Rory Peck Awards 2016

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:00:00. > :00:00.in this year's Rory Peck Awards. Firing line meets the people behind

:00:00. > :00:19.the camera. Viewers may find some of the images in this film upsetting.

:00:20. > :00:39.Some of the most powerful images of the year. Often filmed in difficult

:00:40. > :00:46.demote and dangerous places. -- remote. But what of the people who

:00:47. > :00:50.took these pictures? How did they do it? Why did they do it? And what has

:00:51. > :01:10.been the impact on them personally? Each year we go behind the camera

:01:11. > :01:14.and speak to the men and women who capture and bring us some of the

:01:15. > :01:16.most important stories of our times. Often in extremely difficult

:01:17. > :01:20.circumstances, and under great personal strain. We will hear from

:01:21. > :01:25.the freelance video journalists nominated to the Rory Peck Awards.

:01:26. > :01:30.This year, one thing featured in all three categories of the awards. The

:01:31. > :01:33.great and often desperate migration of thousands of people, fleeing

:01:34. > :01:37.conflict and terror and seeking a better life elsewhere. The awards

:01:38. > :01:43.were founded in the name of Rory Peck, a British freelancer, who was

:01:44. > :01:47.killed in crossfire in Moscow in 1993. His memory lives on through

:01:48. > :01:49.the trust which works on behalf of freelance camera crews. First up,

:01:50. > :02:10.the News category. This photographer from Aleppo reveal

:02:11. > :02:15.the heart-wrenching story of one family whose lives were devastated

:02:16. > :02:24.by the Syrian conflict in a single day. Three brothers, Mohamed,

:02:25. > :02:27.Mahmoud and Marco Salustro were playing at a friends house when a

:02:28. > :02:33.bomb dropped, end up in hospital where doctors were at work. She then

:02:34. > :02:36.captured the harrowing story of the death of six-year old Mohammed and

:02:37. > :02:40.the immediate impact on his distraught family. A rare and

:02:41. > :02:45.Intermec limbs into what thousands of families have gone through in

:02:46. > :02:57.this city in the last few years. -- intimate glimpse. Rory Peck judges

:02:58. > :03:02.described the film as a fragile, delicate discrete story of human

:03:03. > :03:07.tragedy. It almost felt like one take, one shot, they said. It was

:03:08. > :03:20.her pictures told one simple story so tight.

:03:21. > :03:26.Waad Al Kateeb, who for safety reasons remained anonymous, believes

:03:27. > :03:43.that most deaths in Syria seem like numbers to the outside world.

:03:44. > :03:47.While Waad except that her own life is in danger, it is her family that

:03:48. > :04:46.worries her. In March 2015, a Saudi led coalition

:04:47. > :04:49.of Arabic and forces launched air strikes on Iranian backed rebel

:04:50. > :04:55.forces in Yemen, as they moved to seats the port of Aden -- sees the

:04:56. > :04:59.port of Aden, where the many president had taken refuge. Three

:05:00. > :05:02.months later, Nabil Hassan was embedded with the local anti- rebel

:05:03. > :05:07.militiamen from the popular resistance committees as they sought

:05:08. > :05:11.to recapture the city from the rebels. He was with them on the

:05:12. > :05:15.ground during this major offensive close to the front line, and a

:05:16. > :05:22.witness to the heavy fighting and intense shelling between the warring

:05:23. > :05:27.factions. Some of his most striking footage captures the devastating

:05:28. > :05:58.impact of the conflict for residents of Aden.

:05:59. > :06:05.As the Rory Peck judges said, we know there is a nasty, tragic war in

:06:06. > :06:10.Yemen, but we never see it. To see these images, and in particular the

:06:11. > :06:11.civilians caught in the crossfire, made this entry rare and

:06:12. > :06:33.outstanding. The seeming exodus of an entire

:06:34. > :06:36.population is how Will Vassilopoulos described the extraordinary events

:06:37. > :06:41.of Lesbos last year. Syrians of Lesbos last year. Syrians

:06:42. > :06:49.attempted to cross from Turkey to seek an new life in Europe. His

:06:50. > :06:55.images convey the desperation but also determination of people seeking

:06:56. > :07:00.refuge from war. It is the first time they stepped foot on European

:07:01. > :07:06.soil, and to them, it is the moment they have been waiting for, really.

