THE RORY PECK AWARDS 2004
Sponsored by Sony

Tara Sutton and Marc Perkins

Falluja, Burial Ground of the Americans

Finalists: The Rory Peck Award for Features

Fallujah, December 2003 - a look at the restive town from the perspective of locals and the US army. There was a low level guerrilla war and people were very mistrustful of foreigners. Tara Sutton adn Marc perkins filmed for a month, gaining the trust of the local people both in the town and surrounding countryside, recording their hate for Saddam Hussein and the sense of betrayal by the Americans. This report appeared on BBC Newsnight as an exclusive report.

Camerawoman's Comments

"People in Falluja were frightened to be seen talking to foreigners and having them in their homes since support for the resitance was so strong. However, once a family trusted you, because of the tribal structure of the place, you then had access to more and more people. Slowly the city opened up to us.

Falluja became a real obsession; it was a fascinating place where the tribal laws still held sway in the minds of many of the people. We were on shaky ground financially as we were entirely self-funded. The battle that took place there in April was very hard to stomach.

We are both still very much affected by Falluja and went through considerable personal and financial risk to make this film. To the best of our knowledge, this was the only feature made about Falluja...no one but freelancers bothered to go and find out what was happening there until it was too late."

Biographies

As a freelancer, Tara Sutton has prduced features and news stories for news outlets such as BBC, Channel 4 (UK), CBC (Canada) and Channel One (USA). She is most interested in portraying the lives of ordinary people caught up in and affected by extraordinary events, most often focusing on civilians, women and children.

Marc Perkins became a freelance video journalist three years ago. Working primarily alone, he has reported from Angola, Burundi, Sri Lanka, and the Congo, and most recently from Iraq. His work has appeared on BBC, VOA, National Geographic and CBC. During the Iraq ewar, h filed for washingtonpost.com, PBC Frontline and the BBC. It was during this time that he became interested in the story of the people of falluja and vowed to return to cover it in more depth.

Awards 2004 pictures

The Trust and Sony

Winners

Finalists

The Freelancers' Choice 2004

Judging Panels

Farewell from Miles Flint

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