Mosul

Mongoose Pictures

Frontline PBS and The Guardian

Channel 4

Editor Ella Newton

Congratulations to Ella Newton and the team at Mongoose Pictures. We are super excited to hear that Mosul has been nominated for two Emmys: Outstanding Short Doc and Outstanding Cinematography! On top of that, it has also made it to the shortlist in for the 2018 Grierson Trust Awards for Best Current Affairs Documentary and Best Single Documentary-International.

 Mosul follows Jamal, a sergeant with a Special Forces unit in the Iraqi army. Along with squad leader Anmar, Hussein, Amjad, Abbas and a few others were some of the first to go into Mosul last year to try to retake the city from Isis. With them was French film-maker Olivier Sarbi.  This observational documentary captures all aspects of war, the confusion of what’s going on, the confusion of who is Isis and who is not and the horror for the terrified civilians after months of living in fear.

Ella said “I was spoilt in this job with such rare to get and beautifully shot rushes, and also to get to hear all the experiences shooting it direct from Olivier ( Saebil) the crazy genius! But it was also intense in that even while we were editing people Olivier had been with on the Unit had been killed or badly injured.  The composers are actually from Massive Attack! And they were good to work with so that’s pretty cool”

Congratulations Ella and our fingers are crossed for a deserving win!