0:00:00 > 0:00:08Now, the firing line pays tribute to the skill of the freelance
0:00:08 > 0:00:11journalist nominated for the Rory Peck awards. Some scenes some
0:00:11 > 0:00:19viewers may find disturbing. Extraordinary scenes from some of
0:00:19 > 0:00:28the most remarkable events of the year. Captured, often at great risk,
0:00:28 > 0:00:35and after much endeavour.
0:00:38 > 0:00:48Who are the journalists who bring as these films? And what motivates them
0:00:48 > 0:00:56to tell such Tories? -- stories.
0:01:09 > 0:01:16Some of the most striking news footage we see on screen doesn't
0:01:16 > 0:01:24come from mainstream media and reporters. Some journalists operate
0:01:24 > 0:01:28independently working in places few are willing to visit to bring as
0:01:28 > 0:01:34some of the most important stories of our time. These freelancers are
0:01:34 > 0:01:36honoured by the Rory Peck award named after the freelance cameraman
0:01:36 > 0:01:44who was killed in Moscow covering the October coup in 1993. His memory
0:01:44 > 0:01:50lives on in the award on behalf of freelance camera crews. This year's
0:01:50 > 0:01:58films have been dominated by the war in Syria. They've also featured
0:01:58 > 0:02:05conflict in Washington and on the streets of La Paz. First, the Sony
0:02:05 > 0:02:09impact award for current affairs for films that really dig into an issue.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23The film-maker Patrick Wells spent months on a painstaking
0:02:23 > 0:02:26investigation into allegations of torture, execution and sectarian
0:02:26 > 0:02:34cleansing in Iraq, working with a producer and actor, he spent a year
0:02:34 > 0:02:38milling the trust of whistle-blowers, to shed light on
0:02:38 > 0:02:48the actions of Shia militia. -- winning the trust.Iraq is so
0:02:48 > 0:02:53difficult to report from, so much suspicion of the media, the amount
0:02:53 > 0:02:57of time it takes to infiltrate a extremely hostile group who may be
0:02:57 > 0:03:04guilty of war crimes was incredibly difficult.Patrick researches and
0:03:04 > 0:03:09directs and produces Briley, the judges said, his film was incredibly
0:03:09 > 0:03:15impressive -- brilliantly.It has got quite chaotic they are accusing
0:03:15 > 0:03:20him of being an Isis fight and we don't know where they have taken
0:03:20 > 0:03:26him. -- fighter.Patrick found evidence of Shia militia
0:03:26 > 0:03:32infiltrating the Iraqi government, and torturing innocent people.The
0:03:32 > 0:03:45most galling scene was when we found the women sitting in this town. 643
0:03:45 > 0:03:52men and boys vanished from the town. The women were in a refugee camp
0:03:52 > 0:03:58which was very inaccessible, all of these women came to us, and all of
0:03:58 > 0:04:01them crying.
0:04:05 > 0:04:12It was the first time the story became about these women, and I
0:04:12 > 0:04:16thought, how has this not been a story, this huge crime had happened
0:04:16 > 0:04:27and had received so little coverage.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53People with disabilities are some of the most marginalised in Bolivia.
0:04:53 > 0:05:01But now they are fighting for their rights.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13Darren Forshaw and Violeta tracked the group of disability rights
0:05:13 > 0:05:22campaigners on a 300 kilometre trek where they staged a protest in the
0:05:22 > 0:05:25capital.
0:05:40 > 0:05:49The scene is set for confrontation. This is a very dangerous moment and
0:05:49 > 0:05:53I thing we have to protect our freedom of expression in Bolivia --
0:05:53 > 0:06:01I think.Dan and Violetta was singled out for police attention.My
0:06:01 > 0:06:08colleague, Daniel Forshaw, Andrea, they have all been assaulted by
0:06:08 > 0:06:16police, Dan was beaten by police. The judges said the story felt so
0:06:16 > 0:06:22fresh and not highlighting an issue none of us even knew existed -- so
0:06:22 > 0:06:26fresh, highlighting an issue. Compelling documentary film-making
0:06:26 > 0:06:34at its best. The protest lasted six months but ultimately ended when two
0:06:34 > 0:06:37campaigners were run over by a car and the leaders threatened with long
0:06:37 > 0:06:43prison sentences.
