Life As A US Drone Operator

A still from Omer Fast's film 5000 Feet is the Best, about US drone operators. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

Life As A US Drone Operator: 'It's Like Playing A Video Game For Four Years' -- The Guardian

Artist Omer Fast looks at the military staff who fly drones from Nevada in a film commissioned by the Imperial War Museum

"It is a lot like playing a video game," a former Predator drone operator matter-of-factly admits to the artist Omer Fast. "But playing the same video game four years straight on the same level." His bombs kill real people though and, he admits, often not the people he is aiming at.

The remarkable insight into the working life of one of the most modern of military operatives is provided in a 30-minute film that will be shown at the Imperial War Museum in London from Monday, the first in a new programme of exhibitions under the title IWM Contemporary.

The project is something of a departure for the museum in one way, although it has been commissioning and showing artists since the first world war. "The idea behind this strand is to present a consistent offer so people do identify us with contemporary art because it sometimes does get a bit lost," said Sara Bevan, a curator in the art department. It will also allow the gallery to perhaps be more provocative and more reactive to contemporary events.

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WNU Editor: As soon as the video becomes available, I will be posting it online.