• Director(s):

    COUVELAIRE (PIERRE-LOUIS)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE, ACTARUS FILMS

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2014

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    TV, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET

4 renowned reporters, first-hand eye witnesses of news in perpetual movement, revive the memory of little known or forgotten conflicts: Patrick Chauvel in Chechnya, Rémy Ourdan in Iraq, Bénédicte Kurzen in Nigeria and Marcel Mettelsiefen in Syria.

1994, Boris Yeltsin launched a Russian Federation armed-forces defensive on Chechen separatists seeking independence. Instead of a whirlwind war, Russian military forces found themselves up against fierce resistance by the Chechen fighters.
Photographer Patrick Chauvel was in Grozny when the conflict erupted. He goes back over the incredible violence of the fighting, starting with his own photos. He recalls a few encounters: the beautiful photographer Heidi Bradner, the Chechen fighters whose daily lives he shared, the young inexperienced Russian soldiers, local inhabitants etc.
For 40 years, Patrick Chauvel has photographed a large part of the conflicts that have rocked the world. He is one of the last of a generation of reporters to have experienced the Six-Day War, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ireland, Iran, Lebanon, Panama, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria. He has narrowly escaped a hundred deaths: he has been wounded numerous times. He has received the World Press Photo commendation, the most prestigious photojournalism award.