BIOGRAPHIES
There are 9 finalists for the 2005 Rory Peck Awards - Ali Fadhil, Inigo Gilmore and Hasyim, Cyrus Nhara and 'Sara', Mehran Bozorgnia, Alexander Lomakin, Geof Thorpe-Willett, Tomasz Glowacki, Ruhi Hamid and Sean Paul Langan.
Short biographies of each appear below...
There are 9 finalists for the 2005 Rory Peck Awards - Ali Fadhil, Inigo Gilmore and Hasyim, Cyrus Nhara and 'Sara', Mehran Bozorgnia, Alexander Lomakin, Geof Thorpe-Willett, Tomasz Glowacki, Ruhi Hamid and Sean Paul Langan.
Short biographies of each appear below...
SONY IMPACT AWARD BIOGRAPHIES
Ali Fadhil - Fallujah: The first eye witness
Ali Fadhil trained as a medical doctor in Iraq. During the 2003 war he worked in the Baghdad emergency rooms. Post-war, he began working as a 'fixer-translator' for the Guardian’s Jonathan Steele, the New Yorker Magazine and later American National Public Radio. The Guardian Newspaper’s Scott Trust Fund then paid for Dr. Fadhil to travel to the UK to be trained in documentary camera filming and to complete a hostile environment course. He recently won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the USA. He made a further 2 films in Iraq prior to departure for the States.
Inigo Gilmore and Hasyim - The man who dared
Inigo Gilmore is a self-taught video cameraman. He has worked as a freelance DV cameraman/director/reporter, shooting for TV and documentaries for the past 6 years in Africa and the Middle East. His previous films include Nkosi’s Story (BBC Correspondent - 2001) Searching for Saddam, (2003 for BBC3) and Behind the Fence (2003, Correspondent), which was nominated for an Amnesty International Award for best documentary in 2004. Inigo has recently made a film about Iraqi Jews for Channel 4, shot in Baghdad and Israel and his film 'Goodmorning Baghdad' was a finalist for the Rory Peck Award for Features 2004. While trying to find work as a TV cameraman/producer, Hasyim has earned a living by filming weddings. He is now using the camera that Inigo gave him to record what happened to his city and has been documenting the subsequent rebuilding operation, with its successes and failures, as the people of Banda Aceh try to piece together their shattered lives. Hasyim is married and in his late twenties. His wife was evacuated from Banda Aceh directly after the Tsunami but Hasyim eventually found her safe and well.
Cyrus Nhara and 'Sara' - Zimbabwe: Forced evictions
Cyrus V. Nhara was born in the early 1970s, and educated at University of Zimbabwe. For the past twelve years, he has worked extensively as a freelancer in news and current affairs, and has also worked on a number of features films including in 2002 'The Fountain' with Mukuvisia Films, Mozambique, and a variety of television commercials. Since 2000, he has covered news for Reuters Video News, ITN, CBS 60 Minutes, Sky News, Swedish Television, TBS-Tokyo Japan, Australian Broadcasting & Swiss Television. His other recent work has included documentaries for Carte Blanche in South Africa, Channel 4, Panorama, BBC and UNICEF. In 2003, Cyrus has benefited from The Rory Peck Training Fund and was awarded a Cramer bursary for hostile environment training.
'Sara' is a freelance camerawoman presently working freelance in South Africa and Zimbabwe. For her personal safety, she is unwilling to be further identified.
Ali Fadhil - Fallujah: The first eye witness
Ali Fadhil trained as a medical doctor in Iraq. During the 2003 war he worked in the Baghdad emergency rooms. Post-war, he began working as a 'fixer-translator' for the Guardian’s Jonathan Steele, the New Yorker Magazine and later American National Public Radio. The Guardian Newspaper’s Scott Trust Fund then paid for Dr. Fadhil to travel to the UK to be trained in documentary camera filming and to complete a hostile environment course. He recently won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the USA. He made a further 2 films in Iraq prior to departure for the States.
