James Miller / British
Saira Shah / Dutch
Finalists : Features

"Beneath The Veil"
Shot Nov/ Dec 2000, Feb 2001
Hardcash Productions / Channel 4 TV

Judge's Comment "Enormous amount of bravery and initiative, and amazing pictures.....this documentary changed the way people viewed Afghanistan."

To make this powerful documentary, cameraman James Miller who filmed in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and reporter Saira Shah, who shot undercover sequences, worked in conjunction with the Revolutionary Association of the Woman of Afghanistan - a political opposition group which undertakes a range of illegal activities in Kabul.

" This was an epic trip in every sense. In many ways it was the most satisfying piece of filming I've ever done. The Taliban denied us visas, then they relented and let us in. But then they arrested us and we narrowly escaped imprisonment. Later on in the trip, when we were taken from a roadblock to a quite unpleasant commander to be questioned, a Taliban soldier tried to put a hole in me with a cannon round. Luckily it didn't go off. In spite of all this, the people we met who were resisting the Taliban were truly inspirational." James Miller

"To do the undercover trip I left Afghanistan, and then recrossed the border illegally from Pakistan.....with a man and woman from RAWA. Under the Taliban rules, women do not need a separate documentation, so I could travel under my male escort's refugee papers. I was obliged to wear a burqa, and conform to Taliban restrictions upon women. I had hidden two cameras, which could be taken out and used as regular cameras if needed. If caught, I'd have faced at least a jail term. The men and women who helped me faced worse punishment. They were willing to do so, because, as a political opposition group, they risk torture and execution for their route activities every day." Saira Shah

A finalist in the inaugural Rory Peck Award, James Miller has worked all over the world. Since 1995, as both cameraman and producer, James has been working with Frontline Television on short features for C4 News, BBC News, CNN, CBC, and Channel 5. He was assistant producer on "Innocents Lost", director on "Russia's Forgotten Children"., and cameraman on "Prime Suspects" and "Dying For the President". In June 2000, James directed his own film on El Salvador for Channel 4.

As a freelance journalist, Saira Shah covered the war in Afghanistan from Peshawar, making numerous trips into Afghanistan with the Mujaheddin guerrillas. From Baghdad, she covered the Kurdish exodus from Northern Iraq. An award-winning staff reporter for Channel 4 News, she worked on numerous field assignments including the Kosovo conflict, Massacres in Algeria, Women in Afghanistan, Fall of Kinshasa, Middle East conflict. Saira Shah has been freelance for the last eighteen months.

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