News Features Award – Finalist
Katie Arnold
West Bank Settler Expansion: a Year on the Frontline
Commissioned by: Channel 4 News
This film is a gripping and intimate portrayal of a family of Palestinian activists on the frontline of growing settler violence.
With unparalleled access to the Bedouin communities in the heart of the Occupied West Bank, comes as part of Channel 4 News’ enduring documentation of the conflict in the Middle East. Filmed over more than a year – before, during and after Hamas’ attacks of October 7th – this vital report documents in intimate proximity the escalating struggles of life under Israeli rule, shedding new light and insight on the emboldenment of the settler community by recent political events.
Unlike much of the coverage of Israel/Palestine at this time, that was reacting to events on the ground, the filmmaker had the foresight to embed with one family and track the rise in settler violence over a fourteen-month period, thus offering a rare depth of perspective on this widely reported conflict.
“A serious investment in the bitter, violent and deadly disputes that have proliferated in the West Bank. The project demonstrated great foresight and commitment from Katie Arnold. Like many of this year’s successful features, her work identified a strong character whose experience provided the microcosm of the wider theme. The film was a successful counterbalance to the grab and go formats that beset so much news journalism.“
News Features Award Jury
Bio
Katie Arnold is an award-winning filmmaker and investigative journalist who makes current affairs programming for top broadcasters such as Channel 4 News, Channel 4 Unreported World, Channel 4 Dispatches, BBC World Service, Al Jazeera Witness and Al Jazeera 101 East. Katie’s films focus on major human rights issues, from genocide to human trafficking, and her pursuit of these stories has taken her to five continents and numerous hostile environments.
She is a self-shooting producer/director with fifteen credits in that role, and she has spoken at numerous events about her investigations into human rights abuses, including at the UK and EU Parliaments. Katie graduated from Durham University with a degree in History. She briefly worked at Sky News before being accepted onto the Channel 4 investigative journalism training scheme in 2014. Since completing that programme, she has been working as a freelance filmmaker.