Rory Peck Awards 2017 The Firing Line

Now, the firing line pays tribute to

the skill of the freelance

journalist nominated for the Rory

Peck awards. Some scenes some

viewers may find disturbing.

Extraordinary scenes from some of

the most remarkable events of the

year. Captured, often at great risk,

and after much endeavour.

Who are the journalists who bring as

these films? And what motivates them

to tell such Tories? -- stories.

Some of the most striking news

footage we see on screen doesn't

come from mainstream media and

reporters. Some journalists operate

independently working in places few

are willing to visit to bring as

some of the most important stories

of our time. These freelancers are

honoured by the Rory Peck award

named after the freelance cameraman

who was killed in Moscow covering

the October coup in 1993. His memory

lives on in the award on behalf of

freelance camera crews. This year's

films have been dominated by the war

in Syria. They've also featured

conflict in Washington and on the

streets of La Paz. First, the Sony

impact award for current affairs for

films that really dig into an issue.

The film-maker Patrick Wells spent

months on a painstaking

investigation into allegations of

torture, execution and sectarian

cleansing in Iraq, working with a

producer and actor, he spent a year

milling the trust of

whistle-blowers, to shed light on

the actions of Shia militia. --

winning the trust.

Iraq is so

difficult to report from, so much

suspicion of the media, the amount

of time it takes to infiltrate a

extremely hostile group who may be

guilty of war crimes was incredibly

difficult.

Patrick researches and

directs and produces Briley, the

judges said, his film was incredibly

impressive -- brilliantly.

It has

got quite chaotic they are accusing

him of being an Isis fight and we

don't know where they have taken

him. -- fighter.

Patrick found

evidence of Shia militia

infiltrating the Iraqi government,

and torturing innocent people.

The

most galling scene was when we found

the women sitting in this town. 643

men and boys vanished from the town.

The women were in a refugee camp

which was very inaccessible, all of

these women came to us, and all of

them crying.

It was the first time the story

became about these women, and I

thought, how has this not been a

story, this huge crime had happened

and had received so little coverage.

People with disabilities are some of

the most marginalised in Bolivia.

But now they are fighting for their

rights.

Darren Forshaw and Violeta tracked

the group of disability rights

campaigners on a 300 kilometre trek

where they staged a protest in the

capital.

The scene is set for confrontation.

This is a very dangerous moment and

I thing we have to protect our

freedom of expression in Bolivia --

I think.

Dan and Violetta was

singled out for police attention.

My

colleague, Daniel Forshaw, Andrea,

they have all been assaulted by

police, Dan was beaten by police.

The judges said the story felt so

fresh and not highlighting an issue

none of us even knew existed -- so

fresh, highlighting an issue.

Compelling documentary film-making

at its best. The protest lasted six

months but ultimately ended when two

campaigners were run over by a car

and the leaders threatened with long

prison sentences.

Aleppo, 2016. Opposition fighters

holding the east of the city are

losing their grip as Syrian forces

and their allies close in. Four

young journalists record their final

days in the city and a remarkable

story that has won the impact award

for current affairs. Together they

dodge snipers, suffered daily

bombardment, and the terror of

living under siege. Now, scattered

around the Middle East, they explain

the origins of the film.

The group also demonstrated

ingenuity and resilience and

dignity, in the face of

extraordinary challenges.

As the end neared, the group

documented the painful transfer of

civilians and fighters from rebel

areas.

The judges said this is the most

intimate, gripping and moving work

of these last days in Aleppo. It's

like a love story to their city.

But by Aleppo, winner of the impact

award. -- goodbye Aleppo. Next, the

news feature category, for more

in-depth films.

Every president in

American history has disliked the

press coverage that he got, but what

is unusual is none before this has

declared war in the first week. He

needs an enemy.

Ollie Lambert's film

follows a week in Washington at the

beginning of Donald Trump's

presidency.

We always have an

adversarial relationship and

sometimes that is healthy and

natural, but this is beyond

adversarial.

