Paul Moreira

Paul Moreira is a French journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is based in Paris, France. He has directed several investigative documentaries in conflict zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Palestine, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

Career

Paul Moreira has contributed to the emergence of investigative journalism on French television. ^[1] In 1999, in created the program "90 minutes" on Canal plus, a European television network. The investigations of his team collected several awards. Like "Escadrons de la mort : l'école française" by Marie Monique Robin. ^[2] This film got the award of the political documentary of "Audiovisual Club" of French senate in 2003, best investigative film at FIGRA, award of merit from Latin American Studies Association. ^[3] The investigation about the suicide of Judge Borrel proved it was actually a murder and contributed to reopen criminal investigations. ^[4] Following the success of the show and at the request of the management of Canal Plus, he created a weekly slot dedicated to investigative documentaries: Lundi Investigation.

In 2006, Paul Moreira left Canal+ to create an independent TV production company, Premieres Lignes (First Lines). ^[5]

Since then, he has been developing a line of investigative and comprehensive films on global issues. He works on assignment for various French channels: Canal Plus, Arte, France Televisions, La Chaine Parlementaire. His films have been broadcast in most European countries as well as Canada, India, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Russia...

In 2007, he published an essay on journalism, public relations, war reporting at the embedment age and perception management. ^[6]

Filmography (selected works)

2003

• "In The Jungle of Baghdad": Looting and chaos that followed US forces invasion of Iraq. (Canal+)

2004

• "Baghdad: War of bombs": the fighting in Sadr City in September 2004. (Canal+)
• "The Power of the Armed Rebels": meeting the young fighters who were challenging the Palestinian authority, among them Zakaria Zubeidi, head of Martyrs Brigades Al Aqsa in Jenin, then most wanted man for the Israel Defense Forces.

Award of the best feature story from the Club Audiovisuel de Paris in 2005.

2007

• "Iraq: Agony of a Nation": At the height of the confessional strife in Baghdad, an investigation on the roots of the civil war. (Canal+)

Best documentary at the International Monte-Carlo Television Festival ^[7] and best investigative film at Festival International du Grand Reportage d'Actualités (FIGRA).

2008

• "Armes, trafic et raison d'état," a 90 minutes film on the flow of weapons pouring into Eastern Congo Arte TV, a French-German channel, co-directed by Paul Moreira and David Andre.

Investigative Award at FIGRA.

2009

• "Afghanistan: on the dollar trail", a 52 minutes documentary on corruption and embezzlement of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. ^[8]

Broadcast on Canal Plus, ABC Australia, NHK (Japan), Russia Today, Al Jazeera, TVE (Spain), Finland, Netherlands and others.

Investigative Award in FIGRA and selected for the first edition of Investigative Film Week in London.

2010

• "Burma: Resistance, Business and Nuclear Secrets": an undercover documentary in Myanmar that reveals how Alcatel-Shanghai-Bell, the Chinese branch of Alcatel, is helping the junta control the internet. ^[9]
• "Coupables indulgences", "Guilty indulgences", how the Catholic hierarchy protects pedophile priests ^{[10] [11]}

2011

• "Wikileaks : War, Lies and Videotape" : an in-depth investigative documentary about Wikileaks.

First broadcast by La Chaine Parlementaire, the film was circulated worldwide. ^[12]

Shown in the USA on Current TV and on Discovery Channel.

• "Bunker cities", a 52 minutes documentary about gated communities in Europe, Brazil and Iraq. (Arte)
• "Toxic Somalia", an investigative film about the toxic waste dumped on Somalian coasts with a rare access to pirates from Hobyo, children hospital in Mogadishu and Italian trafficking networks. (Arte)

Special Award of the Jury at Ilaria Alpi Film Festival ^[13]

2012

• "Tracked : Investigating digital arms dealers", western companies selling tracking devices to middle eastern dictatorships, Syria and Libya.(Canal+)

Selected at the London Investigative Film Week in January 2013 ^[14]

2013

• "Big Tobacco, Young Targets", a documentary about tobacco companies targeting children worldwide. ^[15] (Canal+)

UK Premiere at the London Investigative Film Week in 2014 ^[16]

• "Journey through an invisible war", a 60 minutes film on the low intensity conflict between Israeli settlers and Palestinian in the West Bank. (Canal Plus, ^[17] Al Jazeera ^[18] )

2014

• "Bientôt dans vos assiettes (de gré ou de force)", "Soon on your plates! (By fair means or foul...)"

