refugees along the Afghan/Pakistan border.


This link shows the Open to the one-hour film.

Behind the Terror

Simulcast on All Discovery Networks

Senior Producer: Richard Mackenzie

A Co-Production with the BBC


In the same week of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Washington, DC and Philadelphia, a special team of filmmakers worked night and day for five days to produce a two-hour special that aired in a simulcast without commercial interruption. The goal was to explain the tragedy that had just occurred and to shine a spotlight on what seemed to be America's newly-discovered enemy, Terrorism.


Richard Mackenzie was Senior Editor for this breakneck speed special.


This clip shows the Open for the two-hour film.

Task Force Red Dog

One-Hour Version

Discovery Military Channel

By Mackenzie Productions


This is the one-hour version of the story of a Marine Corps squadron's assignment to Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004. The film by Richard Mackenzie and William Skinner launched Discovery's Military Channel in January, 2005. It is the result of six months Mackenzie and Skinner spent with the USMC HMLA-773 on the front line.