Inigo Gilmore and Hasyim - The man who dared
Inigo Gilmore is a self-taught video cameraman. He has worked as a freelance DV cameraman/director/reporter, shooting for TV and documentaries for the past 6 years in Africa and the Middle East. His previous films include Nkosi’s Story (BBC Correspondent - 2001) Searching for Saddam, (2003 for BBC3) and Behind the Fence (2003, Correspondent), which was nominated for an Amnesty International Award for best documentary in 2004. Inigo has recently made a film about Iraqi Jews for Channel 4, shot in Baghdad and Israel and his film 'Goodmorning Baghdad' was a finalist for the Rory Peck Award for Features 2004. While trying to find work as a TV cameraman/producer, Hasyim has earned a living by filming weddings. He is now using the camera that Inigo gave him to record what happened to his city and has been documenting the subsequent rebuilding operation, with its successes and failures, as the people of Banda Aceh try to piece together their shattered lives. Hasyim is married and in his late twenties. His wife was evacuated from Banda Aceh directly after the Tsunami but Hasyim eventually found her safe and well.
Cyrus Nhara and 'Sara' - Zimbabwe: Forced evictions
Cyrus V. Nhara was born in the early 1970s, and educated at University of Zimbabwe. For the past twelve years, he has worked extensively as a freelancer in news and current affairs, and has also worked on a number of features films including in 2002 'The Fountain' with Mukuvisia Films, Mozambique, and a variety of television commercials. Since 2000, he has covered news for Reuters Video News, ITN, CBS 60 Minutes, Sky News, Swedish Television, TBS-Tokyo Japan, Australian Broadcasting & Swiss Television. His other recent work has included documentaries for Carte Blanche in South Africa, Channel 4, Panorama, BBC and UNICEF. In 2003, Cyrus has benefited from The Rory Peck Training Fund and was awarded a Cramer bursary for hostile environment training.
'Sara' is a freelance camerawoman presently working freelance in South Africa and Zimbabwe. For her personal safety, she is unwilling to be further identified.
HARD NEWS AWARD BIOGRAPHIES
Mehran Bozorgnia - Opium Trail
Mehran Bozorgnia was born in Abadan, Iran, in 1957 and has worked in film making all his life. He trained at the Berlin school of Cinematography, 1982-85, and then worked as a cameraman in Germany for ZDF and NDR. In 1990 Mehran undertook a journalistic course at NDR in Hamburg, since which time he has worked as a freelance documentary and foreign affairs producer. He has made more than 150 short features for leading international news networks, including APTN, Reuters, Canal Plus, NHK and Channel 4. In recent years, Mehran has made field reports from Afghanistan (for APTN, ARD, ZDF, NDR) in 2001 and from Iraq (for APTN, ARD, ZDF) in 2002-03.
Alexander Lomakin - Beslan Siege
Alexander Lomakin has been working as a cameraman since 1982. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, local conflicts erupted all over its former republics - at the that time he worked for Russian TV as well as for Associated Press in Tadzhikistan, North Caucusus, Pridnestrovie covering conflicts in these regions. As a freelance for APTN and ABC News, Alexander followed the destruction of Yugoslavia from the first shooting in Slavonia and Bosnia to the last explosions in Belgrade and Pristina. Alexander was in Afghanistan when Soviet troops were still there. Although he saw the war between Northern Alliance and the Taliban, he was particularly affected by the horrors of the earthquake in Badakhshan in 1998. In November 1994, the Chechen war began and he spent the winter filming the story of the siege of Grozny for APTN. The conflict in Chechnya is still continuing and for the past 10 years Alexander has shot around 500 news stories and 4 documentaries.
Geof Thorpe-Willett - US Marines Assault on Fallujah
Born in 1962 Geof grew up on the North East coast of England. After leaving school at 16 he joined the British Army, leaving in 1990 with the rank of Sergeant. His first assignment was with ABC News during Desert Storm as an uplink engineer, going into the desert as a unilateral with correspondent Forrest Sawyer. As an uplink engineer for Newsforce, Geof covered many of the most brutal periods of the 1990’s in places such as Somalia, Bosnia, Gaza Strip, Iraq, Rwanda, and the refugee crisis in Goma, Zaire. A multi-skilled operator, now working as a cameraman as well, Geof has been a regular freelancer for companies such as ABC News, EBU, CNN, Newsforce, and CBS, filming in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Zaire, Yemen, Iraq, Kosovo, and many other countries that have been the focus of the news agenda over the past 15 years. In 2003 he was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division alongside correspondent Jim Axelrod and Mario De Carvalho of CBS News, being the first crew to reach Baghdad Airport and broadcast live for not only CBS but CNN as well.
