The Rory Peck Awards 2000

Winner: The Rory Peck Award

Max Stahl - East Timor Stories

Self-funded
Shot September 1999
Broadcast on ITN News

"At night there was constant firing around the Hotel Turismo (where the majority of tourists were staying) From there, British filmmaker Max Stahl and I filmed the attack on the Red Cross compound. Max was the only person still gathering news: all the other camerapeople had left". Carmela Baranowska.

On 31 August 1999, after a complicated journey involving island hopping in fishing boats and frequent interrogation by military officers, Max Stahl succeeded in reaching Dili. The results of the August 30 referendum were announced the following day. There was an immediate and dramatic increase in burning, looting and sporadic killings by the militia gunmen who were opposed to independence for East Timor. After intimidation and physical violence, the press began to leave, quickly followed by a flood of other key media, finally all three satellite dishes were withdrawn.

"...the story of East Timor turned from a drama to a crisis, to an imminent catastrophe…Within hours of the result, some 600 journalists had been reduced to a handful, mainly freelancers, and scribblers numbering around 20.

Many of these were corralled in the UN compound with the remaining UN and NGO staff......It took two days for the UN to decide - without warning - to abandon the compound. Informed of the decision only hours before the planned pull-out, and fearing immediate death at the hands of the militia and military once the UN had gone, hundreds of the estimated 2000 refugees in the compound fled under the wire up a steep rocky hill behind a cover of darkness....I joined them with a small infrared capable dv camera..."

Inside the United Nations compound in Dili, Max Stahl filmed powerful and moving pictures showing the panic of the fleeing refugees, and the agonising grief of those whose relatives had been murdered. Max joined those who had fled to the hills. There, he captured startling images of desperate people staring into the lens, wide-eyed with panic.


Judges Quotes

"this represents everything that the Rory Peck Award is for and about…he was there on his own initiative in an incredible dangerous situation, getting footage that had a real impact around the world - very important material in terms of it's impact on the UN Security Council - these pictures shocked them and forced them to act."
Nik Gowing, presenter, BBC World

"to stay in Dili when everyone else had left and to go outside the UN compound to tell the whole story was very brave indeed. This shows great initiative on the ground. The footage from the UN compound is impressive, but to leave it and spend time with the people in the hills is fabulous."
Ken Guest, Freelance Cameraman


Max Stahl - Biography

Max Stahl is an award-winning producer, director and cameraman of documentaries, features and news, who has worked in Central America, Far East, Former USSR, Middle East and Europe for over 20 years. In this time he has been awarded some of the biggest accolades the industry has to offer, been reported dead (3 times), kidnapped (twice) and seriously wounded (twice), and has always lived to tell the real tale.

He filmed the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in Dili, East Timor, as part of the first film to be made inside East Timor since the 1975 occupation by Indonesia. This film brought to light a previously obscure story. Recently Max has been working in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, where he was injured whilst filming one of several investigative reports for Channel 4 News (ITN).

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