MATT HAAN (British)
for
China's Lost Sons
Shot in China, February - March 2011
Quicksilver Media for Channel 4 - Unreported World
 

Scroll down to see an extract from Matt's entry

This film exposes one of the untold stories behind China's economic boom: how thousands of young men with mental impairments have been kidnapped and forced to work in brick factories.

Matt Haan posed as a tourist to secretly film one father's search for his son, He Wen, in Shaanxi province. It's estimated that 10,000 people are currently enslaved in similar circumstances. The film also uncovered evidence of vulnerable young men being beaten and tortured in the factories. Viewer response to the film led to a fund-raising campaign to help in the search for He Wen.

The judges thought the film was an important piece of investigative journalism - something that is very hard to do in China.  One said:  "The story of this remarkably persistent father will stay with me for a long time. The film didn’t have a happy ending but hopefully raising the profile of He Wen's case will mean that he is found one day."

BIOGRAPHY
Matt Haan produces and directs observational, docu-drama, sports, historical and current affairs films. In the past decade his work has been seen on Channel 4, BBC, PBS, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. His documentary subjects have ranged from voodoo priests in Haiti to drug addiction in Afghanistan. Matt specializes in negotiating access to sensitive people, places and institutions. In 2005, he produced and narrated The Insurgency for PBS Frontline/BBC, an investigation into the evolution of the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq, including unprecedented access to insurgent leaders and al Qaeda foot soldiers. This was short-listed for the 2006 Grierson Awards. In the past two years he has worked in Turkey, Liberia, Guatemala, Bolivia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand and China.