2015 The Firing Line

There were half a dozen men who attacked with ISIS on both sides.

You have to put yourself in difficult and dangerous situations.

And when most people would run away, you head towards trouble. Footage

from remote and hostile places can be our only window on events that

are shaping our world. These are some of the most powerful pictures

of the year, all shot by freelancers.

Each year, we step behind the camera to speak to those who film on the

front line so that we can better understand what happens in our

world. We will be hearing from freelance video journalist nominated

in the three categories of the Rory Peck awards. This year, the judges

looked through more than 100 entries from nearly 40 countries. The awards

were founded in the name of Rory Peck, a British freelancer killed by

crossfire in Moscow in 1993. His memory lives on through the trust,

which -- which works on behalf of freelance camera crews. First up,

the news category. The work of Palestinian cameraman Yahya

Hassouna. It was his harrowing images of escalating conflict in

Gaza between Israel and Hamas that caught the attention of the world.

Direct hits from Israeli rockets flattened civilian homes and

buildings in Gaza city. The human cost is devastating. Yahya captures

countless casualties arriving at the hospital. What struck him is the

number of children is coming through the door. -- children.

Poignant moments caught by the camera convey tragedy about every

corner. Every destroyed home, every pile of rubble is searched for

precious mementos. As a local, who has been through this before, Yahya

understands why. The Ukraine for our next finalist,

Olivier Sarbil, who has extensively covered both sides of the conflict

between pro-Russian separatist and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine.

Basing himself in the pro-Russian stronghold around Donetsk, Olivier

produced a series of reports charting the ceasefire and its

eventual collapse. The battle for Donetsk airport and the ceasefire

isn't holding. It's at test of Olivier's skills and nerve as the

rebels take control. Ukrainian troops are just if you 100 metres

away. I was just filming the guys on the frontline and the battlefield.

Suddenly, a clash. You have to make a fast decision. What is best?

Filming the guy firing the weapons, taking cover, falling back? His

training as a paratrooper in the French army equipped him to deal

with the chaos of battle. I still have some instincts, some reflex,

from those times, so I think that helps me on the field. The

adrenaline is pumping. And so the danger is to feel lost in the chaos.

The judges commented Olivier's almost cinematic are beautifully

framed and atmospheric camerawork, but for Olivier the camera in a war

zone provide the necessary window into the dark corners of our

civilisation. I am a witness. Pictures of people fighting,

civilian innocents being shelled every day. Of course we have to tell

the story. If we don't tell the story, we are not there and the

situation could be worse. Who knows? What is important is for people to

understand what's happening. The winner in the news category, Zein

Al-Rifai, was chosen for his coverage of the ongoing conflict in

Syria's second city Aleppo. He captures the relentless suffering of

a people under siege by both the so-called Islamic State and Syrian

government forces. A barrel bomb has devastated a nearby neighbourhood. A

native of Aleppo, Zein knows the district well and rushes to record

the immediate aftermath. Being first on the scene poses a moral dilemma.

Zein is determined to keep showing the plight of the Syrian people to

the world. The cost is high for the video

journalist. Constantly recording distress and destruction takes its

toll. We stay in Syria for the first

finalist in the features category, as jihadist factions make

unprecedented advances in the strategic city. Salam Rizk gained

unique access to rebel groups, government forces and civilians

trapped in Syria's grinding four of attrition. The hospital was at the

centre of heady -- heavy fighting when he arrives on the outskirts of

the conflict. He falls in with the Jabhat al-Nusra rebels. Syrian

government troops are in the nearby building. The most dangerous thing

in the film was at the hospital, because they were bombed by jets all

the time and there were mortars everywhere. It was scary.

As he moves around the complex, he very nearly gets hit by a sniper

himself. When the machine-gun from the jet

fired, I just put the camera like that and I started moving the camera

without looking at what I was filming.

To work in Syria is now super difficult for all journalists. Dust

in the camera, you are a target for everybody. -- Bruce Reid usually the

jihadist don't like you. They really don't like the camera. Civilians,

when they see the camera, they think they will be bombed. I think it is

worth it to risk my life because it is important to show the reality.

