Cyrus V Nhara and 'Sara'

2005 Winners of the Sony Impact Award

Shot in Zimbabwe, 14/15th of June 2005
Commissioned by ITV News for ITN, includes footage for Reuters TV

“Zimbabwe: Forced Evictions”
These are exclusive pictures of the Zimbabwe demolitions in progress and of the makeshift camps for those whose homes have been destroyed.

“This piece really highlights something that the government and the soldiers don’t want us to see.”
Judge's Comment

Biographies
Cyrus V. Nhara lives in Zimbabwe and works as a freelancer in news, films and TV commercials. Since 2000, he has worked as a stringer for Reuters, and covered news for ITN, CBS 60 Minutes, Sky News, Swedish Television, TBS-Tokyo Japan, Australian Broadcasting and Swiss Television. In 2003, Cyrus was awarded a Rory Peck Training Fund / Cramer bursary for hostile environment training.
‘Sara’ is a freelance filmmaker in Harare who returned to Zimbabwe in 1999 after working on international documentaries. She does not wish to be further identified.

"The risks of being caught filming during the police operation were high. There were armed police on trucks and on foot clearing people from their homes as bulldozers demolished property. We worked alone while all of this was going on. As well as the security forces there would often be government spies from the central intelligence organisation and their helpers looking for outsiders…we'd only have a few minutes in each location before having to move on for our safety."
Cameraman's Comment