Documentaries

A mobile photography project travels to underserved communities along the Syrian border and areas hardest hit by the earthquakes in Turkey, giving children new tools to tell their stories of friendship, memory and displacement. (dir. Ilie Mitaru, 2024). The short doc toured international film festivals in 2024 and is now streaming on WePresent. Producer.

VICE News' Hind Hassan travels to northwest Syria, a country split by a violent civil war and now devastated by a natural disaster, to meet with earthquake survivors and investigate why more wasn't done to help them. Local Producer.

EMMY Winner - Best News Coverage: Long Form and Outstanding Video Journalism: News. Twenty years after the US first invaded Afghanistan, President Biden announced the end of America's longest war. VICE News reporters were on the ground with Afghan and Taliban fighters to witness the final days of the conflict, from the frontlines of battle to the desperate scenes at the airport as Afghans were catapulted into a devastating systemic collapse. This is a harrowing, illuminating and definitive account of the Taliban’s return to power, reported by a team who has covered this country and this war for a generation. Local Producer.

Hind Hassan travels to the frontiers of Turkey and Europe, documenting a new migrant crisis and witnessing Greece’s abuse of international law as part of Europe’s response to the humanitarian crisis they helped create. Producer.

With extremely rare, wide-ranging access, VICE correspondent Isobel Yeung and team go inside Idlib to uncover the heartbreaking reality of civilians trapped under constant bombardment. Local Producer.

EMMY Winner - Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. A political thriller examining the complex relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and how the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi amplified entanglements between the two countries. Turkey Production Services.

EMMY Winner - Outstanding Research, Outstanding Investigative Report in a Newscast. China’s Uighur minority live a dystopian nightmare of constant surveillance and brutal policing. The Uighurs' plight has largely been kept hidden from the world, thanks to China’s aggressive attempts to suppress the story at all costs. Fixer.

“My body is here but my soul is still there.” Abduweli Ayup is a Uighur and teacher from Xinjiang, China. He says Chinese authorities wrongly accused him of terrorism and tortured him in prison. 101 East follows the Uighurs' quest for a safe place to call home. Turkey producer.

In SBS’s most ambitious television event to date, Go Back To Where You Came From Live will take the pulse of the evolving global refugee crisis in real time. Turkey producer.

A World in Disarray, a VICE special report, is a feature-length documentary that explores the disorder in today’s international landscape and how it plays out in four regions of conflict and tension. Turkey producer.

There are over 730 sinkholes in central Turkey, and their numbers are surging, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and the country’s food supply chain. These sinkholes occur suddenly when the soil collapses, forming a gaping hole in the earth. The sinkholes are a symptom of the ongoing drought and unsustainable water extraction in Konya province, Turkey's agricultural heartland. The production of water-thirsty crops such as sugar beet is prioritised in this region, which is used to make Turkey’s sugar. To irrigate these crops, farmers have had to rely on licensed and unlicensed wells tapping into the groundwater. Years of drought has meant that underground reserves cannot be renewed, making current farming practices unsustainable. The increased formation of sinkholes is not a surprise for experts who have been warning for years that extracting groundwater could tip the balance of nature. These sinkholes have luckily not caused any deaths but they are revealing that time is running out to save water and agriculture in this region. Presenter and Producer.

In Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, queues of people of all faiths visit a Greek Orthodox Church on the first day of each month to make a wish. Emily Wither spoke to devotees who shared their hopes and desires, as they stood patiently in long lines. No one knows exactly how the tradition started, but visitors take a gold key and descend the stairs to the underground Byzantine chapel to visit an ancient spring believed to have miraculous and spiritual powers. Once their wish comes true, they return the key to the church, who pass it on to others wishing for good luck. Presenter and Producer.

Millions of residents living in Istanbul face the dilemma of whether or not to find out if the buildings where they live are resilient to earthquakes. Many cannot afford to do anything about it even if they are unsafe. A year on from the earthquakes in south-east Turkey that killed over 53,000 people, it is clear poorly built homes, hospitals and hotels that collapsed within seconds contributed to the high death toll. There are warnings that a similar fate awaits Istanbul, where scientists predict a major earthquake could strike any day now. Producer.

In the chaos following Turkey’s devastating earthquake in February, Omar was separated from his son Ahmed after both were pulled alive from the collapsed ruins of their home. Omar has enlisted the help of Nadine, a fashion designer before the quake, who's now trying to reunite Syrian families. She and her team find both success and heartbreak. Emily Wither follows Omar, a Syrian refugee, as he searches for his son. Turkey producer.

On his first visit to Istanbul chef Rene Redzepi explores the tastes and sights of the city guided by friend and local chef Mehmet Gurs. Fixer.