"In fifteen years, GMOs have profoundly disrupted production habits in the agricultural world. Agrochemical companies like Monsanto have given birth to varieties of soybeans and corn that are more resistant to pesticides. Side effects are noted by breeders and farmers. In Denmark, pig farmers have seen the appearance of a new disease, yellow death, a gastric disease that kills 30% of animals. In Argentina, transgenic cultivation has increased the cultivable area by 65%. The residents of these farms denounce massive pollution from pesticides." ^[19]

2015

• "Danse avec le FN",

"I wanted to take a dangerous trip to the heart of the National Front. I didn’t want to investigate their finances, nor prove their historical lineage to the more moldy far-right. Others did it much better than I did. The risk I wanted to take was to get so close to their new constituents that I could, that I was going to be their buddy. The risk of empathy"
— Paul Moreira ^[20]

2016

• "Ukraine The Masks of the Revolution", a documentary about role of extreme right-wing paramilitary groups in Ukraine during and after the overthrow of the Yanukovych government, and especially in the violence in Odesa in May 2014. ^[21] FIPA (Festival International des Programmes Audiovisuels) included this documentary among its 2016 selections. ^[22] The Ukrainian Embassy in France asked Canal+ to stop the screening of the film. ^[23] The channel went ahead with the screening. ^[24] Due to popular demand, the film was shown several more times on Canal+. The film was also translated into several languages, and shown in other countries, such as Italy and Poland. ^{[25] [26] [27]}

2018

• "Inside the Russian Info War Machine", how Russia manipulates public opinion, undermines democratic governments and attempts to alter world events. ^{[28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33]}
• "Digital Addicts", Child mobile phone addiction, brain development, long-term damage ^[34]

2019

• "Chocolate's Heart of Darkness", Driving along the Ivory Coast - the region responsible for most of the production and export of cocoa - the filmmaking team encounter armed militias, a badly deteriorated forest reserve, and thousands of illegal cocoa plants. In one camp, a group of 40 immigrant men and children toil through the brush with machetes, engaging in a process that is both back breaking and risky. The children spray poisonous pesticides without wearing masks or any other protective gear. Beyond documenting the environmental and human rights abuses, the filmmakers attempt to hold corporations accountable for their complicity. ^[35]

2020

• NETFLIX : "World's Most Wanted (Season 1, Episode 1): Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia: The Head of the Sinaloa Cartel" ^{[36] [37] [38] [39] [40]}

2021

• NETFLIX : "The Fugitive : the strange case of Carlos Ghosn", executive producer of a 90 minutes feature bio-pic documentary on Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan.

2022

• "In The Name of Law and Order", ARTE. Documentary series on crowd control and less-lethal weapons around the world.

2023

• "Poutine and the oligarchs", FRANCE TELEVISION. Documentary series on Russian money in Europe.

Civic involvement

Moreira heads the campaign Liberté d'Informer, ^[41] a civic society movement to align the restrictive French law on the more transparent American Freedom of Information Act model. A petition has gathered nearly 6,000 signatures and a strong public interest.

