Iraq marshlands film wins award

A wildlife documentary about Iraq marshlands filmed by a Dorset cameraman has won an international award, the BBC News reported.

The US version, called Braving Iraq, filmed by Stephen Foote, won a Gold World Medal at the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards.

Foote, from Swanage, described the opportunity to make the film as "unique".

He said: "It was a chance to make a positive film about Iraq, because everything that has come out of the country, news and documentary-wise, has been about the conflict.

"When you think about Iraq you think about people shooting each other, desert, sand and heat.

"What you don't think about is the fact there's a marshland there that was once the size of Wales. It was what was referred to as the 'Garden of Eden' in the Bible."

The Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq were once home to thousands of marsh Arabs, millions of birds - and rebels fighting against Saddam Hussein.

In the 1990s he ordered his engineers to drain the land as a punishment, turning the land to dust.

Now conservationist and environmental engineer Dr Azzam Alwash, who appears in the documentary, is attempting to restore the marshes.

Foote said: "As soon as you take the water away from the marshes you've got no wildlife. Everything dies.

"In 2003, as the statue of Saddam was being toppled in Baghdad, the marsh Arabs returned to the marshlands with diggers and they started excavating holes in these dykes [built by Saddam Hussein], and the water started flowing through.

"Within six months the reeds started returning, but it's a very fragile ecosystem. It has to build itself up again from scratch and that's what the film is about."

The documentary was filmed during January, March and May 2010.