PICTURING WAR
The internet and press are full of photos from the world's war and crises regions. Who decides which photos we see? How do they end up on our screens? We accompany a war photographer to Iraq, Syria and Rwanda.
Pictures determine how we perceive the world. And no pictures are as important as those that document human oppression, persecution and murder – war pictures. We accompanied war photographer Benjamin Hiller to places rarely visited by normal citizens: refugee camps in northern Iraq, Rwandan genocide memorials and we meet Kurdish women fighters in Syria. The film focuses on the pictures' journey: from preparations in Hiller's one-room Berlin apartment and tiresome search for interested editors to the difficult and perilous journey to the world's crisis zones. But how – miles away from the actual events – do newspaper editors and international photo agencies choose the stories and photos their readers ultimately get to see? With the volume of digital photos growing continuously, what is the future of photo journalism? Should a photographer risk his life for a photo that earns him just € 30? The film offers an in-depth view of the everyday challenges faced by a free-lance war photographer.