On 5 November, No Fire Zone was shown at Riverside Studios as part of a series of Between the Lines follow up events hosted by Frontline Club and DocHouse. This documentary chronicles the last 138 days of the civil war in Sri Lanka, revealing the brutal tactics employed by the Sri Lankan army and government against the Tamil population. The screeninng was followed by a lively Q&A with director, Callum Macrae, who introduced the film as evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and warned the audience to prepare themselves accordingly for the images they were about to see.
The film uses footage taken by civilians, Tamil Tigers and government soldiers, plus testimonies from civilian survivors and UN officials, forming a harrowing and disturbing picture of the final stages of the 26-year civil war, where an estimated 40,000 – 70,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by the government’s military. The title of the film refers to the government-allocated no fire zones that were set-up as safe areas for Tamil civilians, which the military then purposefully attacked.
All the footage used in the film has been authenticated as genuine by forensic pathologists. However, as Macrae told the audience, the Sri Lankan government continues to maintain that the videos in the film, which have mostly been taken using camera phones or satellite phones, are fabrications, as are the estimated death count and disappearances.
The Sri Lankan government has strongly opposed the release of this film, using their influence to pressure other countries into preventing screenings. A recent Malaysian screening was raided and one of the organisers was arrested for censorship charges, facing a possible three year prison sentence. Macrae is also having problems obtaining an Indian visa to attend screenings of the film, an application process which he started in February.
One audience member asked why the videos and photos of the atrocities presented in the film did not make it into our news media or social media the same way images from the Arab Spring did? Macrae responded that the Western media needs to ask themselves that question, as the images did make their way onto the Internet, as events were occurring, and British Tamils were staging large campaigns and protests to draw attention to the atrocities.
The Sri Lankan government dismissed the videos as propaganda. They were able to gain international support from allies, as much of the world already viewed the Tamil Tigers as terrorists, and were able to hide behind a ‘shameless’ adoption of the West’s rhetoric of the “war on terror”, creating a ‘conspiracy of silence’, Macrae said. This view was challenged, towards the end of the session, by a Sinhalese audience member who accused the film and Channel 4 of bias against the government, which was vehemently rejected by Macrae.
Much of the Q&A focused on the lack of action by the international community. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is due to be held in Colombo towards the end of November, despite criticism from international human rights organisations. Currently the only government who has expressed their opposition to this decision is Canada, who will boycott the conference.
The film depicts the UN leaving Sri Lanka, and presents testimonies from former UN staffers on their distress over this decision, and the abandonment of their role as protectors. Macrae was also critical of the UN, noting that the Human Rights Council passed a resolution congratulating Sri Lanka on ending the civil war. He stated that the UN made no real effort to intervene while in Sri Lanka, and strongly believes that they consciously concealed information about the number of deaths by preventing information being revealed during the time. Furthermore, Macrae added:
“I believe [that by staying there] it wasn’t just that it was complicit in what was going on, it provided an active cover for what was going on, because . . . people were assuming the UN was providing some kind of monitoring process. I think, in a sense [the UN] facilitated the ongoing massacres by saying nothing.”
He did, however, acknowledge that some progress has been made since, in part due to his film, and is hopeful that the UN’s criticism of Sri Lanka’s actions will grow stronger. He noted that the film has been shown to UN delegations also, with positive responses.
Congrats to @Callum_Macrae on powerful documentary showing truth to power #NoFireZone pic.twitter.com/2oFxaYPJZX
— James Denselow (@jamesdenselow) November 5, 2013
Many audience members wanted to know what they could do as individuals, and what the international community is doing or should be doing to hold Sri Lanka to account. Macrae stated that the intention of the film was to increase awareness of the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government and hopes that it will be used as a form of evidence for justice in the future. He continued:
“Without justice you can’t have peace and reconciliation, and to get justice you need truth”
He asked that everyone put pressure on the UK government, by contacting their MPs and the Prime Minister, to remain true to their promises to raise these issues with Sri Lanka during CHOGM. He pointed out that David Cameron maintains that it is a better decision to participate in the conference to bring attention to the issues, but that the government has made no sign of opposing Sri Lanka’s actions.
