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THE RORY PECK AWARD FOR FEATURES



Dodge Billingsley "Virgin Soldiers"



With unprecedented access to US troops during the war in Iraq, Billingsley documented a month of fear, doubt, frustration and boredom as ‘India Company’ made its way towards Baghdad.



He captured a picture of what life was really like for frontline soldiers, many of them very young – and in combat for the first time - who fought their way into the heart of the city.

"Virgin Soldiers"

Dodge Billingsley's comments:



"Neither Capitol nor his men have ever been in combat and some question themselves whether or not they will get out of the track when the fighting begins.



Corporal Valasquez can hear the sound of automatic fire over the noise of the engine as their truck rolls up to position. The door opens and there is no hesitation. Sgt Capitol leads his men out and into the fray."



Matthew Carney "Kirkuk – a Town Divided"



Working alone, Carney entered Northern Iraq. The situation was very dangerous as frontlines were changing rapidly and several of his Colleagues were killed including Australian cameraman Paul Moran.



Among the first journalists to enter oil-rich city of Kirkuk after it fell, he chose to stay there, documenting the chaos that followed for the next 10 days.

"Kirkuk – a Town Divided"

Matthew Carney comments:



"All research was done “on the run”. The advantage of covering the conflict from the North was that there was no American or Iraqi censorship.



I found Kirkuk to be a telling microcosm for the rest of Iraq with competing ethnic groups vying for control of this oil rich city."



Rodrigo Vazquez "The Killing Zone"



Filming in Rafah, Gaza, just after the death of cameraman James Miller and aid worker Rachel Corrie, Vazquez caught the tension and fear as the International Solidarity Movement tried to stop the IDF demolishing Palestinian homes.



The team followed efforts to have injured aid worker Tom Hurndall moved to an Israeli hospital for further treatment, and documented the effect of the bombings on local families.



A little girl had been shot through the head whilst sitting in her classroom at school, and when her family visited her in hospital they discovered she

had lost her eyesight.

"The Killing Zone"

Rodrigo Vazquez comments:



"On our return to Gaza a second time, after James Miller had been shot, the soldiers were very hostile and we were obliged to put our signature to an IDF release.



The release designated areas that if visited would result in arrest/deportation…the very areas that were the focus of the film.



We signed the release although the area where James Miller was shot was one of the forbidden zones. The form was withdrawn from use a number of weeks later."