Flight 149: Hostage of War is the title of a new Sky feature documentary that recounts “one of the most extraordinary – and until recently, officially denied – chapters of the Gulf War,” the Comcast-owned company said on Friday in unveiling a trailer for the original film that will debut in the U.K. and Ireland in June.
“On Aug. 2, 1990, just after Saddam [Hussein]’s forces storm Kuwait, a civilian flight unwittingly touches down in the middle of the warzone,” reads a synopsis for the doc. “The passengers and crew find themselves trapped, held as hostages by Saddam Hussein, becoming pawns in a rapidly escalating international crisis that will reshape the Middle East.”
Calling the doc “an unflinching exploration of a geopolitical scandal,” Sky also highlighted the stakes. “For over three decades, the British government denied any prior knowledge of the invasion before the plane’s ill-fated landing. Now, new information has come to light to challenge the official narrative, and the surviving hostages are taking the British government and BA [British Airways] to court to seek justice and the truth.”
Premiering on June 11 on Sky Documentaries and Sky streaming service Now, Flight 149: Hostage of War promises to combine “powerful firsthand testimonies from the key players, including the surviving hostages, Kuwaiti resistance fighters, investigative journalist Stephen Davis, and political insiders.”
When plans for the doc were first unveiled, Sky highlighted that more than 385 men, women and children were on board of the flight. “Saddam Hussein broadcasts to the world that the passengers of the plane are now his ‘guests’ and are not allowed to leave,” it noted back then. “They are held as human shields in military and chemical plants across Iraq in a rapidly escalating international crisis. Over the next five months, a tense hostage story unfolds with the world watching. It coincides with a pivotal moment in geopolitical history that will change the West’s relationship with the Middle East forever. The hostages become pawns caught up with a ruthless dictator, a plane full of spies, a British government cover-up, and unexpected involvement from Richard Branson.”
The trailer for the feature doc, produced by Drum Studios, gives a first taste of what to expect in Flight 149: Hostage of War and includes footage of the likes of then-U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher next to then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush, a shot of Saddam Hussein, as well as a range of former hostages.
Watch the trailer below.