References

1. "La télé mène l'enquête". Lexpress.fr. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
2. fr:Escadrons de la mort, l'école française
3. Dufau, Sophie. "La réalisatrice Marie-Monique Robin". Mediapart.fr. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
4. fr:Affaire Borrel
5. Premieres Lignes
6. Paul Moreira (29 June 2007). "The information age: George Orwell's worst fear". Editorsweblog.org.
7. "Palmarés du Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo". 4 September 2008. Archived from the original on 4 September 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
8. "Interview: Journalist Claims USAID Over-estimated Schools Built in Afghanistan". International Affairs Review. 28 March 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
9. "Investigative documentary digs into Alcatel's involvement in Burma". France 24. 27 March 2010.
10. "Coupables indulgences : documentaire inédit / Vidéo". RTBF TV (in French). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2021. In the United States, 80 priests from the diocese of Boston have been accused of pedophilia. In 2008, the American Church paid more than two billion dollars in legal costs. From the United States, to France, to Belgium, to Italy, everywhere, the scandal erupts. And the year 2010 marks the end of silence and opacity.
11. "Coupables indulgences, comment la hiérarchie catholique a pu protéger certains prêtres (Guilty indulgences, how the Catholic hierarchy was able to protect certain priests)" (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2021. Paul Moreira has investigated the visible and the invisible. He was able to slip behind the scenes of activists' actions against the silence of the Catholic Church in the face of these crimes, meet abusing priests but also investigate in the heart of the Vatican, with the authorities. Discoveries that sometimes go against what one suspects. One thing is certain: for the Catholic Church, Hell is here and now.
12. Keslassy, Elsa (8 April 2011). "Zodiak sells 'WikiLeaks' docu". Variety. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
13. "Toxic Somalia e Mare Deserto a Parma, giovedì 27 alla biblioteca Ilaria Alpi". Ilariaalpi.it. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
14. "Tracked". Investigative Film Week 2013. Centre for Investigative Journalism. 7 May 2013. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Internet technology made the Arab spring possible. It also enabled the outside world to see whatwas happening in the otherwise closed countries like Libya and Syria. But there is another side to technology – surveillance. And the governments, including those in the Middle East, are getting better in tracking communications, establishing geo-localisations and filter content.
15. Hastings, G (2014). "Tobacco companies are still determined to get children addicted". BMJ. 348: g1439. doi:10.1136/bmj.g1439. PMID   24511090. S2CID   31956912.
16. "Big Tobacco, Young Targets". Investigative Film Festival 2014. The Centre for Investigative Journalism. 28 March 2014. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Saturday 8 February, 3.00pm, Oliver Thompson Theatre, City University, London; UK Premiere
17. "Journey through an Invisible War". Premières Lignes Télévision. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
18. "Journey into an Invisible War". Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
19. "Bientôt dans vos assiettes ! (de gré ou de force…)". Premières Lignes Télévision (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2021. Primé au FICA Brésil; Prix de l'investigation au FIGRA, et la vidéo fait événement sur You Tube. COMMANDEZ LE DVD
20. "Danse avec le FN". Premières Lignes Télévision (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2021. sélectionné dans la section Autrement Vu au FIGRA
21. Paul Moreira (20 January 2016). "Ukraine, masks of the revolution". Vimeo.com. Premières Lignes. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
22. "Ukraine, les Masques de la Révolution". Festival International des Programmes Audiovisuels. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
23. "Украина просит французский канал не транслировать пропаганду". Украинская правда. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
24. "Ukraine Today: France's Canal+ airs controversial Ukraine Revolution expose despite protests". Uatoday.tv. 2 February 2016.
25. "Ukraine calls screening of film on Maidan on Polish TV "unfriendly gesture"". TASS. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
26. "Ukraine, masks of the revolution". Premières Lignes Télévision. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Special Commendation Prix Europa – Berlin 2016
27. "A Look at Ukraine's Dark Side". Consortiumnews. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
28. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR2200/RR2237/RAND_RR2237.pdf ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
29. "A Russian Federation Information Warfare Primer". The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
30. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Pillars-of-Russia%E2%80%99s-Disinformation-and-Propaganda-Ecosystem_08-04-20.pdf ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
31. "Inside Russia's Social Media War on America". Time. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
32. "Inside the Russian Info War Machine". Premières Lignes Télévision. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
33. "Inside the Russian Info War Machine". Java Films. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
34. "Digital Addicts". Premières Lignes Télévision. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Children as young as three are becoming addicted to mobile phones, harming their development and causing possible long-term damage. We follow some of the youngest cases and hear how our brains are affected by exposure to screens.
35. "Chocolate's Heart of Darkness".
36. "WORLD'S MOST WANTED - La série documentaire de Nova Production et Premières Lignes - Sur #Netflix dès le mercredi 5 août !". Cotentin Web le Site. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
37. Rousseau, Valentine (20 August 2020). ""World's Most Wanted", la série documentaire française qui cartonne sur Netflix". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2021.
38. "A la recherche de 5 des plus grands criminels en cavale de la planète sur Netflix". ladepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2021.
39. "Paul Moreira : "Travailler pour Netflix, c'est travailler avec un budget multiplié par cinq"". www.franceinter.fr (in French). 6 August 2020. Paul Moreira: "Working for Netflix means working with a budget multiplied by five"
40. "Look for the world's top 5 fugitives in new docuseries". INQUIRER.net . Philippine Daily Inquirer. AFP Relaxnews. 6 August 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
41. "DomRaider". Liberte-doinformer.info. Retrieved 8 September 2018.

External links

• "Paul Moreira". Arte TV. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010.
• "Paul Moreira". IMDb.
• "Moreira, Paul (1961-....)". Réseau des bibliothèques de la CCSL. bibliotheques.cc-sevreloire.fr.
• "Paul Moreira". Premières Lignes Télévision (in French).