Ollie paints a portrait

of the press corps which covers the

US president and how they respond to

Donald Trump tearing up the rule

book.

It was perfectly clear walking

into that briefing, that the whole

battle was being waged in this tiny

little bit of real estate in one

corner of the White House and I set

up camp for us long as I could and

tried to get under the skin of the

journalists who were on the front

line of that war for the truth,

really.

The judges said Ollie gives

a totally different vantage point on

the story that everyone else is

telling.

We are going to get a call

soon. Wow.

The Russia crisis is

threatening to engulf the White

House, that the last minute, Sean

Spicer's daily briefing is cancelled

and Donald Trump announces his first

solo press conference as president

of the United States.

To actually

see it play out, where very

professional, thoughtful truth

telling journalists were being

mercilessly attacked for trying to

do their job and try to tell the

truth, that felt like a very serious

issue and I wanted people to really

feel, not just understand, but

really feel how serious that was.

Quite, quite. I don't have to do

that, I don't have to tell you what

I'm going to do in North Korea --

quiet, quiet. Eventually you will

get tired of asking that question.

We keep doing our job. No one became

a reporter to be loved. If you wants

to go after us, that's his decision.

I'm not sure that's a smart

long-term decision for building

support in the country.

The next finalist is a shocking

expose say of the torture of

innocent Iraqis, award-winning

photojournalist Ali Arkady was

embedded with an elite Iraqi army

unit, he was planning on making a

film celebrating their exploits on

the battlefield, but he discovered a

much darker side to their story.

They ignore a crying mother and her

children. You are scaring the

children, she says, they take the

husband outside and begin to beat

him. Claiming he and his wife once

helped Isis.

And it gets worse.

The

very next day, the camera was

present when the unit prepared to

torture this man, a sheep murderer

whose teenager on was suspected of

working for Isis. As a senior

officer gives the directions, when I

tell you ticket, he says, you let

him go -- when I tell you to kick.

They closed the curtains and would

not allow Ali Arkady to continue

filming the ugly scene.

At first Ali

Arkady felt conflicted and he admits

he bade commands by the unit's

officers to strike detainees -- P

Obeid. But the more he saw, he

realised he had to tell a different

story.

I did not have any option, to

try to stop this violence, but I

thought, in another way, I can, I

try in the future to stop what these

forces are doing for the civilians.

And if I can get more evidence,

approval, that I can show, maybe we

can stop what they did.

Now in

hiding following death threats to

his family, he says his film has

already produced results.

Three

months after the publishing, the

office of the Iraqi prime ministers

said the perpetrators should face

Rosicky vision. -- should face

prosecution.

The judges described it

as ground-breaking journalism. They

said Ali Arkady could not challenge

what he saw, but all he could do was

should the material and get it back.

-- shoot the material.

The winner of the news features

award was Olivier Sarbil's film.

These are 12 children of Saddam's

Iraq, now in the battle to save

Iraq.

He lived alongside a unit of

the Iraqi special forces for five

weeks as they pushed into Isis

territory. The judges praised its

raw emotion and authentic life,

bringing us incredible footage and

intimate insights into the real life

in the city. To get the footage, he

first had to win the trust of the

soldiers he was with.

For two weeks

I just sit, sleep, with those guys,

and tried to get their trust, tried

to get some understanding, to a

point where I would be invisible and

the camera would be invisible.

As a former French soldier, Olivier

Sarbil had combat experience but as

a freelance journalist who was on

his own with no support network.

I

was on my won't, I did not have a

fix or a translator, and the

commander of the unit spoke a bit of

English but most of the men spoke

Arabic -- I was on my own. But day

after day they got to know me and we

build trust between us and they

wanted me to stay with them.

He also

had to trust them with his own life.

I knew they were well trained. I

knew those guys were good and well

equipped and I trusted them.

He was

keen to show another side to life on

the front line.

I wanted to be

intermittent with those guys, to

have a chance to know them better --

to be intimate. I was very surprised

to see how much they were confident

with me and how much they would let

me film them in any kind of

circumstances.

