The Rory Peck Awards 2003
Sponsored by Sony

Rodrigo Vazquez

The Killing Zone

Winner: The Rory Peck Award for Features

Filming in Rafah, Gaza, just after the death of cameraman James Miller and aid worker Rachel Corrie, Vazquez caught the tension and fear as the International Solidarity Movement tried to stop the IDF demolishing Palestinian homes. The team followed efforts to have injured aid worker Tom Hurndall moved to an Israeli hospital for further treatment, and documented the effect of the bombings on local families. A little girl had been shot through the head whilst sitting in her classroom at school, and when her family visited her in hospital they discovered she had lost her eyesight.

Cameraman’s comment

“On our return to Gaza a second time, after James Miller had been shot, the soldiers were very hostile and we were obliged to put our signature to an IDF release. The release designated areas that if visited would result in arrest/deportation... the very areas that were the focus of the film. We signed the release although the area where James Miller was shot was one of the forbidden zones. The form was withdrawn from use a number of weeks later.”

Biography

Rodrigo Vazquez has worked as a producer/director/cameraman on documentary projects around the world. He tells factual stories with a strong visual sense, and has worked in potentially dangerous environments and done undercover filming.

Since graduation from the National Film School, Rodrigo has worked in both film and video with a variety of producers and filmmakers. His credits mainly include documentaries on social and issues in Europe, the US and particularly Latin America.

In Chile, working undercover for a BBC Correspondent film about the Pinochet case, Rodrigo gained access to perpetrators of human rights abuses and also to the prosecuting judge. In Chiapas, Southeast Mexico, he researched, produced and filmed a programme about the Zapatista Guerrillas. For ‘Chico’s Legacy’, a TVE International for BBC World and La Cinquième (France) a documentary about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Ten years after the assassination of Brazilian activist Chico Mendes, Rodrigo went to the Amazon alone to research, produce and shoot. The film was shown in 20 countries.

Recent work includes ‘Turning the Tables’ (2001) Lion Television for BBC2, ‘The Living Pulse’ Mentorn Barraclough for The Discovery Channel, numerous episodes of ‘Unreported World’ for Channel 4 and ‘Condor: Axis of Evil’, an investigative documentary about a US sponsored terrorist network, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.

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