For a quick and powerful look at the dangers faced by RFE/RL's journalists, check out Freed Voices, a short, smartly-edited documentary about RFE/RL by Goran Rokolj and Karin Bleiweiss, two students at the Prague Film School. The documentary focuses on the significant threats, intimidation, and violence endured by many of RFE/RL's journalists.
Several RFE/RL employees are interviewed in the film, including David Kakabadze, director of RFE/RL's Georgian Service, Moyad Al-Haidari, a broadcaster for Radio Free Iraq (and former Baghdad bureau chief), Omid Marzban of our Afghan Service, Roya Karimi Majd from Radio Farda, Saida Kalkulova, a broadcaster with our Kazakh Service, Sabina Cabaravdic of the Balkan Service, and the Communication Department's very own Julian Knapp.
Radio Azadi's Omid Marzban also served as a production assistant for the film. "I always loved watching films, but the idea of making films came to my mind when I realized that sometimes radio journalism is not enough to tell my stories to the world," said Omid. To attain these skills, Omid is currently pursuing a degree in Directing and Screenwriting at the Prague Film School. "I want to tell the stories that come from the core of Afghanistan and from inside the people of Afghanistan," he says. "And my aim is to play the role of a bridge in connecting Afghanistan with the world through these stories."
Freed Voices was filmed at RFE/RL's headquarters in Prague in October 2009, and was completed in December.
For more information on the perils encountered by RFE/RL's journalists, check out our Journalists In Trouble page.
-- Alex Mayer
Several RFE/RL employees are interviewed in the film, including David Kakabadze, director of RFE/RL's Georgian Service, Moyad Al-Haidari, a broadcaster for Radio Free Iraq (and former Baghdad bureau chief), Omid Marzban of our Afghan Service, Roya Karimi Majd from Radio Farda, Saida Kalkulova, a broadcaster with our Kazakh Service, Sabina Cabaravdic of the Balkan Service, and the Communication Department's very own Julian Knapp.
Radio Azadi's Omid Marzban also served as a production assistant for the film. "I always loved watching films, but the idea of making films came to my mind when I realized that sometimes radio journalism is not enough to tell my stories to the world," said Omid. To attain these skills, Omid is currently pursuing a degree in Directing and Screenwriting at the Prague Film School. "I want to tell the stories that come from the core of Afghanistan and from inside the people of Afghanistan," he says. "And my aim is to play the role of a bridge in connecting Afghanistan with the world through these stories."
Freed Voices was filmed at RFE/RL's headquarters in Prague in October 2009, and was completed in December.
For more information on the perils encountered by RFE/RL's journalists, check out our Journalists In Trouble page.
-- Alex Mayer