0:06:56 > 0:07:08Aleppo, 2016. Opposition fighters holding the east of the city are
0:07:08 > 0:07:12losing their grip as Syrian forces and their allies close in. Four
0:07:12 > 0:07:16young journalists record their final days in the city and a remarkable
0:07:16 > 0:07:24story that has won the impact award for current affairs. Together they
0:07:24 > 0:07:31dodge snipers, suffered daily bombardment, and the terror of
0:07:31 > 0:07:39living under siege. Now, scattered around the Middle East, they explain
0:07:39 > 0:07:42the origins of the film.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10The group also demonstrated ingenuity and resilience and
0:08:10 > 0:08:14dignity, in the face of extraordinary challenges.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50As the end neared, the group documented the painful transfer of
0:08:50 > 0:08:54civilians and fighters from rebel areas.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16The judges said this is the most intimate, gripping and moving work
0:09:16 > 0:09:22of these last days in Aleppo. It's like a love story to their city.
0:09:57 > 0:10:07But by Aleppo, winner of the impact award. -- goodbye Aleppo. Next, the
0:10:07 > 0:10:17news feature category, for more in-depth films.Every president in
0:10:17 > 0:10:21American history has disliked the press coverage that he got, but what
0:10:21 > 0:10:28is unusual is none before this has declared war in the first week. He
0:10:28 > 0:10:35needs an enemy.Ollie Lambert's film follows a week in Washington at the
0:10:35 > 0:10:41beginning of Donald Trump's presidency.We always have an
0:10:41 > 0:10:45adversarial relationship and sometimes that is healthy and
0:10:45 > 0:10:51natural, but this is beyond adversarial.Ollie paints a portrait
0:10:51 > 0:10:54of the press corps which covers the US president and how they respond to
0:10:54 > 0:10:59Donald Trump tearing up the rule book.It was perfectly clear walking
0:10:59 > 0:11:04into that briefing, that the whole battle was being waged in this tiny
0:11:04 > 0:11:08little bit of real estate in one corner of the White House and I set
0:11:08 > 0:11:12up camp for us long as I could and tried to get under the skin of the
0:11:12 > 0:11:15journalists who were on the front line of that war for the truth,
0:11:15 > 0:11:20really.The judges said Ollie gives a totally different vantage point on
0:11:20 > 0:11:26the story that everyone else is telling.We are going to get a call
0:11:26 > 0:11:33soon. Wow.The Russia crisis is threatening to engulf the White
0:11:33 > 0:11:38House, that the last minute, Sean Spicer's daily briefing is cancelled
0:11:38 > 0:11:42and Donald Trump announces his first solo press conference as president
0:11:42 > 0:11:49of the United States.To actually see it play out, where very
0:11:49 > 0:11:54professional, thoughtful truth telling journalists were being
0:11:54 > 0:11:57mercilessly attacked for trying to do their job and try to tell the
0:11:57 > 0:12:02truth, that felt like a very serious issue and I wanted people to really
0:12:02 > 0:12:06feel, not just understand, but really feel how serious that was.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11Quite, quite. I don't have to do that, I don't have to tell you what
0:12:11 > 0:12:16I'm going to do in North Korea -- quiet, quiet. Eventually you will
0:12:16 > 0:12:22get tired of asking that question. We keep doing our job. No one became
0:12:22 > 0:12:29a reporter to be loved. If you wants to go after us, that's his decision.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33I'm not sure that's a smart long-term decision for building
0:12:33 > 0:12:37support in the country.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52The next finalist is a shocking expose say of the torture of
0:12:52 > 0:12:59innocent Iraqis, award-winning photojournalist Ali Arkady was
0:12:59 > 0:13:03embedded with an elite Iraqi army unit, he was planning on making a
0:13:03 > 0:13:08film celebrating their exploits on the battlefield, but he discovered a
0:13:08 > 0:13:14much darker side to their story. They ignore a crying mother and her
0:13:14 > 0:13:22children. You are scaring the children, she says, they take the
0:13:22 > 0:13:26husband outside and begin to beat him. Claiming he and his wife once
0:13:26 > 0:13:37helped Isis.And it gets worse.The very next day, the camera was
0:13:37 > 0:13:41present when the unit prepared to torture this man, a sheep murderer
0:13:41 > 0:13:47whose teenager on was suspected of working for Isis. As a senior
0:13:47 > 0:13:52officer gives the directions, when I tell you ticket, he says, you let
0:13:52 > 0:13:59him go -- when I tell you to kick. They closed the curtains and would
0:13:59 > 0:14:04not allow Ali Arkady to continue filming the ugly scene.At first Ali
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Arkady felt conflicted and he admits he bade commands by the unit's
0:14:08 > 0:14:15officers to strike detainees -- P Obeid. But the more he saw, he
0:14:15 > 0:14:21realised he had to tell a different story.I did not have any option, to
0:14:21 > 0:14:27try to stop this violence, but I thought, in another way, I can, I
0:14:27 > 0:14:33try in the future to stop what these forces are doing for the civilians.
