THE RORY PECK AWARDS 2005
Sponsored by Sony

MEHRAN BOZORGNIA

Opium Trail

Finalist: The Rory Peck Award for Hard News

This rare footage shows two successful missions by the Iranian Border Military Control against the smugglers of Afghanistan, which provides 90% of the world's heroin and opium. The film includes a dramatic battle and a night journey to an opium laboratory with the smugglers. The unprecedented access was the result of Mehran Bozorgnia’s years of establishing a network of local contacts and gaining their trust.

Cameraman's Comment

"It was difficult not to sympathise with the impoverished farmers, but I felt anger at both the greed of the warlords and the West's dithering. Under heavy gunfire I filmed a smuggler's death. I took no pride in it. I still see that man as a victim, too."

Biography

Mehran Bozorgnia was born in Iran. He trained at the Berlin School of Cinematography, then worked as a cameraman in Germany for ZDF and NDR. He has worked as a freelance documentary maker and foreign affairs producer since taringin in journalism with NDR Hamburg in 1990. He has made more than 150 short features for international news networks, including APTN, Reuters, Canal Plus, NHK and Channel 4, and field reports for many others from Afghanistan and Iraq.

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