Polish film-maker Vita Maria Drygas’s new documentary, Danger Zone, follows ‘dark tourists’ such as Andrew Drury into conflict areas. They talk about adrenaline, desperation – and interviewing Shamima Begum
In 2014, Vita Maria Drygas was filming in a war zone. She had travelled to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to pick up footage for a documentary when she spotted a handwritten advert offering “cheap” tours of the frontline. “It was a mindfuck,” says the 39-year-old Polish director over a video call from Warsaw, with quiet intensity.
She found the idea of people buying tickets to the frontline, like a theatre production, profoundly shocking: “It was impossible. I didn’t believe it.” At first, she assumed that the advert was a sick joke or maybe a Russian provocation. But back in Poland, digging around on the internet, she discovered the hidden world of war jollies: “A huge branch of tourism that is very underground.
In 2014, Vita Maria Drygas was filming in a war zone. She had travelled to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to pick up footage for a documentary when she spotted a handwritten advert offering “cheap” tours of the frontline. “It was a mindfuck,” says the 39-year-old Polish director over a video call from Warsaw, with quiet intensity.
She found the idea of people buying tickets to the frontline, like a theatre production, profoundly shocking: “It was impossible. I didn’t believe it.” At first, she assumed that the advert was a sick joke or maybe a Russian provocation. But back in Poland, digging around on the internet, she discovered the hidden world of war jollies: “A huge branch of tourism that is very underground.
- 3/8/2024
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
Not so long ago, Netflix was the king of must-see documentaries – mostly about true crime, and nearly all from the other side of the pond. The ongoing appetite created for documentaries like Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and The Staircase sparked a trend that now goes far beyond Netflix, with all the major streamers, plus regular UK terrestrial channels, after a slice of the documentary action.
The good news is they’re not all about serial killers any more. The even better news is they’ve cottoned onto our wish to be entertained as well as educated, weaving clever storytelling narratives to tell a tale that will break boundaries, keep you invested, and often stay with you for a long time after the credits roll.
Let’s take a look at some of the most exciting British documentary series being released in 2023 and beyond, from the BBC,...
The good news is they’re not all about serial killers any more. The even better news is they’ve cottoned onto our wish to be entertained as well as educated, weaving clever storytelling narratives to tell a tale that will break boundaries, keep you invested, and often stay with you for a long time after the credits roll.
Let’s take a look at some of the most exciting British documentary series being released in 2023 and beyond, from the BBC,...
- 8/14/2023
- by Lauravickersgreen
- Den of Geek
In his time on Good Morning Britain, Richard Madeley has had no shortage of memorable moments.
A co-anchor on the programme since 2017, the presenter often appears alongside Susanna Reid as they discuss pressing topics of the day.
Whether it’s through interactions with guests, or by offering his personal take on a story, Madeley is known to audiences for expressing himself in an unfiltered manner.
Viewers are quick to share their thoughts on Madeley’s most eyebrow-raising moments on social media.
Here is a rundown of his most controversial moments so far.
Comparing climate activists to paedophiles
Madeley’s most recent moment of controversy took place on 28 March during a conversation about the decision of a group of Britain’s top lawyers to refuse to prosecute climate activists.
“If these people, these barristers and lawyers, have announced they will not prosecute – they simply won’t even get started in a...
A co-anchor on the programme since 2017, the presenter often appears alongside Susanna Reid as they discuss pressing topics of the day.
Whether it’s through interactions with guests, or by offering his personal take on a story, Madeley is known to audiences for expressing himself in an unfiltered manner.
Viewers are quick to share their thoughts on Madeley’s most eyebrow-raising moments on social media.
Here is a rundown of his most controversial moments so far.
Comparing climate activists to paedophiles
Madeley’s most recent moment of controversy took place on 28 March during a conversation about the decision of a group of Britain’s top lawyers to refuse to prosecute climate activists.
“If these people, these barristers and lawyers, have announced they will not prosecute – they simply won’t even get started in a...
- 3/28/2023
- by Nicole Vassell
- The Independent - TV
The BBC has set a documentary and eight-part podcast exploring the life of Kanye West.
We Need to Talk About Kanye (working title) will be fronted by BAFTA award-winning investigative journalist Mobeen Azhar, who also fronted the BBC’s Battle for Britney doc.
Unfolding against the backdrop of West aka Ye’s 2024 U.S. election campaign, and at a time when his anti-Semitic rantings and behavior have sparked outrage and a re-evaluation of his place in popular culture, the one-off documentary follows Azhar as he attempts to understand the complex journey that led the singer to become one of the most famous and creatively successful artists of his generation.
The feature will be accompanied by an eight part podcast series titled The Kanye Story. The BBC similarly released a feature doc and podcast on Shamima Begum, the British teenager who travelled to Syria to join Isis before trying to return and having her citizenship revoked.
We Need to Talk About Kanye (working title) will be fronted by BAFTA award-winning investigative journalist Mobeen Azhar, who also fronted the BBC’s Battle for Britney doc.
Unfolding against the backdrop of West aka Ye’s 2024 U.S. election campaign, and at a time when his anti-Semitic rantings and behavior have sparked outrage and a re-evaluation of his place in popular culture, the one-off documentary follows Azhar as he attempts to understand the complex journey that led the singer to become one of the most famous and creatively successful artists of his generation.
The feature will be accompanied by an eight part podcast series titled The Kanye Story. The BBC similarly released a feature doc and podcast on Shamima Begum, the British teenager who travelled to Syria to join Isis before trying to return and having her citizenship revoked.