0:14:33 > 0:14:43And if I can get more evidence, approval, that I can show, maybe we
0:14:43 > 0:14:47can stop what they did.Now in hiding following death threats to
0:14:47 > 0:14:52his family, he says his film has already produced results.Three
0:14:52 > 0:14:57months after the publishing, the office of the Iraqi prime ministers
0:14:57 > 0:15:02said the perpetrators should face Rosicky vision. -- should face
0:15:02 > 0:15:09prosecution.The judges described it as ground-breaking journalism. They
0:15:09 > 0:15:13said Ali Arkady could not challenge what he saw, but all he could do was
0:15:13 > 0:15:24should the material and get it back. -- shoot the material.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37The winner of the news features award was Olivier Sarbil's film.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42These are 12 children of Saddam's Iraq, now in the battle to save
0:15:42 > 0:15:48Iraq.He lived alongside a unit of the Iraqi special forces for five
0:15:48 > 0:15:52weeks as they pushed into Isis territory. The judges praised its
0:15:52 > 0:15:58raw emotion and authentic life, bringing us incredible footage and
0:15:58 > 0:16:04intimate insights into the real life in the city. To get the footage, he
0:16:04 > 0:16:09first had to win the trust of the soldiers he was with.For two weeks
0:16:09 > 0:16:17I just sit, sleep, with those guys, and tried to get their trust, tried
0:16:17 > 0:16:23to get some understanding, to a point where I would be invisible and
0:16:23 > 0:16:27the camera would be invisible.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35As a former French soldier, Olivier Sarbil had combat experience but as
0:16:35 > 0:16:42a freelance journalist who was on his own with no support network.I
0:16:42 > 0:16:48was on my won't, I did not have a fix or a translator, and the
0:16:48 > 0:16:54commander of the unit spoke a bit of English but most of the men spoke
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Arabic -- I was on my own. But day after day they got to know me and we
0:16:59 > 0:17:04build trust between us and they wanted me to stay with them.He also
0:17:04 > 0:17:14had to trust them with his own life. I knew they were well trained. I
0:17:14 > 0:17:22knew those guys were good and well equipped and I trusted them.He was
0:17:22 > 0:17:27keen to show another side to life on the front line.I wanted to be
0:17:27 > 0:17:31intermittent with those guys, to have a chance to know them better --
0:17:31 > 0:17:40to be intimate. I was very surprised to see how much they were confident
0:17:40 > 0:17:45with me and how much they would let me film them in any kind of
0:17:45 > 0:17:48circumstances.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57But danger and death are never far away.
0:18:01 > 0:18:08The battle for Mosul, winner of the news feature award, and finally, the
0:18:08 > 0:18:11news category, awarded for films that capture the immediacy of a
0:18:11 > 0:18:17story.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27The attack happened shortly after dawn. The conflict in Syria has set
0:18:27 > 0:18:35new standards in the horrors of war. The makers of this film recorded
0:18:35 > 0:18:39scenes that are deeply disturbing, be warned, this footage of a
0:18:39 > 0:18:48chemical weapon attack is upsetting. Adam was one of the first to arrive,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52but he was himself knocked unconscious by the gas.
0:19:08 > 0:19:15One of the survivors describes the moment the gas hit him. TRANSLATION:
0:19:15 > 0:19:19I fell down and could not feel a thing, I was lying on the ground and
0:19:19 > 0:19:23my hands were hitting the ground and then I fainted, it was as if I was
0:19:23 > 0:19:27hitting myself, I had no control and I could not see anything with my
0:19:27 > 0:19:34eyes.The victims are moved to a nearby hospital where he continues
0:19:34 > 0:19:39to film, as danger still lurks what suddenly there is panic as news
0:19:39 > 0:19:46comes in of more fighter jets heading that way. Local journalist
0:19:46 > 0:19:52is in the middle of delivering a report.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02The scenes were so shocking that at first Olivier Sarbil phrase.
