Elizabeth Tadic

2007 Winner of the Sony Impact Award Australian

“Malaria, Money and Murder”
Shot in Nigeria, February - March 2006  
Self funded
Based on a original idea by Robert Cockburn  
Broadcast by Dateline, SBS  

“Malaria, Money and Murder”
Malaria now kills one million children a year. The film shows how the trade in fake drugs has turned malaria - an easily curable disease - into the continent’s biggest child killer.
Elizabeth Tadic follows Nigeria’s dynamic and outspoken drugs regulator Dr. Dora Akunyili, and her band of bodyguards, through the dangerous streets of Lagos, as they attempt to track down the criminals involved. This film is based on the original idea (subsequently made into a television programme, The Malaria Parasites) of freelance journalist Robert Cockburn and his long-term research with a team at Oxford University and leading African health officials.

The judges felt this was a very impressive piece of investigative journalism with an impact on millions of lives. One said: “This was a very complete film – a story told well and thoroughly from start to finish. The balance of great access, camerawork and journalism was utterly compelling.”

Biography
Born in Sydney in 1972 to migrant Bosnian parents, Elizabeth Tadic has worked as a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker contributing to a variety of international media organisations including the BBC World Service, WGBH (Boston), Reuters and SBS Television. In 2006, Elizabeth won a UN Media Peace Award for her three-part series Women for Justice. Elizabeth has reported from China, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and the Balkans.

“Filming alone was incredibly difficult and challenging. I was threatened every time I tried to film openly in public. I have worked in numerous hotspots around the world, including Gaza, but Nigeria felt the most dangerous.”
Camerawoman's Comment