The film premiered in 1997 at the Musée National d'Art Moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris); and at Catherine David's curated Documenta X[1](Kassel).

The work is interspersed with passages from Don DeLillo's novels Mao II and White Noise, "providing a literary and philosophic anchor to the film".

Interspersing fact and fiction, Grimonprez said that the use of archival footage to create "short-circuits in order to critique a situation"[5] may be understood as a form of a Situationist Détournement.

);[21] Leila Khaled ("Weapons Gave Me Words")[22] Bernie Rhodes ("These Ears of Crime"),[23] Tim McGirk (Wired For Warfare)[24] and Richard Thieme ('Beep' Theory),[25] Jodi Dean ('No place like home')[26] among others.

[27] "A Holiday From History", an essay by Slavoj Zizek was published in conjunction with the DVD release of the film with contributions by Don DeLillo, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Vrääth Öhner.

[28] New York composer David Shea wrote the soundtrack to this "disquieting reflection on contemporary history"[29] Golden Spire 'Best Director', San Francisco International Film Festival.