Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Year Zero (documentary)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Directed by
  
David Munro

Director
  
David Munro

Written by
  
John Pilger

Starring
  
John Pilger

Produced by
  
David Munro

Language
  
English language

Similar
  
Year Zero: The Silent Death of, Vietnam: The Last Battle, The Secret Country: The First, Palestine Is Still the Issue, Breaking the Silence: T

Year Zero is a 1979 documentary, written and starred by John Pilger, directed and produced by David Munro, and photographed by Eric Piper. The filmmakers entered Cambodia in the wake of the overthrow of the Pol Pot regime. They made photographs and reports that were world exclusives.

Their first report was published as a special issue of the Daily Mirror, which sold out. They also produced an ITV documentary, Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia, which brought to people's living rooms the suffering of the Khmer people. Following the programme, some $45 million was raised, unsolicited, in mostly small donations, including almost £4 million raised by schoolchildren in the UK. This funded the first substantial relief to Cambodia, including the shipment of life-saving drugs such as penicillin, and clothing to replace the black uniforms people had been forced to wear. According to Brian Walker, director of Oxfam, "a solidarity and compassion surged across our nation" from the broadcast of Year Zero.

During the filming of Cambodia Year One, the team were warned that Pilger was on a Khmer Rouge 'death list.' In one incident, they narrowly escaped an ambush.

References

Year Zero (documentary) Wikipedia