Macrae remains hopeful, however, that India, an influential country in the region with a large Tamil population, will decide to boycott CHOGM. He told the audience that he has received threats over his decision to travel to Sri Lanka during CHOGM, due to the opposition to this film.
A shortened version of No Fire Zone can be viewed on Channel 4 4od and there are a number of international events lined up.
]]>
[vimeo clip_id=”57211223″ width=”400″ height=”225″]
No Fire Zone – The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, chronicles the final 138 days of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war. Told by the people who lived through it, the film builds on two award winning television documentaries by director Callum Macrae.
Civilians, Tamil Tiger camera operators and government soldiers filmed the events using small cameras and mobile phones. This disturbing footage is carefully analysed and authenticated by video analysts.
Macrae pieces together the scenes with personal accounts from civilians who survived the conflict and testimonies from UN officials who were forced to leave the area. The Sri Lankan government contests the depiction of events shown in No Fire Zone and dismisses the documentary as fake.
Directed by Callum Macrae
Duration: 90′
Year: 2013
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
Presented by:
Supported by:
Salma
Thursday 26 September 2013, 8:00 PM Rich Mix London
Growing up in South India, Salma spent most of her childhood under house arrest. She poured out her anguish writing poetry which she sneaked out of the house. Against the odds she became one of the best known Tamil poets and her newfound fame helped her start on the path to freedom. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Kim Longinotto’s long-term editor Ollie Huddleston.
Which Way is the Front Line from Here – The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington + Q&A
Thursday 17 October 2013, 8.30 PM Lexi Cinema
Colleague and co-director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Restrepo, Sebastian Junger, thoughtfully portrays Tim Hetherington’s life and work. At a time when greater numbers of journalists are losing their lives covering conflict, the film also addresses the high risks taken by war journalists. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer James Brabazon.
Shorts at the Frontline Club – Between the Lines Special – BOOK NOW
Friday 25 October 2013, 7:00 PM Frontline Club
Join us for an evening of short documentaries, showcasing films from different parts of the world, covering a wide range of topics. As part of Between the Lines the selection will focus on ‘filming the unfilmable’, followed by a discussion on how to document events that that are difficult to access.
The Bombing of al-Bara + Q&A – BOOK NOW
Tuesday 29 October 8.30 PM Ritzy Picture House
2012, a government jet dropped a large bomb on the village of al-Bara. Only 300 meters away, Olly Lambert was filming a meeting of rebel soldiers. While keeping his camera rolling, Lambert documented the shocking impact of regime air strikes on a civilian population. The result is a rare, immersive portrait of the reality of civil war.
No Fire Zone : The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, chronicles the final 138 days of the 26 year Sri Lankan civil war, told by the people who lived through it. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Callum Macrae.
Presented by:
Supported by:
On 23rd April 2013, The Frontline Club held the first UK preview screening of award winning television director Callum Macrae’s new documentary, No Fire Zone – The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka.
No Fire Zone uses forensically verified footage from civilian mobile phones and government forces cameras to chronicle the last 138 days of the 26 year long Sri Lankan civil war between the Sinhalese led government and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
The film documents with sometimes disturbing footage the barbaric onslaught and effects of shelling by Sri Lankan government forces on the self-proclaimed no fire zone in the northeastern region of Sri Lanka known as the Vanni. Macrae says that the film is evidence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan government led by president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
. @Callum_Macrae – if there are any #lka govt reps here they will say that this evidence is fake. It is not. It has been checked.
— Tamil Guardian (@TamilGuardian) April 23, 2013
But why didn’t the UN or any international governments recognise the atrocities at the time? Macrae answered:
“Sri Lanka had an extraordinary breadth of support because of its strategic position . . . and because the world powers like to deal with a single government there was an extraordinary alliance in support of, or at least looking the other way, whilst the Sri Lankan government did this.”