Mehran Bozorgnia - Opium Trail
Mehran Bozorgnia was born in Abadan, Iran, in 1957 and has worked in film making all his life. He trained at the Berlin school of Cinematography, 1982-85, and then worked as a cameraman in Germany for ZDF and NDR. In 1990 Mehran undertook a journalistic course at NDR in Hamburg, since which time he has worked as a freelance documentary and foreign affairs producer. He has made more than 150 short features for leading international news networks, including APTN, Reuters, Canal Plus, NHK and Channel 4. In recent years, Mehran has made field reports from Afghanistan (for APTN, ARD, ZDF, NDR) in 2001 and from Iraq (for APTN, ARD, ZDF) in 2002-03.
Alexander Lomakin - Beslan Siege
Alexander Lomakin has been working as a cameraman since 1982. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, local conflicts erupted all over its former republics - at the that time he worked for Russian TV as well as for Associated Press in Tadzhikistan, North Caucusus, Pridnestrovie covering conflicts in these regions. As a freelance for APTN and ABC News, Alexander followed the destruction of Yugoslavia from the first shooting in Slavonia and Bosnia to the last explosions in Belgrade and Pristina. Alexander was in Afghanistan when Soviet troops were still there. Although he saw the war between Northern Alliance and the Taliban, he was particularly affected by the horrors of the earthquake in Badakhshan in 1998. In November 1994, the Chechen war began and he spent the winter filming the story of the siege of Grozny for APTN. The conflict in Chechnya is still continuing and for the past 10 years Alexander has shot around 500 news stories and 4 documentaries.
Geof Thorpe-Willett - US Marines Assault on Fallujah
Born in 1962 Geof grew up on the North East coast of England. After leaving school at 16 he joined the British Army, leaving in 1990 with the rank of Sergeant. His first assignment was with ABC News during Desert Storm as an uplink engineer, going into the desert as a unilateral with correspondent Forrest Sawyer. As an uplink engineer for Newsforce, Geof covered many of the most brutal periods of the 1990’s in places such as Somalia, Bosnia, Gaza Strip, Iraq, Rwanda, and the refugee crisis in Goma, Zaire. A multi-skilled operator, now working as a cameraman as well, Geof has been a regular freelancer for companies such as ABC News, EBU, CNN, Newsforce, and CBS, filming in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Zaire, Yemen, Iraq, Kosovo, and many other countries that have been the focus of the news agenda over the past 15 years. In 2003 he was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division alongside correspondent Jim Axelrod and Mario De Carvalho of CBS News, being the first crew to reach Baghdad Airport and broadcast live for not only CBS but CNN as well.
FEATURES AWARD BIOGRAPHIES
Tomasz Glowacki - Chechnya: The Dirty War
Born in 1976 in Cracow, Poland, Tomasz Glowacki, graduated from the High School of Fine Arts with a diploma in visual design and photography. He then went on to study Film Theory in Jagiellonian University and in 1998, he went on to study the Art of Cinematography under the supervision of Bogdan Dziworski. In 2002 he left the Faculty of Radio and TV in the Silesian University in Katowice and started his career as a freelance cameraman. Initially shooting short independent films & low-budget productions Tomasz soon realised that documentary was where his real passion lay. Documentary has taken Tomasz all over Russia and Eastern Europe and since meeting Marcin Mamon and Mariusz Pilis in 2004 his work has taken him throughout Afghanistan, Chechnya, Caucasus, & the Middle East.