0:20:08 > 0:20:15-- the scenes were so shocking that at first he froze.
0:20:17 > 0:20:24The judges said this work is chronicling a war crime, to be on
0:20:24 > 0:20:27plunging and keep your head in a situation like that is so impressive
0:20:27 > 0:20:35-- to be on flinching.Most were treated peacefully on the floor. As
0:20:35 > 0:20:39distraught relatives look on powerless to help.
0:20:51 > 0:20:58News award finalist Chernov was another freelancer who spent time in
0:20:58 > 0:21:04Mosul with the Iraqi special forces will stop this was an urban warfare
0:21:04 > 0:21:10fought one street at a time. A former aid worker and award-winning
0:21:10 > 0:21:18photographer, the he has covered other conflicts, and working alone
0:21:18 > 0:21:21without the local language, he is aware of the risks this kind of
0:21:21 > 0:21:28journalism involves.Try to understand how far you can go, and
0:21:28 > 0:21:32how far you need to go to show what is really going on, it is a constant
0:21:32 > 0:21:37search and balance between the safety and what you need to do.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Everyone who goes to war, they realise that danger is imminent,
0:21:40 > 0:21:46there is an away you can escape danger, when showing the reality of
0:21:46 > 0:21:53war.The judges praised his camerawork, and all of his images
0:21:53 > 0:21:59are captured so clearly and cleanly, sharp as a pen, he has a real
0:21:59 > 0:22:06photographer's eye, they said. Every sequence is ebbing yet and shot
0:22:06 > 0:22:12after shot gives the complete story without narration -- every sequence
0:22:12 > 0:22:19is a vignette.Every cameraman tries to make their shots as beautiful as
0:22:19 > 0:22:23possible, but to show the reality of war, the brutality of everything
0:22:23 > 0:22:29that is going on, it contradicts our wish to make the shot beautiful, so
0:22:29 > 0:22:39that is a struggle and that is where the cameraman stuck, how to show the
0:22:39 > 0:22:45reality of war, but also make the shot appealing, and when you make
0:22:45 > 0:22:51the shot of leading the viewers starts accepting the war and that is
0:22:51 > 0:22:54the contrary of what we are trying to do. -- when you make the shot
0:22:54 > 0:22:56appealing.
0:23:17 > 0:23:24Tender words for a child that can't find its own. The winner of the
0:23:24 > 0:23:32serious news award is about life in the last functioning hospital in
0:23:32 > 0:23:41Aleppo, and it was shot by Waad Al Kateab.This woman is the only adult
0:23:41 > 0:23:44left of three families whose apartment was obliterated by Russian
0:23:44 > 0:23:51or Syrian bombs. She comes across a neighbour, this teenage boy used to
0:23:51 > 0:23:59live upstairs. The baby boy he is holding is his little brother,
0:23:59 > 0:24:07one-month-old. His face is the only restful thing in this bedlam. But
0:24:07 > 0:24:16this is the sleep of the dead. He was suffocated in the ruins.We are
0:24:16 > 0:24:22unable to show pictures of Waad Al Kateab because he is in hiding.The
0:24:22 > 0:24:27most interesting thing for me was the hospital, and when I turned the
0:24:27 > 0:24:32camera on I was just focusing on showing the ward, the suffering and
0:24:32 > 0:24:39what is happening inside Aleppo, and maybe the ward will show the crimes
0:24:39 > 0:24:45of the regime against the civilians there.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03It is all still in my mind. I couldn't forget anything happened
0:25:03 > 0:25:06from the first moment until the end.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13A nurse leads in a brother and sister and they go from room to
0:25:13 > 0:25:19room. We don't know their names and they don't know yet if they are
0:25:19 > 0:25:26orphans.The judges said you are in the midst of the event, and that
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Olivier Sarbil uses techniques which reach out and move people, and not
0:25:29 > 0:25:38one shot is fired -- and that Waad Al Kateab uses techniques.Brother
0:25:38 > 0:25:41and sister are still waiting for news of their mother. Exhausted
0:25:41 > 0:25:49beyond words, by a life beyond description.Inside Aleppo, the last
0:25:49 > 0:25:54hospital, winner of the news award. That is it for this year's edition
0:25:54 > 0:25:57of the firing line, year in which the human cost of the war in Syria
0:25:57 > 0:26:11and the bitter battle against is # -- this -- against Islamic State
0:26:11 > 0:26:18militants defined the Rory Peck awards.