Director Deborah Scranton had 10 U.S. soldiers shoot 800 hours of video for her in Iraq. She took that footage, plus 200 hours of footage she shot with them and their families in the States, and the result is a 90-minute film called The War Tapes.

She did direct them: Through email and instant messaging.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

Premiering in a week when America struggles with the notion that its marines may have massacred civilians in Iraq, the film neither romanticises nor demonises its three main characters: Specialist Michael Moriarty, Sgt Steven Pink and Sgt Zack Bazzi.

The soldiers in the film have families and fears, senses of humour and a capacity for anger.

At least one, Spc Moriarty, describes himself as deeply patriotic - but the men are not wide-eyed innocents about their mission in Iraq.

The film shows exactly what the troops themselves see

They proclaim cynically that the war is about making money for Kellog Brown & Root (KBR), the military contractor which is a subsidiary of a company once run by Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Or they say it is about oil - adding that, since the United States needs oil, that is as it should be.

Despite the soldiers' grousing about the reasons for the war, the film itself neither supports nor condemns it.

That is as director Deborah Scranton wanted it to be - and as the men involved insisted.

She had been offered the chance to embed with the New Hampshire National Guard, but came back with another proposal instead.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and thought: 'What if I gave the soldiers cameras?'"

Question of trust

She added: "I said I wanted to tell their story through their eyes, not through my eyes. I wanted to get inside what war means."

Ten men agreed to take cameras, and spent the next year filming, communicating with Scranton constantly via email and instant messaging to let her know what was happening and to take directions from her.

Scranton insists on the need to see soldiers as people

They shipped 800 hours of tape back to her in New Hampshire, where she filmed an additional 200 hours of material with their families.

She cut the material down into a 90-minute documentary which opens in New York on Friday - after having won the prize for best documentary at the city's Tribeca film festival in May.

Ken Burns - perhaps America's most famous director of documentaries - was on the jury that gave the nod to The War Tapes.

"There was a power to what Deborah accomplished that was mesmerising," he said.

"Politics isn't ignored - the film isn't afraid of politics, but it's able to transcend the politics. In the aftershock of the film, people will try to come to terms with their own feelings and their own politics."

He described her ability to direct the film via instant messaging as "a remarkable accomplishment".