At the Ilaria Alpi Television Journalism Award, the finalists of the Best International Organised Crime Report 2011 are aired for the public. After the projections, the winner will be awarded a € 2.000 prize.

The Best International Organised Crime Report (BIOCR) is a project by FLARE Network in partnership with Associazione Ilaria Alpi and Novaya Gazeta. The project aims at co-funding four documentary proposals centered on organised crime and corruption. After a preliminary selection, four projects (the finalists) are granted a € 2.000 funding. The finalists are broadcasted to the public every year during the Ilaria Alpi Television Journalism Award in Riccione, Italy.

The BIOCR 2011 finalists are:

Toxic Europe
Cecilia Anesi, Delphine Reuter, Giulio Rubino

Urban, nuclear and electronic. The trafficking of waste has long become a new very profitable business for organised crime syndicates. “Toxic Europe” analyses the phenomenon from a transnational point of view. Italy, Belgium and Romania: three examples to show the European-scope of the problem and to describe the process of waste production, waste managing and how it can turn into waste trafficking and illegal disposal. Contrarily to waste production, which is a simple process, waste treatment is expensive and complex, hence a new type of crime-people who make waste "disappear" for a low cost stepped in. According to Europol, they can be mainly identified with the Italian-based Camorra, Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra. But in order to function the trafficking needs facilitators: people who know how to operate in a grey area linking organised crime with the legal market. These people are the brokers and fixers for those regularly registered companies which are keen to open their doors to the illegal waste business. It is thanks to the cover provided by brokers and corrupted officials that the waste entrepreneurs cannot be directly accused of being mafiosi. “Toxic Europe” reconstructs the structure of the network, the connections between companies, naming those Italian-controlled ones that are today managing Romania’s waste. The documentary takes you from Camorra to Cosa Nostra, showing how Italian businessmen have until now managed to keep their hands clean.

Language: Italian, French, Romanian, English.
Subtitles: English.
Duration: 27'

Human goods – Welcome to Europe
Maria Luisa Mastrogiovanni

From Afghanistan through Iran and Greece to Turkey, criminal organisations managed human trafficking through the “Kurdish route” for years. After the bilateral agreement between Italy and Libya (2009) however, criminals diverted their operations. The Otranto channel reopened, and the merchandise renovated: now mainly Afghanis, Iranians, Iraqis, men and women, children and minors fuel criminal syndicates' pockets. “Human goods” offers an insight of methodologies, means of transportation, players and roles, points of gathering and of passage of a never ending illegal business. An enquiry that takes the viewers to Afghanistan, Greece, Turkey and Italy, in order to understand who and what is behind thousand of people who every month leave their homes to reach their dream: wealthy Europe.

Language: Italian, English, Turkish, Greek, Arabic.
Subtitles: English.
Duration: 36'

Border
Miljan Vitomerovic

The documentary starts with the case of 15 Albanian migrants who drowned in the Tisa River in the autumn of 2009, at the border between Serbia and Hungary. Most illegal migrants come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Albania and Kosovo. They flee from poverty and war. “Border” documents the life conditions of camps in Serbia and Bulgaria, the reasons why they want to reach EU, and the ways the trafficking of human beings is managed by organised crime syndicates. A focus is also open on understanding whether and how police forces in the region cooperate in the fight against organised crime. It occurs that among illegal migrants, on the Balkan route, are some of the most wanted terrorists, and the documentary explores the connection of illegal migration with international terrorism.

Language: Serbian, English.
Subtitles: English.
Duration: 24'

Criminal Air
Valentin Kalchev, Svetla Teneva

Stara Zagora, center of Bulgaria. A very green and flourishing area of the new EU member state. The air of the entire city and its surroundings has been filled with noxious substances for the past 20 years. Independent environmental analyses and researches have shown the presence of cuprum, cadmium, phosgene, cyanide, chlorine hydrogen and chlorine in the air, causing respiratory diseases, skin and alergic problems among the population. Authorities state the pollution is below alert levels and it is mainly caused by automobile traffic and coal house heating. However, “Criminal air” shows a different truth: the local military base of Zmeyovo, where rocket heads were allegedly dismantled against the law; and the Maritsa East Energy Field, comprising three plants and owned by a foreign company, that allegedly releases huge amounts of sulphure dioxide. Seven pre-judicial inquiries against an unknown criminal have been initiated, but none of these has led to a concrete accusation.

Language: Bulgarian.
Subtitles: English.
Duration: 24'

Where

Riccione, Italy.

When

June 18, 2011

More

- Entrance is open to the public

- Download the abstracts of BIOCR 2011 finalists
- Download the evaluation of BIOCR 2011 finalists
- Download the pre-evaluation of BIOCR 2011 finalists
- Read the BIOCR 2011 Call for Applicants
- Read the BIOCR 2011 Subscription form