Next in the features category is the work of Simon Rowles. The British

journalist reveals the suffering of mentally ill people in the aftermath

of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Simon follows it on a

tipoff from a local charity. The shocking sight awaits him. A man,

Joel, is imprisoned in a cage by his own family. When we did eventually

see Joel, it was pretty hard to comprehend. The cage was very

small. It was too small for him to lie down or a stand-up. And he

basically slept, eight and defecated there. -- ate. Joel's story is just

one of several caged men Simon filmed. It was difficult to pick the

camera. There was something that instinctively felt wrong or

voyeuristic. The professionalism kicks in and makes sure you treat

the story sensitively. Chaining is common practice in a country where

families received little professional support. Joel can

become aggressive and his mother feels she has no other option. She

was somebody who clearly was torn apart by the fact that she was

keeping her son trapped in this cage. These families were doing this

not out of cruelty but out of desperation. It was a difficult

story to walk away from. You hope that there may be some power in

covering a story like this. It is about telling the truth and you hope

that something good will come out of it. And now the winner in the

features category, Zmnako Ismael, who charts the extraordinary exodus

of the migratory people to a refugee camp. Zmnako Ismael travels with

thousands of people as they flee for their lives from is solid state

forces pushing their way across the country. -- Islamic State forces

will star in their desperation to escape, the Yazidis have to cross a

barren and punishing environment. Zmnako is the only journalist

documenting their 200 kilometre journey in search of safety.

When he arrives, a steady stream of people emerge from the clouds of

rolling dust. It is unknown how many die of

exhaustion and dehydration on the long track. -- trek.

The UN estimates some 5000 Yazidi men were killed as Islamic State

swept through Iraq in the summer of 2014. Their intention was clear, to

destroy the Yazidi community and their religion.

Now, as every year, a special award for global impact. The first

finalist is Palestinian journalists Medyan Dairieh, who spent three

weeks embedded with the Islamic State. Medyan gained unprecedented

access as they shocked the world by declaring their brutal caliphate

across both countries. Once on the inside, IS officials are keen to

show Medyan how they operate. Emits a preacher who was left Belgium with

his young son and what he films next is deeply disturbing. -- he meets.

Trying to understand the mind that would take your child from Belgium

to this war zone and then offer him out effectively as a sacrifice just

seemed extraordinary to me. Medyan could not speak to us but Kevin

Sutcliffe was heavily involved in his deployment. Medyan is the first

journalist to get to the heart of the jihadi group. That is why the

film is important. It captures things you really need to think

about. He brings to that a great knowledge and understanding.

He knows how to operate and he knows where the boundaries are, so in that

sense, that was part of why we felt comfortable that he could go. I

think he is also very, very adept at dealing with the stresses and

strains of that situation. He made a great, brave piece of journalism.

Our next finalist is Madrid -based documentary maker,

Our next finalist is Madrid -based documentary -- Hernan Zim. He

focuses on the lives of ten children living in Gaza as Israel begins its

fans. Hernan wanted to make a film that different from every other film

about the conflict. I wanted to change the point of view not just

about the bombs in the blowing up but what goes on inside people, the

drama. -- trauma. So we can get an understanding of the meaning of war

and its effect on children. A 500 kilograms bomb has landed on

six-year-old Bisan's home, instantly killing her immediate family. Bisan

has been left badly wounded and is struggling to make sense of it. You

just imagine that in one second your life goes away, all the people you

love. When I came back afterwards, she could not speak any more. She

was trying to understand that her parents were not going to come

back. That is what it means to be a child in Gaza. Nothing is certain

and everything you have can go away in one second. In total, over 2000

Palestinians died in the 50 day offensive, including over 500

children. Many of the children Hernan filmed were deeply

traumatised. It was the first time I have seen

someone who wants to quit and being a child and being so traumatised,

that was one of the most overwhelming moments. I don't

understand why the world is not doing something. We have to keep on

trying. That is the duty of the filmmakers. And finally, the winner

of Sony's Impact Award is Haider Ali, who travels to the show are on

the Afghan border, where he meets with several young boys and the

paedophiles who abuse them. This is one of many boys regularly abused at

the bus terminal, who was willing to share his difficult story with

Haider. Haider wants to give voice to the

children hunted by sexual predators and dares to give the abusers like

Arjaz envoys as well. The abusers have no fear of the law

and act with impunity. And hearing such rank confessions is a profound

effect on the filmmaker. -- frank confessions.

Some of the abusers panic after giving such incriminating

testimony. The team take the threats seriously

and quickly flee Peshawar, but the abuse continues.

Haider Ali, winner of the Sony Impact Award That Is? Full Top That

Is All -- -- that was Haider Ali, winner of the Sony Impact Award for

Current Affairs. From me goodbye. Some of us would have had some

wintry weather overnight. Cold air currently coming in all

the way from almost the Arctic and the cold air is here to stay

through the course of the weekend. It's also going to be very windy,

particularly