Page 42 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

There was a truly remarkable range of extremely
strong documentaries considered by our judges in
this international category and the closeness of the
marks reflected the very high standards. The highest
scoring programme was The Price of War - The Hard
Way Out from TV2 in Norway.
The programme looked at Norway’s involvement in
Afghanistan - something that doesn’t make the news
very often in Norway. The aim was to explain why
Norwegian troops are in the country, and how they are
carrying out difficult, challenging missions.
The judges noted the excellent material filmed in
the field, combined with good story-telling of a very
human story.
Highly commended
France 24
Colombia - Caught in the Crossfire
On April 28 a team of Colombian commandos set out
to destroy a secret drugs lab in the jungle
accompanied by FRANCE 24 reporter Romeo
Langlois. The patrol was ambushed, four soldiers
were killed and Langlois was taken hostage by the
FARC. This documentary recounts Langlois’ story that
judges noted showed a great deal of engagement and
overcoming immense risks.
Sveriges Television
Wikirebels
This is the first documentary ever made about the
birth and rise of WikiLeaks. SVT's team was given the
unique opportunity to follow the behind-the-scenes
operations and the growth of the secretive WikiLeaks
organisation. Filmmakers Jesper Huor and Bosse
Lindquist were complimented by our judges on telling
a very powerful story and gaining unprecedented
access to the key players.
The village of Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture had a
population of about 6,000. They lived tranquil lives,
farming land nestled in rolling hills. The accident of
March 2011 at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant transformed
their lives. Iitate is more than 30km from the plant, so
not initially designated an evacuation zone and villagers
remained in their homes. Finally, in late April, the
government designated the village a “deliberate
evacuation zone.” The villagers faced heartrending
decisions to abandon their lives and their work.
The judges praised NHK for Fallout - The Last
Days of Iitate Village, saying this was both a great
film and an important document. In the chaos of the
events the crew managed to film people with all their
emotions. One judge said “we suffer with them, we
identify with them”.
Highly commended
Antena 3
A Hell of a Living
A poignant and thought-provoking story about how
thousands of people live on the garbage tips of
Romania - children who have never heard of
education, have no access to clean water or
electricity, eating what they find on the tips.
CBS News
60 Minutes - Hard Times Generation
CBS were congratulated on following up on their
reports on families in America who had become
homeless for the first time in their lives - families
forced to live in mobile homes and converted trucks,
washing in service stations...an eye-opening tale, said
our judges.
International current
affairs documentary
TV2
Domestic current affairs
documentary
NHK
The AIBs 2012
42 | ISSUE 1 2013 | THE CHANNEL
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TV2