Rory Peck Awards 2016 The Firing Line

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

the camera. Viewers may find some of the images in this film upsetting.

Some of the most powerful images of the year. Often filmed in difficult

demote and dangerous places. -- remote. But what of the people who

took these pictures? How did they do it? Why did they do it? And what has

been the impact on them personally? Each year we go behind the camera

and speak to the men and women who capture and bring us some of the

most important stories of our times. Often in extremely difficult

circumstances, and under great personal strain. We will hear from

the freelance video journalists nominated to the Rory Peck Awards.

This year, one thing featured in all three categories of the awards. The

great and often desperate migration of thousands of people, fleeing

conflict and terror and seeking a better life elsewhere. The awards

were founded in the name of Rory Peck, a British freelancer, who was

killed in crossfire in Moscow in 1993. His memory lives on through

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

the News category. This photographer from Aleppo reveal

the heart-wrenching story of one family whose lives were devastated

by the Syrian conflict in a single day. Three brothers, Mohamed,

Mahmoud and Marco Salustro were playing at a friends house when a

bomb dropped, end up in hospital where doctors were at work. She then

captured the harrowing story of the death of six-year old Mohammed and

the immediate impact on his distraught family. A rare and

Intermec limbs into what thousands of families have gone through in

this city in the last few years. -- intimate glimpse. Rory Peck judges

described the film as a fragile, delicate discrete story of human

tragedy. It almost felt like one take, one shot, they said. It was

her pictures told one simple story so tight.

Waad Al Kateeb, who for safety reasons remained anonymous, believes

that most deaths in Syria seem like numbers to the outside world.

While Waad except that her own life is in danger, it is her family that

worries her. In March 2015, a Saudi led coalition

of Arabic and forces launched air strikes on Iranian backed rebel

forces in Yemen, as they moved to seats the port of Aden -- sees the

port of Aden, where the many president had taken refuge. Three

months later, Nabil Hassan was embedded with the local anti- rebel

militiamen from the popular resistance committees as they sought

to recapture the city from the rebels. He was with them on the

ground during this major offensive close to the front line, and a

witness to the heavy fighting and intense shelling between the warring

factions. Some of his most striking footage captures the devastating

impact of the conflict for residents of Aden.

As the Rory Peck judges said, we know there is a nasty, tragic war in

Yemen, but we never see it. To see these images, and in particular the

civilians caught in the crossfire, made this entry rare and

outstanding. The seeming exodus of an entire

population is how Will Vassilopoulos described the extraordinary events

of Lesbos last year. Syrians of Lesbos last year. Syrians

attempted to cross from Turkey to seek an new life in Europe. His

images convey the desperation but also determination of people seeking

refuge from war. It is the first time they stepped foot on European

soil, and to them, it is the moment they have been waiting for, really.

You can see it in their eyes, but they do know what to expect from now

on, they don't know what will happen to them. Now, filming this situation

is really bizarre because you are in the middle of this event, which I

have not seen any video out there, they can do it justice, of how it is

to be a journalist in the middle of this. The sounds, the images, even

the smells, you don't know where to look, where to shoot, how long to

stay on an image. The judges praised will's Ivor detail in his filming.

The anguish in other's eyes, the warming of the frozen man's feet,

which helped to highlight the humanity in each situation. --

images. One of the things I want to do with my camera is film with the

utmost respect towards my subject. I truly hope that in this film I

betray the migrants and refugees in the most dignified way. Some of the

most dramatic and distressing footage is shot at Greece's northern

border with Macedonia. For me, watching this scene is again,

watching the children being teargas, is something that will stay with me

forever along time. Seeing them cry, seeing old people in the middle of

all this, -- for a very long time. It will stay in my head forever

along time. Amid such upsetting scenes, Will was able to find

moments of hope as well. I believe that there is always a silver

lining, even in the most miserable places. And these are the shots that

I sought a child playing, a glorious sky, I think these sort of shots are

what kept me sane. The road to Falluja is the first

finalist in the news features category. After 18 months of careful

negotiation with Iraq's leaked counterterrorism for scum at the

Golden decision -- Golden division, Ayman Oghanna and Warzer Jaff got an

unprecedented level of access as they thought to take back control of

the province. There has not been a filmgoing deep into details of the

villages, how to, you know, know who is ISIS, who is not, with the Golden

division. They have not been something like that, so I think that

is why we decided to go in. A standout sequence in the film does

not involve fighting at all. But an attempt by the special forces in one

village to find out which residents of the village had been with IS.

There is one really tense, interesting scene, where the main

antagonist gathers a group of young men outside a mosque, and they have

this kind of Crucible type trial, almost, where the whole town is

involved in identifying people who were IS fighters or collaborators.

If you watch it, it is very tense interesting scene initially, no one

is willing to oust one name the ISO of eight is, and as soon as someone

start it is like opening of the floodgates, -- IS collaborators.