On interviewing Sir John Holmes, former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator of the UN, Macrae seemed still shocked at how out in the open officials were being about the facts, yet not doing anything about them:
“To start with, I thought he was being a whistleblower. I thought he was exposing what happened and then I realised that actually behind it was an extraordinary cynicism that this is exactly what the leadership and the highest hierarchies of the UN thought, which is basically ‘we will put our fingers in our ears and we’ll close our eyes and we’ll hum loudly and hope that not too many people die.’ An absolutely appalling neglection of the UN’s duties.”
Why does Rajapaksa and his government continue to target the Tamils, which now only makes up about 15% of the Sri Lankan population?
“It is important to understand the kind of culture that exists . . . [it] is a kind of ultra-nationalist, singular paranoia . . . which fails to distinguish between Tamil civilians and Tamil fighters. [It] basically sees enemies around every corner.”
Macrae emphasised that the same people who are seen to commit the war crimes in his documentary still occupy positions of power. Rajapaksa is still president and scheduled to chair the next Commonwealth leaders meeting at the end of 2013. His brother, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, is Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka and General Shavendra Silva, who was director of operations in the civil war, is now Sri Lankan Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.
“This is not some kind of historical, academic exercise which we’re saying we need some kind of justice or accounting or truth telling for historical reasons. The situation . . . is absolutely desperate. Repression continues . . . this is a very live issue. This has to be confronted. As Vani said at the end [of the film], there is a generation of very angry young Tamils who watched the world betray them and allowed these massacres to happen. The world now has an opportunity and a duty . . . to ensure that justice is done.”
In UK @frontlineclub @nofirezonemovie discusn- @Callum_Macrae "legitimate grievances of the #Tamil people have been ignored."
— Aust Tamil Congress (@austamilcongres) April 23, 2013
Having already screened No Fire Zone in the Hague and in Geneva, Macrae will be running a Kickstarter campaign over the next month in order to fund a worldwide tour of the documentary including visits to Africa, Latin America and Australia. Find out details on the No Fire Zone Twitter feed soon. Macrae ended by saying:
“It would be a tragedy if this did not get seen around the world. . . . [We need to] tell people what happened because they don’t know.”
Watch the trailer for No Fire Zone – The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka:
]]>[vimeo clip_id=”57211223″ width=”400″ height=”225″]
No Fire Zone – The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, chronicles the final 138 days of the 26 year Sri Lankan civil war. Told by the people who lived through it, the film builds on two award winning television documentaries by director Callum Macrae.
Civilians, Tiger camera operators and government soldiers filmed the events using small cameras and mobile phones. This disturbing footage is carefully analysed and authenticated by video analysts, and shows the extreme violence against Tamil civilians and bombing of hospitals by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
Macrae pieces together the scenes with personal accounts from civilians who survived the conflict and testimonies from UN officials who were forced to leave the area. The Sri Lankan government contests the depiction of events shown in No Fire Zone and dismisses the documentary as fake.
Directed by Callum Macrae
Duration: 90′
Year: 2013
View event here.
View in iTunes
Epitomising the troubled state of Sri Lanka post-conflict, an impassioned panel spent Wednesday night disputing the truth. Facing an equally ardent audience, they proved that the country has a long way to go before reconciliation will become a reality.
Chaired by BBC Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur – who summarised the evening’s topic as “highly contentious [and] still hugely controversial” – the discussion first focused on two films broadcast by Channel 4: Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields and Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished. Callum Macrae, director of both, clashed repeatedly with Professor Rajiva Wijesinha MP, government advisor on reconciliation who dismissed Channel 4’s work as illegitimate and “sordid.”
Wijesinha stated that while the film was not necessarily false, he believed it to have been “doctored”, although did at times direct his criticism at an earlier Channel 4 news item rather than the films under debate. Macrae rejected the suggestion that he had been an apologist for the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) as “nonsense”, and was later backed by an audience member who described a “very clever propaganda film [by the government] refuting the Channel 4 film” as “an excellent piece of editing.”
Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka researcher, weighed into the debate by describing the government’s “merely cosmetic” act of lifting the state of emergency last year, and recounted ongoing disappearances and systematic torture. Foster served as a voice of calm in the panel – although criticised by Wijesinha as “avenging”, her measured tone helped her avoid heckles steeped on other panellists.
In December, Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission released a report on atrocities committed during the civil war. Foster said on careful reading the report was “good”, although pushed for the government to move forward with the Commission’s recommendations.
While the panellists failed to agree on the portrayal of war crimes by media and human rights groups, they broadly stood for legal remedies. Wijesinha deflected a question from Sackur about whether anyone had been prosecuted for wartime atrocities, but stated clearly that he was frustrated by delays in pushing the judicial process forward.
Arun Thambimuttu, a Tamil political activist, argued that atrocities were widespread over a 30 year period rather than just a few months, and committed by all sides. Recognising this, Jan Jananayagam, spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), stated that prosecutions must cover the breadth of the war:
“The judiciary has failed. I don’t agree that the government has an opt-out clause; that because they didn’t deliver justice for 30 years they won’t do it now.”
The international community has taken a much lesser role in post-conflict resolution and by all accounts momentum from within Sri Lanka seemed lacking.
“The international law which governs the behaviour of all governments around the world applies to Colombo, and that is something we cannot escape from,”
Sackur reminded Wijesinha, as tempers seethed throughout the room.
After two hours, a ceasefire was called on the divided panel. One audience member summarised the withering hope of reconciliation:
“If this is the reaction you get sitting in London; what chance do you have?”
Watch the full event here:
[acf field=”Tickets”]
Join us at the Frontline Club to discuss the impact of Sri Lanka's Killing Fields and the situation today in Sri Lanka.
]]>Nearly three years after the end of the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka that reportedly left an estimated 80,000-100,000 dead, questions are still arising about alleged war crimes and how they will be addressed.
The Killing Fields, first broadcast by Channel 4 in June last year and a follow up aired this March called Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished, have been significant in bringing evidence of executions, the shelling of civilians and other atrocities to light.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence rejects the evidence, however, arguing that it has been falsified by Channel 4 and that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE ) were responsible for a proportion of the civilian casualties. It also rejected calls from the UN-led investigation into alleged war crimes, opting for a locally-organised investigation, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
What action will the Sri Lankan government take in light of new footage and will it be forced address the issue of high-command responsibility? After the failing of the international community to prevent such atrocities, what role can they play in the future?
Join us at the Frontline Club to discuss the impact of Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields and the situation today in Sri Lanka.
Chaired by Stephen Sackur, the host of BBC Hardtalk.
With:
Callum Macrae, journalist, filmmaker and Director of both Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields and Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished that documents evidence of alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Government.
Arun Thambimuttu, a Tamil political activist from Batticaloa, in the Eastern province, Sri Lanka. His father, Sam Tambimuttu, a Member of Parliament of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), and his mother were both assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1990.
Jan Jananayagam, spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide [TAG] an NGO that assists victims and witnesses of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide including by bringing litigations against perpetrators.
Professor Rajiva Wijesinha MP, adviser to the President on Reconciliation.
Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka researcher.
]]>With over one hundred million ‘views’ the Kony 2012 video has started a far-reaching debate on the aims and value of a production seen by many as an over-simplification of complex situation.
Produced by the NGO ‘Invisible children’, the video calls for military intervention to “stop Kony and disarm the LRA”.
Host Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House was on the hunt for controversy – which is exactly what he found.
Perhaps the most scathing comments on the video came from film-maker and journalist Callum Macrae.
“Low and behold the world has paid attention and I’m hating every minute of it… This is a dreadful, I’m afraid, campaign. But nonetheless very important and we need to discuss it.”
Macrae says the unwavering focus on Joseph Kony puts him ill at ease.