:07:07. > :07:10.You can see it in their eyes, but they do know what to expect from now

:07:11. > :07:16.on, they don't know what will happen to them. Now, filming this situation

:07:17. > :07:22.is really bizarre because you are in the middle of this event, which I

:07:23. > :07:27.have not seen any video out there, they can do it justice, of how it is

:07:28. > :07:32.to be a journalist in the middle of this. The sounds, the images, even

:07:33. > :07:38.the smells, you don't know where to look, where to shoot, how long to

:07:39. > :07:43.stay on an image. The judges praised will's Ivor detail in his filming.

:07:44. > :07:49.The anguish in other's eyes, the warming of the frozen man's feet,

:07:50. > :07:57.which helped to highlight the humanity in each situation. --

:07:58. > :08:01.images. One of the things I want to do with my camera is film with the

:08:02. > :08:04.utmost respect towards my subject. I truly hope that in this film I

:08:05. > :08:08.betray the migrants and refugees in the most dignified way. Some of the

:08:09. > :08:14.most dramatic and distressing footage is shot at Greece's northern

:08:15. > :08:18.border with Macedonia. For me, watching this scene is again,

:08:19. > :08:24.watching the children being teargas, is something that will stay with me

:08:25. > :08:34.forever along time. Seeing them cry, seeing old people in the middle of

:08:35. > :08:38.all this, -- for a very long time. It will stay in my head forever

:08:39. > :08:43.along time. Amid such upsetting scenes, Will was able to find

:08:44. > :08:47.moments of hope as well. I believe that there is always a silver

:08:48. > :08:53.lining, even in the most miserable places. And these are the shots that

:08:54. > :08:56.I sought a child playing, a glorious sky, I think these sort of shots are

:08:57. > :09:15.what kept me sane. The road to Falluja is the first

:09:16. > :09:21.finalist in the news features category. After 18 months of careful

:09:22. > :09:26.negotiation with Iraq's leaked counterterrorism for scum at the

:09:27. > :09:30.Golden decision -- Golden division, Ayman Oghanna and Warzer Jaff got an

:09:31. > :09:36.unprecedented level of access as they thought to take back control of

:09:37. > :09:44.the province. There has not been a filmgoing deep into details of the

:09:45. > :09:48.villages, how to, you know, know who is ISIS, who is not, with the Golden

:09:49. > :09:53.division. They have not been something like that, so I think that

:09:54. > :09:57.is why we decided to go in. A standout sequence in the film does

:09:58. > :10:01.not involve fighting at all. But an attempt by the special forces in one

:10:02. > :10:14.village to find out which residents of the village had been with IS.

:10:15. > :10:21.There is one really tense, interesting scene, where the main

:10:22. > :10:25.antagonist gathers a group of young men outside a mosque, and they have

:10:26. > :10:31.this kind of Crucible type trial, almost, where the whole town is

:10:32. > :10:40.involved in identifying people who were IS fighters or collaborators.

:10:41. > :10:49.If you watch it, it is very tense interesting scene initially, no one

:10:50. > :10:53.is willing to oust one name the ISO of eight is, and as soon as someone

:10:54. > :11:10.start it is like opening of the floodgates, -- IS collaborators.

