Canadian documentary has been nominated for the upcoming Oscars

A documentary named as Under Fire: Journalists in Combat has been created by a Canadian filmmaker Martyn Burke who has highlighted the traumatic increase in pressure while reporting from war zones

This documentary film has been nominated for the Oscars and it is being considered as one of the 15 films in the running for a best documentary Oscar next February. It is commissioned by CBC’s Documentary Channel.

Martyn Burke worked with Dr. Anthony Feinstein, a Toronto psychiatrist who specializes in treating journalists recovering from the stress of war reporting.

While giving an interview to CBC News from Los Angeles on Wednesday, Martun Bruke aforementioned "Basically we want to get across the idea that both war and covering war have changed dramatically in the last 10 or 15 years.”

"Now the journalists are as much a target as the actual soldiers. As someone in the film says, ‘If they kill a soldier, it’s not news. If they kill a journalist or kidnap a journalist, then it’s big news.’"

Burke, a novelist, writer and filmmaker, has directed and produced documentaries such as
Idi Amin: My People Love Me and Islam vs. Islamists. He also has experienced conflict zones in Africa, Afghanistan and South America.

With Feinstein’s support, he was able to get the co-operation of journalists from the Times of London, CBC, Toronto Star, Reuters and Associated Press for
Under Fire.

"In some of them, not all, but some, there is just this level of submerged trauma that just kind of bubbles up. The second thing that surprised me is that in amongst all these people, there’s a residual humanity all the depravity and killing they’ve seen.
I actually liken it to flowers coming out of concrete. You can’t keep that humanity down," Burke said.

Journalists face increasing pressure from the 24/7 news cycle, yet nations make vital decisions, including whether or not to wage war, based on their reporting from war zones.

Burke’s competition for an Oscar nomination includes Wim Wenders’ Pina and James Marsh’s Project Nim.

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Posted by Faiza Abbas on Nov 26 2011. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry