Melani McAlister

The documentary exposes the ways in which America's foreign policy agenda in the Middle East drives the U.S. media's portrayals of Arabs and Muslims. The film lays bare the truths behind taboo subjects that are conspicuously avoided, or merely treated as sound bites, by the mainstream American media: "Why do they hate us?" "Why do we hate them?" What were the events that led to the 9/11 attacks? What are the politics behind the U.S.-Israeli relationship? Why is there a robust debate about these subjects in Europe, the Arab World and in Israel itself, but not in the U.S.? Valentino's Ghost provides a fresh inquiry which challenges the media's daily barrage of rhetoric and misinformation about our complex and vital relationship with this part of the world

250 years on from the country’s Declaration of Independence, the image of the United States has become tarnished. By drawing parallels between cowboys and populism, Thanksgiving and Charlie Kirk, this documentary demonstrates that Trump’s politics differ from those of his predecessors and are not in line with the values upon which the history of the American nation was founded.