Having the two camera is working on the same scene, managed to get a lot

more scope and gravitas to think what was a very tense and

interesting situation. Lottie Gammon's film expose and

organise common network of Afghan led people smugglers who kidnapped

migrated -- migrant travel through Macedonia, beat them and took their

money. She and a reporter were set on their way by a tipoff from two

victims, who later provided them with secret filming of whether

migrants were held. Our film uncovered a kidnapping gang who

systematically kidnapped refugees in Macedonia, two said -- two Syrian

refugees from Aleppo Centre co-ordinates of the house, and that

is how the film tabout. Using Google Maps and local journalist, they

tracked down the house in that Macedonian countryside where people

were imprisoned. It was very nerve racking finding that house because

we had no idea of they were armed, as far as we knew they were a

dangerous game, we did not know if we were going to be able to rescue

anyone, if people were inside, we wanted to help them get out, and I

think that was one of the hardest things, we knew that there were

people inside a but we couldn't kind of burst the door open.

Luckily the filmgoing out did lead to several raids and 22 people were

arrested. 200 people were freed, so in the end was OK, that going into

the village itself was nerve racking.

The migration route through Libya was the setting for a winning entry

in the news features category. Marco Salustro attempted to document the

conditions of the Libyan side of the Mediterranean. He also found that it

exerted on the Libyan government by European powers to halt migrations

rose -- flows, had alarming consequences. The Libyan government

tried to arrest black people, simply, just to show to the European

politicians that they are dealing with the phenomenon on. In

particular, the Libyan government started to contract militias to help

deal with the migration flow, and one detention camps. -- and run

detention camps. As well is the abuse and subhuman conditions

covered in both the militia run and government run centres, the film he

has remarkable testimony from people who have already endured horrific

journeys to reach Libya from Eritrea, Somalia and sedan. --

Sudan. Marco had to balance recording what

happened in the camps with the risks his interviews posed for the

migrants. Every award has consequences. They were punished for

it or got punishment from the militia. There is a balance between

the risk for them and the importance of the story.

The first list in the Sony Impact Awards is the impact of the Ebola

outbreak in South Africa, told through the perspective of five

children who survived through the disease which had taken their family

and friends. Filmed over four months, it followed the events in

these children's lives, from the time the infection rate peaked in

Sierra Leone, and showing the impact on their lives. There is a

heartbreaking scene with the young Abu who returns for the first time

to the home where his mother died and his father who had also died and

where he lived with his family with his brother Abdul. And they are

going through their old possessions, clearing out and getting ready to

move to some new relatives. And if the process, they stumble across

their mother's life savings. A cash horde, which has a life changing

implication for them. It is a wonderful, heartwarming moment. And

yet, the always' reaction is not one of unremitting joy, actually, what

happens is that it turns to sadness. -- boys' reactions. That is because

they realise in that moment how much they have lost as well.

As the virus is brought under control and schools reopen, we are

shown how the children come to terms with their loss as they start to

rebuild their lives and look to the future. They are incredibly

inspiring, the way they responded to the outbreak. The way they got along

with life. That they accepted the tragedy. Without anger, actually.

They just accepted it. Took it on the chin.

Paul spent months in northern Syria securing unprecedented access to

film with Jabhat al-Nusra link at the time with Al Qaeda. The result

is a fascinating portrait of a group of suicide bombers. That is in sharp

contrast with how Jabhat al-Nusra portrays themselves. The characters

in this film have all too recognisable desires, interests, and

self-doubt. Among the people we meet waiting for his turn on the list to

undertake a suicide attack is a British convert who gradually doubts

that pushing the button, the dugma, would be the right thing to do. What

everyone who watches the film will agree on is that when I am talking

with the British would be bomber, and he is talking about getting

married, and I asked him if he still would be doing this operation of it

in married, and you just have this... It is a beautiful three,

four, five seconds, where he is not saying anything and you can see his

mind, his brain, is still working. Have you talked to your wife about

it? Yeah. And what does she say? SILENCE. At the end of the film, Abu

decides not to go through with the attack. It makes me feel good. Both

as a filmmaker, of course, and as a human being. Because, you can see

that people can change their mind, and it is not just one direction. He

wanted to do this operation. Now he has another, let us say, another

life. He has a white. And when I was there he discovered that his wife

was pregnant. -- wife. This was changing everything. He will still

be a jihadi but he will not be that eager to press the button.

In 2013, Marcel spent nine months in Aleppo, Syria, filming the life of

the commander, his wife, and for children. In this second film he

returned to follow the fortunes of the family after the capture of Abu

Ali by Islamic State. Eventually, the family decided they had to

leave. Every time I see this moment of them

leaving their city, I almost started to cry. People do need to understand

what they see, when they see the refugees in their own cities, they

did not do this because they had a choice. They did not have a choice.

Marcel documents their escape and watches them awaiting passage

through Turkey. All the time they were grieving the loss of their

husband and father left behind. All the way through the three years,

coming back to the husband, leaving and losing the husband, for me, it

became a symbol of leaving and losing my country, her identity, her

everything. In Germany, the family are given good accommodation, school

places, and are generally welcomed in their smalltown. The children

settled well and adapted quickly, more quickly than their mother. The

family is full of poetry. They have been very lucky. We have been lucky

to follow them. That is it for me is year's edition

of Firing Line, a year in which humans struggle to survive and

sought rescue from conflict. These were each of the issues in the 2016

Rory Peck Awards. Goodbye.