Deeyah Khan’s daunting documentary inside the far-right in America won the Best Investigation Award at the 2018 Asian Media Awards.
The Asian Media Awards ceremony took place at the Manchester Hilton Deansgate (Thursday October 25) attracting journalists, broadcasters and media professionals from across the country.
The evening also saw BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty, East is East and Ackley Bridge creator Ayub Khan Din and Sky News Political Editor Fasial Islam honoured.
In 2018 the Best Investigation category featured six reports, documentaries and exclusive content highlighting a range of issues
This included, Bollywood’s Dark Secret – Why Hasn’t Bollywood Had A #METOO Moment (BBC India); The Truth About Muslim Marriage (Dispatches, True Vision Yorkshire); The Unspoken Alcohol Problem Among UK Punjabis (BBC Digital Pilots and Skills); ‘Tories Islamophobia’ (By Shehab Khan, The Independent) and Beards, Bails and Boundaries: England’s Muslim Cricketers (By Ankur Desai, BBC Asian Network)
In this daunting and at times frightening documentary for ITV’s Exposure current affairs, filmmaker Deeyah Khan meets US neo-Nazis and white nationalists face to face.
She attends the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and engages with those who demonise her. Deeyah’s search for the humanity behind the hatred produces her most personal and most political film yet.
As she tries to get beyond the scare stories to the real stories, behind the headlines to the human beings, Deeyah finds her own prejudices challenged and her own tolerance tested.
The film has been nominated for an Emmy and a Bafta and is produced by Deeyah’s independent UK-based production company, Fuuse and was first broadcast on ITV.
Deeyah Khan said, “ “I am overjoyed that my ITV documentary White Right: Meeting the Enemy has been honoured at the Asian Media Awards this year, especially considering it was up against so many other very worthy competitors.
“This award reflects the importance of the film’s message: the growing threat of racist ideologies – and the power of empathy to rebuild human connections.
“I am grateful and humbled to have had the support of the Asian Media Awards’ for several of my Fuuse projects over the years. I believe that a platform like the Asian Media Awards is crucial as it continues to draw attention to the diversity of talent in the industry in order to better reflect the societies we live in.
“As a woman of colour, a Muslim and an independent documentary filmmaker I am honoured to have been given this award.”
Winners and recipients of AMA special awards were announced at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate on Thursday 25 October.
Previous recipients of an Asian Media Award include Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Waris Hussein, Art Malik, Mehdi Hasan, Nina Wadia and Anita Rani.
The University of Salford are premier sponsors and partners to the event include ITV, MediaCom, M.E.N, Press Association Training, Primesight & The Palace Theatre & Opera House.
The official Charity Partner for 2018 is CLIC Sargent.
The event is also supported by Manchester Metropolitan University, Routes Into Languages, Namey, AMT Lawyers, USI Money, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Supreme Dream Events, Payal Events & Cleartwo.
