Each year there are many industry events, and some can leave a particularly strong impression. For me, one such event was the annual Rory Peck Awards, which are supported by Sony.
Rory Peck was a freelance cameraman who was killed in 1993 while covering a story in Russia. When this occurred, there was no system in place concerning what to do if a freelancer gets killed or how to support those left behind. In ’95, Peck’s widow and close friends set up an organization to provide assistance to these families.
The Rory Peck Trust was established for the welfare and safety of freelance news gatherers around the world. It promotes good practice, subsidizes safety training and provides financial support to freelancers in need and to the families of those who are killed, seriously injured, imprisoned or suffer persecution as a result of their work. The Rory Peck Awards, the major fund-raiser for the trust, is an international competition that highlights the achievement of freelance cameramen and women in television news gathering.
Sony has helped The Rory Peck Awards become a unique news industry event by sponsoring the first three years of the awards. Since ’01, Sony has remained the primary corporate sponsor of The Rory Peck Awards and sole sponsor of the awards ceremony, which was recently held at the National Film Theater in London.
This year, the Rory Peck Award for hard news was bestowed on Zakaria Abu Harbid, for “Gaza Beach,” which followed a devastated 12-year-old girl after an explosion that killed her father, her stepmother as well as five siblings. First, she is seen running along the beach and then weeping beside her father’s body.
The feature competition recognized Dirk Nel for Killer’s Paradise, a film that attempts to uncover the escalation of violence against women in Guatemala.
The film combined graphic footage of crime scenes and interviews with victims’ families and friends.
Ali Fadhil was the recipient of the Sony Impact Award–which honors footage providing humanitarian imagery that has had an impact internationally and contributed to a change in perception or policy.
Fadhil’s entry, titled “Iraq’s Missing Billions,” aimed to provide evidence of the failure of the U.S.-led reconstruction program in Iraq.
According to the program description, “Billions of dollars were spent but his hospital footage shows operating theaters flooded with sewage and the tragic consequences of a lack of the most basic medical equipment.
While making this film, the filmmaker’s home in Baghdad was raided by U.S. troops in the middle of the night and he was arrested.”
Other finalists included Mehran Bozorgnia’s entry “Lawlessness in Afghanistan.” In the featured clip, Borzorgnia was lensing a burning school in Afghanistan–and continued to shoot–when his news team was suddenly confronted by an angry and armed group of Taliban fighters.
Another finalist was “Brothers of Kabul” from Stephen Dupont and Jacques Menasche. In this feature, the camera follows the lives of two brothers from a drug-addicted population in Kabul’s Old City and shows their efforts to get clean.
In advertising, we often analyze brilliant imagery. The Rory Peck Awards were an emotional reminder of the power of images.
L.A. Location Lensing Declines In 2024 Despite Uptick In 4th Quarter
FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions, has issued an update regarding regional filming activity. Overall production in Greater Los Angeles increased 6.2 percent from October through December 2024 to 5,860 Shoot Days (SD) according to FilmLA’s latest report. Most production types tracked by FilmLA achieved gains in the fourth quarter, except for reality TV, which instead logged its ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline.
The lift across all remaining categories came too late to rescue 2024 from the combined effects of runaway production, industry contraction and slower-than-hoped-for post- strike recovery. With just 23,480 SD filmed on-location in L.A. in 2024, overall annual production finished the year 5.6 percent below the prior year. That made 2024 the second least productive year observed by FilmLA; only 2020, disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, saw lower levels of filming in area communities.
The continuing decline of reality TV production in Los Angeles was among the most disappointing developments of 2024. Down 45.7 percent for the fourth quarter (to 774 SD), the category also finished the year down 45.9 percent (to 3,905 SD), which placed
it 43.1 percent below its five-year category average.
The two brightest spots in FilmLA’s latest report appeared in the feature film and television drama categories. Feature film production increased 82.4 percent in the fourth quarter to 589 SD, a gain analysts attribute to independent film activity. The
California Film & Television Tax Credit Program also played a part, driving 19.2 percent of quarterly category activity. Overall, annual Feature production was up 18.8 percent in 2024, though the... Read More