Ashwin Raman

Finalist, the Rory Peck Award for Features 2007

German
Baghdad Commando  
Shot: Iraq, December 2006 - March 2007  
Self funded  
Broadcast by ARD  

A closely-observed look at the life of US troops stationed in Iraq: from their camp with its swimming pool, beauty treatments, and hot-dog eating contest to the brutal reality of patrolling the city. It includes shocking footage of Iraqi army soldiers abusing suspected insurgents as US troops, unaware of the camera, shout encouragement. The film also reveals the despair and hopelessness of the local Iraqi people the soldiers encounter each day.

The judges praised the calm, professional camerawork.
“The contrasts within this film are used to great effect – they are very fresh – and very telling.”

Biography
Ashwin Raman was born in 1946 in Mumbai, India. He has been a journalist for almost forty years starting with the Times of India in 1969 as a trainee reporter. He was jailed for protesting against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency Rule but with the help of friends, left India for Germany. He spent time in the U.S. and then reported on the war in Nicaragua, writing for Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and the Los Angeles Times. He used a second-hand camera to make his first film, With the Sandinistas. Since then Ashwin has produced over 200 documentaries and numerous news reports – always working as a one-man band. He has spent most of the last six years in Afghanistan and Iraq, reporting for ARD (SWR) and also for Channel Four and CBS.