'Conflict' - up close and personal - characterises this year’s Rory Peck Awards

London, 26 October 2010 – The winners will be announced at the Rory Peck Awards ceremony on Wednesday 17 November 2010 at London’s BFI Southbank, which this year is hosted by ITV News’s Julie Etchingham.

The Rory Peck Awards is the only competition in the world to recognise the skill and achievement of freelance cameramen and camerawomen in international news and current affairs. This year’s finalists demonstrate how, more than ever, today’s media industry relies on freelancers to go to places that broadcasters are reluctant to go to, and to bring back stories that would otherwise not be told. They also show how freelancers have raised the bar technically, demonstrating what small cameras can do in difficult situations.

The face of conflict - up close, personal and intimate – dominates the films short-listed for the Rory Peck Award for News and the Rory Peck Award for Features, with stories from Bangkok, Kyrgyzstan, Zimbabwe and both sides of the conflict in Afghanistan.

The struggle of everyday life away from conflict characterises the shortlist for the Sony Professional Impact Award, with stories showing the human face of illegal immigration in the US and Guatemala, the plight of Roma gypsy children forced to steal and beg, and the harsh reality of life for children in the slums of Mumbai.

“The standard and range of entries to this year’s awards show that the freelance community is vibrant and thriving,” said Tina Carr, Director of the Rory Peck Trust. “Every year we are impressed by the level of commitment, drive and courage. Many of this year’s finalists worked under extremely difficult circumstances to produce extraordinary stories."

“We have three extremely moving films on this year’s Sony Professional Impact shortlist,” said Olivier Bovis, Sony Professional’s AV Media Business Head, and one of the judges for the Sony Professional Award.

“I was particularly impressed with the way the finalists translated the emotion of what they saw through the camera lens. Each of them managed to articulate the human dimension of their stories in a way that had real impact - and that’s not easy to achieve."

FINALISTS – THE RORY PECK AWARD FOR FEATURES 2010

HOPEWELL RUGOHO CHIN'ONO
A Violent Response
Shot in Zimbabwe, 2008-2009
Part self funded with Television International for K24
Includes footage broadcast by ITV News (ITN)

NAJIBULLAH QURAISHI
Behind Enemy Lines
Shot in Afghanistan, October - November 2009
Clover Films for Channel 4 - Dispatches

PAUL REFSDAL
Taliban: Behind the Masks
Shot in Afghanistan, October 2009
Novemberfilm and Norwegian Film Institute for NRK


FINALISTS - THE RORY PECK AWARD FOR NEWS 2010

ROGER ARNOLD
Bangkok Street Protests
Shot in Thailand, April - May 2010
Commissioned and broadcast by Wall Street Journal.com

ROBIN FORESTIER-WALKER
Kyrgyzstan
Shot in Kyrgyzstan, June 2010
Commissioned and broadcast by Aljazeera English

GREG BROSNAN / JEN SZYMASZEK
In the Shadow of the Raid
Shot in Guatemala and the United States, May 2008 -  February 2009.
Part self-funded with support from the Institute for Justice and Journalism Fund
Broadcast by PBS