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Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issuecategory
The films below were shortlisted for Grierson 2009 in the
Shell International Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue category.
Nominated Film Image
Winner
Afghan Star
Production Cº: Havana Marking
More 4
Executive Producers Martin Herring, Mike Lerner, Jahid Mohseni
Afghan Star was watched by a third of the population of Afghanistan. Over 11 million people, in voting for their favourites, experienced a taste of democracy.Afghan Star is a small but significant unifying force for the country's diverse ethnic groups; as the programme's presenter Daod Sediqi says, 'the aim is to take the people’s hand from weapons to music'.
Nominated Film Image
Nominated
Class of ‘62: from 16 to 60
Production Cº: Factotum Films Ltd
BBC Two
Director Marilyn Gaunt
Producers Marilyn Gaunt, Paul Dosaj
Executive Producer   Richard Klein
Writers Marilyn Gaunt, Paul Dosaj
In 1962, Marilyn Gaunt and her girlfriends left their school in Leeds as eager 16 year olds. In 1983 she filmed her Class Reunion. This was the start of a 25 year documentary journey into the lives of six of her old classmates. Marilyn caught up with them again in 1995. Now, as they turn 60, she returns for a third time to add a final chapter to the fascinating story of the Class of ‘62.
Nominated Film Image
Nominated
The Fallen
Production Cº: Minnow FIlms
BBC Two
Director Morgan Matthews
Producer Elodie Gornall
Executive Producer   Richard Klein, Steve Hewlett
A powerful and poignant film in which families and friends of those who have died whilst serving with the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq talk openly about their loved ones and their grief. Epic in scale and spanning seven years of war, this landmark three-hour film gives a rare insight into the personal impact and legacy of this loss.
Nominated Film Image
Nominated
Rough Aunties
Production Cº: Rise Films
Belfast Film Festival
Director Kim Longinotto
True Stories: Rough Aunties, follows a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa.
shortlisted
Chosen
Production Cº: True Vision Productions
More 4
Director Brian Woods
Producer Brian Woods/Chris Eley
Tom, Mark and Alastair all went to the very best school money could buy but what their parents didn’t suspect, was that several of the teachers on the staff were career paedophiles and for 30 thirty years the boys and the men they became, stayed silent, nursing the dark secret of the abuse they suffered. In this film they break that silence with spellbinding articulacy, and breath-taking honesty.
shortlisted
The Hospital
Production Cº: North One Television
Channel 4
Director Jessica Versluys
Series Producer Monica Garnsey
Executive Producers   Nick Hornby, Simon Ford
The first episode in a landmark documentary series examining the cost to the NHS of teenage self-destructive behaviour looks at alcohol and alcohol-related injuries, as seen through the cases that come through the A&E wards of two Midlands Hospitals.
shortlisted
Michael Portillo: Death of a Schoolfriend
Production Cº: Liberty Bell Productions
BBC Two
Director/Producer Judith Dawson
Executive Producer Stuart Prebble
Writer   Judith Dawson
When Michael Portillo was a teenager a close friend in the same class, Gary Findon, killed himself. He left a note telling his parents to loved them and asking them - “Please don’t be sad”. In detailed and moving interviews with Gary’s parents and younger brother, Michael learns how impossible it was for them to fulfil this plea and how Gary’s suicide, and their enduring sense of loss, has coloured their lives ever since.
shortlisted
Mum and Me
Production Cº: Wellpark Productions
BBC One
Director/producers Sue Bourne, Holly Bourne Starecka
Executive Producer Grant McKee
Writer   Sue Bourne
Film maker Sue Bourne’s mother Ethel has Alzheimer’s and now lives in a nursing home in Scotland. For the last three years Sue, and her daughter Holly, have been filming with Sue’s mother. In spite of Ethel’s Alzheimer’s the three of them managed to laugh and enjoy their time together. Their film is a funny, charming, quirky and sometimes harrowing record of how the family have fumbled along trying to make sense of Alzheimers. A searingly honest look at life and love.
shortlisted
Would You Save a Stranger?
Production Cº: Century Films
Channel 4
Director Ashley Gething
Producer Jeanette Bell
Executive Producer   Katie Bailiff
Would you save a stranger? Many of us are faced with the stark choice at some stage of our lives: whether or not to risk life and limb to defend someone we’ve never met. It’s a decision which has to be made in a split second but can have long lasting repercussions. This film explores the issue of intervention through the testimony of seven compelling witnesses and with dramatic and atmospheric reconstructions.