Best TV, video or documentary interpretation of international affairs with a run time up to 30 minutes
AWARD DATE: 2023
AWARD NAME: 08 The Edward R. Murrow Award 2023
RECIPIENTS: Mohammed Sawwaf, Ibrahim Al-Otla, Salah Al-Haw, Marwan Al-Sawwaf, Alef Multimedia and the Al Jazeera Witness Team
AFFILIATION: Al Jazeera English
HONORED WORK: “Witness – Rescue Mission Gaza”
Al Jazeera gives us a closeup depiction of one day in the life of an ambulance driver in Gaza, as he navigates the terror and heartbreak of rescuing severely injured people under bombardment, all the while trying to keep up their spirits, and rallying his exhausted colleagues to the task. The half-hour film has a raw style of storytelling, with poignant scenes like the ambulance worker reuniting with his children after weeks, giving them each a coin and a hug, and then getting back in his ambulance in tears. Through this deadly assignment the journalists remain invisible, with no narration, commentary or judgment. One of the filmmakers, Marwan Al-Sawwaf, was killed in Gaza on Dec. 1. Mohammed Sawwaf was seriously injured in an airstrike that killed 45 family members. The documentary left one juror “dumbfounded,” while another called it “extraordinary.”
Link to the winning work:
“Witness – Rescue Mission Gaza”
Citation for Excellence:
Isobel Yeung, Gelareh Kiazand, Daniel Vergara, Sara Eslamie, Jake Perron and Staff
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