For the full archive of the Katalyst Blog please click here. Some of the latest posts are replicated below, and we’ll be writing new, relevant posts as we make new and important stuff!
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Blog
Filming the Tree Protectors stopping HS2
By Sharron Ward. 14 December 2021. I happened upon the Stop HS2 Denham protection camp purely by accident. It was May 2020. The UK was just starting to ease up on its first shock Covid 19 lockdown which began on March 26. I lived in West London and as a nature-lover, I enjoy walking in nature, especially amongst the trees. Being a kiwi, it’s being in the great outdoors and connecting with nature that keeps […]
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Filming this Syrian Family Broke My Heart
By Sharron Ward. Originally posted: April 4, 2016. It’s his eyes that I can’t forget. It was Thursday August 27 2015, just after dawn on a beach on the northern coast of the island of Lesvos. An inflatable rubber dinghy heavily weighed down and overloaded with Syrians was making its way precariously across the rough sea. As soon as it neared the rocky shore, dozens of orange lifejackets rose up and disgorged themselves hurling unceremoniously […]
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Paradise Lost
“We have the right to get that paper!” Originally Posted: 4 April, 2016. Filmmaker Sharron Ward writes on her troubling experience filming hundreds of refugees who washed ashore on the Greek island of Lesvos during the Summer of 2015. Syrian and other refugees and migrants leave the hell of war in the Middle East to arrive in what they think is paradise on the shores of Europe – but instead they find a new kind […]
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Sea of Human Misery
By Sharron Ward. Originally posted 4 April, 2016. This is the long version of the blog I wrote of my experience covering the refugee crisis on the island of Lesvos over the summer of 2015. The shortened version appeared on Thomson Reuters Foundation. Filmmaker Sharron Ward writes about her personal encounters filming the hundreds of refugees who washed ashore bereft and broken on the Greek island of Lesvos during the summer. I first heard about refugees washing up on […]
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The Selfless Sikh: Faith on the Frontline
The Selfless Sikh: Faith on the Frontline, observational documentary, BBC Studios, 2016. Sharron Ward filmed and directed this observational documentary following Ravi Singh, and his NGO Khalsa Aid, who every month feed and provide shelter for over 400 Yazidi IDPs in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. The film features horrifying testimony of Yazidi women who were brutally beaten and raped, held captive as “sex slaves” by ISIS and documents the genocide that was committed against this ethnic […]
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Grenfell
Grenfell, feature-length documentary, Minnow Films, BBC One, 2017 This 90-minute documentary brings together the powerful human stories from the Grenfell Tower fire, drawing on the collective testimonies of the men, women and children at the centre of one of the most devastating events in British history. Sharron Ward was one of the key members of the documentary team filming for months in the aftermath of the fire in this landmark, feature-length film. Directed by Ben […]
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Grenfell: The First 24 Hours
Grenfell: The First 24 Hours, documentary, Mentorn Media, ITV1, 2017 Marking the first anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, this one-off special focused on the survivors’ stories, eyewitness accounts and a firefighter, piecing together the timeline of the tragic events that unfolded. Sharron Ward negotiated access to sensitive and traumatized contributors, oversaw compliance, editorial policy, archive clearance and worked on location for all master interviews. The film aired to 1.7 million viewers. Narrated by Sophie Okenado, […]
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Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with ISIS
Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with ISIS, documentary, Insight TWI, BBC3, 2017. Sharron Ward edit directed this observational documentary following Shireen, a Yazidi survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of ISIS. She re-visited the site of her captivity in Iraq and confronted an ISIS fighter who confessed to killing and raping Yazidis on an industrial scale. Edit Director: Sharron Ward, Producer: Helen Spooner, Filmed & Directed by Josh Baker, Executive Producer: Ron McCullagh. An Insight […]
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How Police Missed the Grindr Killer
How Police Missed the Grindr Killer, documentary, BBC TV Current Affairs, BBC3, 2017 Sharron Ward was the AP/Journalist investigating the serious police failings in the Stephen Port gay serial killer case. Stephen Port drugged, raped and murdered 4 young gay men in Barking, Essex. For over a year police failed to properly investigate the deaths of these men and link them to a serial killer. This shocking film tells the definitive story of how the […]
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