But danger and death are never far

away.

The battle for Mosul, winner of the

news feature award, and finally, the

news category, awarded for films

that capture the immediacy of a

story.

The attack happened shortly after

dawn. The conflict in Syria has set

new standards in the horrors of war.

The makers of this film recorded

scenes that are deeply disturbing,

be warned, this footage of a

chemical weapon attack is upsetting.

Adam was one of the first to arrive,

but he was himself knocked

unconscious by the gas.

One of the survivors describes the

moment the gas hit him. TRANSLATION:

I fell down and could not feel a

thing, I was lying on the ground and

my hands were hitting the ground and

then I fainted, it was as if I was

hitting myself, I had no control and

I could not see anything with my

eyes.

The victims are moved to a

nearby hospital where he continues

to film, as danger still lurks what

suddenly there is panic as news

comes in of more fighter jets

heading that way. Local journalist

is in the middle of delivering a

report.

The scenes were so shocking that at

first Olivier Sarbil phrase.

-- the scenes were so shocking that

at first he froze.

The judges said this work is

chronicling a war crime, to be on

plunging and keep your head in a

situation like that is so impressive

-- to be on flinching.

Most were

treated peacefully on the floor. As

distraught relatives look on

powerless to help.

News award finalist Chernov was

another freelancer who spent time in

Mosul with the Iraqi special forces

will stop this was an urban warfare

fought one street at a time. A

former aid worker and award-winning

photographer, the he has covered

other conflicts, and working alone

without the local language, he is

aware of the risks this kind of

journalism involves.

Try to

understand how far you can go, and

how far you need to go to show what

is really going on, it is a constant

search and balance between the

safety and what you need to do.

Everyone who goes to war, they

realise that danger is imminent,

there is an away you can escape

danger, when showing the reality of

war.

The judges praised his

camerawork, and all of his images

are captured so clearly and cleanly,

sharp as a pen, he has a real

photographer's eye, they said. Every

sequence is ebbing yet and shot

after shot gives the complete story

without narration -- every sequence

is a vignette.

Every cameraman tries

to make their shots as beautiful as

possible, but to show the reality of

war, the brutality of everything

that is going on, it contradicts our

wish to make the shot beautiful, so

that is a struggle and that is where

the cameraman stuck, how to show the

reality of war, but also make the

shot appealing, and when you make

the shot of leading the viewers

starts accepting the war and that is

the contrary of what we are trying

to do. -- when you make the shot

appealing.

Tender words for a child that can't

find its own. The winner of the

serious news award is about life in

the last functioning hospital in

Aleppo, and it was shot by Waad Al

Kateab.

This woman is the only adult

left of three families whose

apartment was obliterated by Russian

or Syrian bombs. She comes across a

neighbour, this teenage boy used to

live upstairs. The baby boy he is

holding is his little brother,

one-month-old. His face is the only

restful thing in this bedlam. But

this is the sleep of the dead. He

was suffocated in the ruins.

We are

unable to show pictures of Waad Al

Kateab because he is in hiding.

The

most interesting thing for me was

the hospital, and when I turned the

camera on I was just focusing on

showing the ward, the suffering and

what is happening inside Aleppo, and

maybe the ward will show the crimes

of the regime against the civilians

there.

It is all still in my mind. I

couldn't forget anything happened

from the first moment until the end.

A nurse leads in a brother and

sister and they go from room to

room. We don't know their names and

they don't know yet if they are

orphans.

The judges said you are in

the midst of the event, and that

Olivier Sarbil uses techniques which

reach out and move people, and not

one shot is fired -- and that Waad

Al Kateab uses techniques.

Brother

and sister are still waiting for

news of their mother. Exhausted

beyond words, by a life beyond

description.

Inside Aleppo, the last

hospital, winner of the news award.

That is it for this year's edition

of the firing line, year in which

the human cost of the war in Syria

and the bitter battle against is

# -- this -- against Islamic State

militants defined the Rory Peck

awards.