:11:11. > :11:17.Having the two camera is working on the same scene, managed to get a lot

:11:18. > :11:18.more scope and gravitas to think what was a very tense and

:11:19. > :11:36.interesting situation. Lottie Gammon's film expose and

:11:37. > :11:42.organise common network of Afghan led people smugglers who kidnapped

:11:43. > :11:48.migrated -- migrant travel through Macedonia, beat them and took their

:11:49. > :11:52.money. She and a reporter were set on their way by a tipoff from two

:11:53. > :11:56.victims, who later provided them with secret filming of whether

:11:57. > :12:01.migrants were held. Our film uncovered a kidnapping gang who

:12:02. > :12:08.systematically kidnapped refugees in Macedonia, two said -- two Syrian

:12:09. > :12:15.refugees from Aleppo Centre co-ordinates of the house, and that

:12:16. > :12:20.is how the film tabout. Using Google Maps and local journalist, they

:12:21. > :12:25.tracked down the house in that Macedonian countryside where people

:12:26. > :12:28.were imprisoned. It was very nerve racking finding that house because

:12:29. > :12:32.we had no idea of they were armed, as far as we knew they were a

:12:33. > :12:36.dangerous game, we did not know if we were going to be able to rescue

:12:37. > :12:40.anyone, if people were inside, we wanted to help them get out, and I

:12:41. > :12:44.think that was one of the hardest things, we knew that there were

:12:45. > :12:51.people inside a but we couldn't kind of burst the door open.

:12:52. > :12:58.Luckily the filmgoing out did lead to several raids and 22 people were

:12:59. > :13:03.arrested. 200 people were freed, so in the end was OK, that going into

:13:04. > :13:16.the village itself was nerve racking.

:13:17. > :13:23.The migration route through Libya was the setting for a winning entry

:13:24. > :13:27.in the news features category. Marco Salustro attempted to document the

:13:28. > :13:32.conditions of the Libyan side of the Mediterranean. He also found that it

:13:33. > :13:36.exerted on the Libyan government by European powers to halt migrations

:13:37. > :13:44.rose -- flows, had alarming consequences. The Libyan government

:13:45. > :13:47.tried to arrest black people, simply, just to show to the European

:13:48. > :13:54.politicians that they are dealing with the phenomenon on. In

:13:55. > :13:58.particular, the Libyan government started to contract militias to help

:13:59. > :14:03.deal with the migration flow, and one detention camps. -- and run

:14:04. > :14:06.detention camps. As well is the abuse and subhuman conditions

:14:07. > :14:10.covered in both the militia run and government run centres, the film he

:14:11. > :14:13.has remarkable testimony from people who have already endured horrific

:14:14. > :14:19.journeys to reach Libya from Eritrea, Somalia and sedan. --

:14:20. > :14:50.Sudan. Marco had to balance recording what

:14:51. > :14:55.happened in the camps with the risks his interviews posed for the

:14:56. > :15:02.migrants. Every award has consequences. They were punished for

:15:03. > :15:07.it or got punishment from the militia. There is a balance between

:15:08. > :15:23.the risk for them and the importance of the story.

:15:24. > :15:35.The first list in the Sony Impact Awards is the impact of the Ebola

:15:36. > :15:39.outbreak in South Africa, told through the perspective of five

:15:40. > :15:44.children who survived through the disease which had taken their family

:15:45. > :15:48.and friends. Filmed over four months, it followed the events in

:15:49. > :15:54.these children's lives, from the time the infection rate peaked in

:15:55. > :15:59.Sierra Leone, and showing the impact on their lives. There is a

:16:00. > :16:03.heartbreaking scene with the young Abu who returns for the first time

:16:04. > :16:07.to the home where his mother died and his father who had also died and

:16:08. > :16:13.where he lived with his family with his brother Abdul. And they are

:16:14. > :16:17.going through their old possessions, clearing out and getting ready to

:16:18. > :16:25.move to some new relatives. And if the process, they stumble across

:16:26. > :16:29.their mother's life savings. A cash horde, which has a life changing

:16:30. > :16:35.implication for them. It is a wonderful, heartwarming moment. And

:16:36. > :16:40.yet, the always' reaction is not one of unremitting joy, actually, what

:16:41. > :16:45.happens is that it turns to sadness. -- boys' reactions. That is because

:16:46. > :16:58.they realise in that moment how much they have lost as well.