Ruhi Hamid - At the Epicentre
Ruhi Hamid was born in Tanzania of Pakistani origin. Graduating with a Masters degree in Graphic design from the Royal College of Art, she worked as a graphic designer in Holland, and the newly independent Zimbabwe as part of a collective of young black designers and photographers. By listening and allowing contributors to open up and trust her, Ruhi has gained unprecedented access to peoples and cultures otherwise hostile to the media. Thus she has captured the important moments on camera. This has been the case whether she is working with an autistic boy in England, the Indians in the Brazilian Amazon, or the criminal courts in Pakistan. She specializes in working alone filming on DV camera. Her three-part Channel 4 series 'Lahore Law' was nominated for the Grierson and Broadcast award for Best Documentary Series. A Muslim herself, Ruhi has directed and filmed across the Islamic world making a two part series for Channel 4 on Women & Islam, and the award winning film 'The Rock Star & the Mullahs' about Music & Islam in Pakistan. The sequel to this was a film project about American Muslims in post 9/11 America during the run up to the November 2004 elections. Ruhi Hamid has completed a one hour documentary for the BBC in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Her film focuses on the Tsunami survivors of a village as they attempt to rebuild their lives and community. Currently, she is making a film about AIDS in India. In 2004, Ruhi was a finalist for The Sony International Impact Award for her film on the plight of the Hmong people who have been trapped in the mountainous jungles of Laos for thirty years.
Sean Paul Langan - Langan in Iraq
Sean Langan is a freelance documentary film-maker. His credits include Nightmare in Paradise, (BBC2, 1998), a three-part series about his search for kidnapped hostages in Kashmir; Langan Behind The Lines, (BBC2, 2001) a five-part series which went on to be short-listed for a Bafta and Grierson award, and which included the first in-depth look at life under the Taliban. In addition he made 'Langan in Zimbabwe', (BBC2, 2002) an undercover report on political violence in Zimbabwe. In 2004 he went to Mexico to film 'Travels with a Gringo' a series of three one hour programmes for Channel 4.
Tomasz Glowacki - Chechnya: The Dirty War
Born in 1976 in Cracow, Poland, Tomasz Glowacki, graduated from the High School of Fine Arts with a diploma in visual design and photography. He then went on to study Film Theory in Jagiellonian University and in 1998, he went on to study the Art of Cinematography under the supervision of Bogdan Dziworski. In 2002 he left the Faculty of Radio and TV in the Silesian University in Katowice and started his career as a freelance cameraman. Initially shooting short independent films & low-budget productions Tomasz soon realised that documentary was where his real passion lay. Documentary has taken Tomasz all over Russia and Eastern Europe and since meeting Marcin Mamon and Mariusz Pilis in 2004 his work has taken him throughout Afghanistan, Chechnya, Caucasus, & the Middle East.
Ruhi Hamid - At the Epicentre
Ruhi Hamid was born in Tanzania of Pakistani origin. Graduating with a Masters degree in Graphic design from the Royal College of Art, she worked as a graphic designer in Holland, and the newly independent Zimbabwe as part of a collective of young black designers and photographers. By listening and allowing contributors to open up and trust her, Ruhi has gained unprecedented access to peoples and cultures otherwise hostile to the media. Thus she has captured the important moments on camera. This has been the case whether she is working with an autistic boy in England, the Indians in the Brazilian Amazon, or the criminal courts in Pakistan. She specializes in working alone filming on DV camera. Her three-part Channel 4 series 'Lahore Law' was nominated for the Grierson and Broadcast award for Best Documentary Series. A Muslim herself, Ruhi has directed and filmed across the Islamic world making a two part series for Channel 4 on Women & Islam, and the award winning film 'The Rock Star & the Mullahs' about Music & Islam in Pakistan. The sequel to this was a film project about American Muslims in post 9/11 America during the run up to the November 2004 elections. Ruhi Hamid has completed a one hour documentary for the BBC in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Her film focuses on the Tsunami survivors of a village as they attempt to rebuild their lives and community. Currently, she is making a film about AIDS in India. In 2004, Ruhi was a finalist for The Sony International Impact Award for her film on the plight of the Hmong people who have been trapped in the mountainous jungles of Laos for thirty years.
Sean Paul Langan - Langan in Iraq
Sean Langan is a freelance documentary film-maker. His credits include Nightmare in Paradise, (BBC2, 1998), a three-part series about his search for kidnapped hostages in Kashmir; Langan Behind The Lines, (BBC2, 2001) a five-part series which went on to be short-listed for a Bafta and Grierson award, and which included the first in-depth look at life under the Taliban. In addition he made 'Langan in Zimbabwe', (BBC2, 2002) an undercover report on political violence in Zimbabwe. In 2004 he went to Mexico to film 'Travels with a Gringo' a series of three one hour programmes for Channel 4.