- 2/15/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Shamima Begum was certainly deluded in the past, but she’s definitely been disabused of any fantasies about redemption and forgiveness now. Maybe that’s what being stateless and spending four years in detention in Syria does to someone. Towards the end of the BBC’s gripping The Shamima Begum Story, marooned in a camp in the north of the country and still only 23, she acknowledges that she’s never going to able to come back home. Seven years on from her ill-fated journey east, Begum is asked where she thinks she’ll be in seven years’ time. “Here,” she says, without hesitation, “because Isis was the worst thing in the 21st century and I was a part of it and now I have to face the consequences of my actions, and this camp is the consequences of my actions.”
It’s quite hard to read Begum. She presents herself now,...
It’s quite hard to read Begum. She presents herself now,...
- 2/7/2023
- by Sean O'Grady
- The Independent - TV
Exclusive: The BBC has greenlit a landmark documentary film and 10-part podcast on Shamima Begum – the teenager who travelled to Syria to join Isis before trying to return and having her citizenship revoked – from the team behind the multi award-winning I’m Not A Monster.
For the past 12 months, Begum, now 22, has been giving her side of one of the most debated stories in the British media in recent years to investigative journalist Josh Baker.
In the as-yet-untitled doc and podcast series for BBC Two, iPlayer and 5 Live, Baker, who was making a documentary in an East London Mosque when she fled, will retrace her steps and tell the story.
Begum’s story is known across the UK and was also charted in 2021 feature The Return: Life After Isis.
In 2015, she travelled from the UK to Syria via Turkey with three friends aged just 15 to join Isis and was the...
For the past 12 months, Begum, now 22, has been giving her side of one of the most debated stories in the British media in recent years to investigative journalist Josh Baker.
In the as-yet-untitled doc and podcast series for BBC Two, iPlayer and 5 Live, Baker, who was making a documentary in an East London Mosque when she fled, will retrace her steps and tell the story.
Begum’s story is known across the UK and was also charted in 2021 feature The Return: Life After Isis.
In 2015, she travelled from the UK to Syria via Turkey with three friends aged just 15 to join Isis and was the...
- 7/8/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The news headlines might have largely moved on from stories of the conflict in Syria and Islamic State, but as this news documentary, chiefly shot in the Roj refugee camp in the north-east of the country shows, moving on is not something that many of the 1500 Isis brides and their children who live there are being allowed to do, even if they want to - as countries across the globe are denying their citizenship.
The most familiar face in Alba Sotorra Clua's film, at least to a British audience, is that of Shamima Begum. The Londoner first made headlines as a 15-year-old when she ran away with two of her school friends to join the Isis Caliphate in Syria and returned to them in 2019 when she was located, nine months pregnant and her friends already dead, in the refugee camp. US viewers, meanwhile, will recognise the name of Hoda Muthana,...
The most familiar face in Alba Sotorra Clua's film, at least to a British audience, is that of Shamima Begum. The Londoner first made headlines as a 15-year-old when she ran away with two of her school friends to join the Isis Caliphate in Syria and returned to them in 2019 when she was located, nine months pregnant and her friends already dead, in the refugee camp. US viewers, meanwhile, will recognise the name of Hoda Muthana,...
- 6/9/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
2021 SXSW The Return Life After Isis Review — The Return: Life After Isis (2021) Video Movie Review from the 28th Annual South By Southwest Film Festival, a movie directed by Alba Sotorra, and starring Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana. Crew Alba Sotorra wrote the screenplay for The Return: Life After Isis. Mehmud Berazi and Josefina [...]
Continue reading: Video Movie Review: The Return: Life After Isis: A Complicated Story of Tragedy that Isn’t Black & White [SXSW 2021]...
Continue reading: Video Movie Review: The Return: Life After Isis: A Complicated Story of Tragedy that Isn’t Black & White [SXSW 2021]...
- 5/7/2021
- by Andrew Toy
- Film-Book
World premiere of Mark Cousins’ ‘The Story Of Looking’ will close the UK documentary festival.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer Of Soul (…Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) will open the UK’s Sheffield Doc/Fest 2021 (June 4-13). The festival has united with UK cinemas for the first time to simultaneously premiere the documentary.
The festival will close with the world premiere of Mark Cousins’ The Story Of Looking, which will also debut simultaneously at several partner cinemas around the UK, including London’s BFI Southbank, Glasgow Film Theatre and Home in Manchester.
This year’s Doc/Fest...
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer Of Soul (…Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) will open the UK’s Sheffield Doc/Fest 2021 (June 4-13). The festival has united with UK cinemas for the first time to simultaneously premiere the documentary.
The festival will close with the world premiere of Mark Cousins’ The Story Of Looking, which will also debut simultaneously at several partner cinemas around the UK, including London’s BFI Southbank, Glasgow Film Theatre and Home in Manchester.
This year’s Doc/Fest...
- 4/22/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
At irregular intervals throughout Alba Sotorra’s stirring, sobering and vitally humane new documentary “The Return: Life after Isis,” discreet titles appear to define the foreign terms that crop up. The small group of Western women in this Syrian detention camp are from all over — Canada, the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany — and speak in differently accented, more or less fluent English. But with the regime that until recently defined them fallen, with their own countries refusing their return and with the wider world regarding them with hostility if not outright hatred, the few Arabic words they all use are piquant markers of their shared experiences as “Isis wives” — a short glossary of regret, shame and despite everything, hope.
Sotorra’s film is put together with remarkable poise and intelligence, considering the fraught territory it traverses. Quickly but comprehensively, using newsreel footage and archival clips, she begins...
Sotorra’s film is put together with remarkable poise and intelligence, considering the fraught territory it traverses. Quickly but comprehensively, using newsreel footage and archival clips, she begins...
- 3/27/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
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