:16:59. > :17:04.As the virus is brought under control and schools reopen, we are

:17:05. > :17:08.shown how the children come to terms with their loss as they start to

:17:09. > :17:16.rebuild their lives and look to the future. They are incredibly

:17:17. > :17:22.inspiring, the way they responded to the outbreak. The way they got along

:17:23. > :17:29.with life. That they accepted the tragedy. Without anger, actually.

:17:30. > :17:40.They just accepted it. Took it on the chin.

:17:41. > :18:00.Paul spent months in northern Syria securing unprecedented access to

:18:01. > :18:07.film with Jabhat al-Nusra link at the time with Al Qaeda. The result

:18:08. > :18:14.is a fascinating portrait of a group of suicide bombers. That is in sharp

:18:15. > :18:17.contrast with how Jabhat al-Nusra portrays themselves. The characters

:18:18. > :18:24.in this film have all too recognisable desires, interests, and

:18:25. > :18:29.self-doubt. Among the people we meet waiting for his turn on the list to

:18:30. > :18:36.undertake a suicide attack is a British convert who gradually doubts

:18:37. > :18:40.that pushing the button, the dugma, would be the right thing to do. What

:18:41. > :18:44.everyone who watches the film will agree on is that when I am talking

:18:45. > :18:50.with the British would be bomber, and he is talking about getting

:18:51. > :18:57.married, and I asked him if he still would be doing this operation of it

:18:58. > :19:04.in married, and you just have this... It is a beautiful three,

:19:05. > :19:08.four, five seconds, where he is not saying anything and you can see his

:19:09. > :19:15.mind, his brain, is still working. Have you talked to your wife about

:19:16. > :19:24.it? Yeah. And what does she say? SILENCE. At the end of the film, Abu

:19:25. > :19:29.decides not to go through with the attack. It makes me feel good. Both

:19:30. > :19:35.as a filmmaker, of course, and as a human being. Because, you can see

:19:36. > :19:44.that people can change their mind, and it is not just one direction. He

:19:45. > :19:50.wanted to do this operation. Now he has another, let us say, another

:19:51. > :19:55.life. He has a white. And when I was there he discovered that his wife

:19:56. > :20:00.was pregnant. -- wife. This was changing everything. He will still

:20:01. > :20:15.be a jihadi but he will not be that eager to press the button.

:20:16. > :20:27.In 2013, Marcel spent nine months in Aleppo, Syria, filming the life of

:20:28. > :20:32.the commander, his wife, and for children. In this second film he

:20:33. > :20:38.returned to follow the fortunes of the family after the capture of Abu

:20:39. > :20:40.Ali by Islamic State. Eventually, the family decided they had to

:20:41. > :21:09.leave. Every time I see this moment of them

:21:10. > :21:14.leaving their city, I almost started to cry. People do need to understand

:21:15. > :21:21.what they see, when they see the refugees in their own cities, they

:21:22. > :21:31.did not do this because they had a choice. They did not have a choice.

:21:32. > :21:33.Marcel documents their escape and watches them awaiting passage

:21:34. > :21:35.through Turkey. All the time they were grieving the loss of their

:21:36. > :21:57.husband and father left behind. All the way through the three years,

:21:58. > :22:02.coming back to the husband, leaving and losing the husband, for me, it

:22:03. > :22:10.became a symbol of leaving and losing my country, her identity, her

:22:11. > :22:14.everything. In Germany, the family are given good accommodation, school

:22:15. > :22:19.places, and are generally welcomed in their smalltown. The children

:22:20. > :22:31.settled well and adapted quickly, more quickly than their mother. The

:22:32. > :22:35.family is full of poetry. They have been very lucky. We have been lucky

:22:36. > :23:01.to follow them. That is it for me is year's edition

:23:02. > :23:06.of Firing Line, a year in which humans struggle to survive and

:23:07. > :23:14.sought rescue from conflict. These were each of the issues in the 2016

:23:15. > :23:18.Rory Peck Awards. Goodbye.