As Westminster and the White House alike fret over strategy in Afghanistan, Sean Smith's brutal, uncompromising film from the Helmand frontline shows the horrific chaos of a stalemate that is taking its toll in blood.
The images make your hair stand on end. It's intense, and the soldiers' fear is palpable. A Helicopter-borne team descend through a fire fight. A bullet has torn through a soldier's face and punctured his lung. "He was able to turn and have the meat, kind of away from his airway, so he was able to breathe." Back at base the Helicopter is cleaned of blood, ready for it's next hair raising mission. "We don't know if it's your position or not but there is a possible imminent attack", a soldier shouts in panic back into his radio, but before he has an answer bullets start coming from all directions. "Ah Fuck, Oh shit fuck. Which way are we going?" Amid the confusion a Marine is shot in the back. But it's not the bullets that kill these men. It's the IEDs. In the space of two weeks, 3 men from this company have died from the deadly devices. In recent weeks they've multiplied by 80%. So much so, that the entire region of Helmand is now considered a low-density minefield.
Guardian Films
The founder of whistle-blowing website 'Wikileaks.org', has been dubbed the most dangerous man on earth. Global truth machine or anarchy? We delve into the guarded world of Wikileaks.
"We want to create a system where there is guaranteed free press across the world..", enthuses Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. His site exploded into prominence earlier this year after leaking a top secret video of a US helicopter gunship mowing down twelve civilians in a Baghdad market square; two Reuters journalists were amongst the dead. It used to be cryptic phone calls, or shadowy meetings, but now explosive information is more likely to arrive in an email. Wikileaks operates a number of servers across the world, its HQ in Iceland, where an information freedom zone protects them. After carefully removing all electronic fingerprints, Wikileaks released the infamous Iraq video under the tag-line 'collateral murder'. Critics of the site call such acts 'activism', not journalism. Daniel Finkel of the Washington Post claims "they provided artificial agenda-driven context". Finkel was embedded with the US troops that day, and witnessed the event. But the failure of the Washington Post to investigate the killings has led to criticism of the mainstream media's attitude as a whole. Whether Assange is to be condemned or congratulated, one things remains certain: "every organisation rests upon a mountain of secrets".
ABC Australia
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Yemen - Hungry Children
- 25' min 16'' sec [26 July 2010]
Nearly half of Yemeni children under five are underweight, and some 58% grow up stunted due to a limited diet. What will become of this poverty-stricken state if the international community fails to act fast?
"Our daily life is not ok", Mariam struggles every day to find enough to feed her family; until recently a UN program gave wheat in exchange for schooling. But funding was cut, and now the girls must work or go hungry. The West is well aware of Yemen's reputation as a haven for Al-Qaeda, but what do we know of the human suffering? "The government of Yemen, at the risk of seeing its people die of hunger, refused to issue an appeal on account of national pride", economist Aryani explains that those in power are turning their backs on the growing number of hungry and poor. Decades of development work has been wiped away by the 'Triple F' crisis: soaring food prices, plunging fuel revenues, and the financial crisis drying up remittances of Yemenis abroad. As to the tense political situation; Giancarlo Cirri of the World Food Programme warns: "the destabilising role of hunger should not be underestimated". With a third of Yemen's 23 million population now despertae for food, aid is urgently needed to counteract this deadly spiral into poverty.
Hugh Macleod and Annasofie Flamand
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USA - Puppy Love
- 9' min 30'' sec [26 July 2010]
100 Western Soldiers dead and 100's Injured in June
Help for those emotionally and physically affected soldiers returning home is coming from an unlikely but increasingly faithful source - man's best friend.
Captain Montalvan is one of the many seriously wounded veterans helped by East Coast Assistance Dogs, who provide not only physical assistance but also an emotional bond. Before getting Tuesday, the Captain lived isolated in his flat, rarely venturing outside. He says that Tuesday "liberated me in a way". Phil Bauer says that he became a "monster" after the Iraq war and the loss of his leg - but his dog is his "lifeline to being human". Dog Therapy has been so successful that Congress recently passed laws ensuring public money will be pumped into the scheme. Since then, ECAD has also started providing vocational training to troubled youth, who gain pride from their work. The scheme is going from strength to strength providing an unlikely glimmer of hope to the many veterans returning home.
SBS
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India - Recycling the Poor
- 17' min 00'' sec [26 July 2010]
Imagine streets with no dustbins. Imagine a place where everybody litters wherever they want. Against this chaotic backdrop, India has the highest recycling levels in the world.
India's 'informal recycling' industry has become an important business sector in its own right. Ramshackle sacks of general scrap are piled up in every corner; while a group of women busily sort plastic by type and color. Most of their income is earned laboriously salvaging any recyclables they can sell on. Despite the benefits of recycling, prejudices against 'informal-pickers' are yet to be overcome. But very few places in the world have organized as sophisticated and successful a network of 'recycling cooperatives'. They keep the place clean and provide employment for the poorest.
Shoreditch Films Ltd
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