“We shouldn’t be lowering ourselves to the level of Kony or the people who see him as an African bogeyman, we should be looking at the issues that are raised by it.”
Mareike Schomerus, of LSE’s Justice and Security Research Programme agreed that focusing entirely on Kony is a dangerous simplification.
“If you go into LRA controlled areas and actually stay there it becomes clear that the situation is actually much more complex than elevating just one man to the position of superpower…
When I talk, especially to military men,… and I say to them ‘do you honestly really believe that that one man can be responsible for messing about… 5 national armies and 3 UN missions and the US army, and the French army and sometimes the Israeli army.”
Programmes Director for the charity War Child, Amanda Weisbaum also casts a critical eye on the content of the video.
“They did 30 minutes of filming and they didn’t really do any history surrounding it or any complexities surrounding it… but yes I would have loved the 100 million hits”
But how then do people kindle an interest for African issues? Asks Benjamin Chesterton of production company DuckRabbit.
“Do you think we all start with PHDs?… we have to start somewhere… a percentage of [these people that watched the video] will go away and find out more… and maybe do something more than sitting around debating it.”
Poet and musician of Ugandan descent, Musa Okwonga rejects this out of hand.
“It’s utterly patronising to say that children can’t handle complexity… people followed complex narratives involving multiple characters over seven books with Harry Potter”
The idea put forward by the video that military intervention is the only solution held no water for the panel.
“The lessons of history” says Macrae, “are that it’s always gone wrong; it’s always scatter gun and it’s always brought more havoc”
Watch the full event here:
]]>Journalists working in areas of conflict reveal how they get information when traditional techniques are insufficient. The discussion will focus on the interaction between local hires and foreign journalists.
]]>Journalists working in areas of conflict reveal how they get information when traditional techniques are insufficient. The discussion will focus on the interaction between local hires and foreign journalists.
Local journalists are typically less conspicuous and more mobile than their foreign counterparts. They perform a vital service – bringing information from areas that are off-limits to the foreign press. Perhaps most critically for a cash-starved news industry, they are also cheaper to use than Western news gatherers.
But are they cutting corners and breaching ethics? How are the rules of reporting being rewritten by risk?
The event will be led by Richard Pendry of the University of Kent’s Centre for Journalism. While at Frontline News Television, he worked in Chechnya and across the former Soviet Union as well as Afghanistan and the Congo. He will show his film “A Strange Animal”, which focuses on the risks and rewards of adapting traditional models of news gathering. It follows local reporters in Falluja and Baghdad and looks at the phenomenon of “sub-contracting” news gathering, where local reporters pass on stories one to another when conditions are dangerous.
With:
Aamer Ahmed Khan, head of the BBC Urdu Service, has been in journalism for 25 years. He worked for the English daily newspaper The Nation in Lahore, joined the launch team of Pakistan’s first English language weekly The Friday Times as its News Editor and was special correspondent for Pakistan’s premier political magazine The Herald. He has worked with local people in Pakistan’s Tribal areas to identify the victims of US drone strikes.
Amie Ferris-Rotman, a Reuters correspondent in Kabul. She was previously a reporter in Moscow, working across the former Soviet Union covering pipeline politics, foreign policy and running stringers reporting on the Islamist insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus.
Callum Macrae, the producer/director behind Channel 4’s multi-award winning “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”. Using mobile phone footage and other video footage from non-professional sources the film revealed the shocking truth behind the final operation against Tamil Tigers and the civilians trapped with them. The film led David Cameron to call on the UN to investigate the war crimes apparently revealed in the film. He has made films for the BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera and PBS and has reported and directed from around the world including Iraq, Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
Neil Arun, international editor who has produced a range of investigative stories during his time in Iraq, working with a bureau of local journalists. His own reporting from the country has been published by Vanity Fair and the Financial Times Weekend magazine. He also spent five years with the BBC, and has reported from the Balkans, Caucasus and Pakistan.
Download this episode
View in iTunes ]]>