Scand-Media Journalist Wins DANIDA Prize

DANIDA, the Danish organization that provides aid to projects for the third world countries, has given a scholarship of money worth 6,500 USD and a DV camera to Knud Brix and Kristian Djurhuus, two students from Danish School of Journalism.
      The couple, together with another German friend, Maximilian Westphal, will use the money to produce a documentary in Phnom Penh, Cambodia about the shooting ranges on the outskirt of the city, where foreigners can try to shoot with machine guns and throw grenades in the field.
      Each year, DANIDA gives 10 prizes to 10 pairs of students, who apply with complete layout of ideas, plans and short manuscripts of the story, in which Knud Brix and Kristian Djurhuus were this year among the lucky 10 pairs.
     The purpose of DANIDA’s competition is to break down barriers and prejudices of the third world countries and to spread the knowledge of the issues in these countries to the Danes. This year, the theme is money, hence the story covers everything from the definition and importance of money, the difference it makes to the third world countries and how can it be spent.
      “I thought of Cambodia,” Knud Brix explains.
     “The country has engaged in civil wars and troubles for 25 years and there are still a lot of scars from this war. My movie is about the disarming of Cambodian people and to be more specific, it is about the shooting ranges, where foreigners come to shoot the machine guns and throw grenades in the field.”
     “These weapons are rented by the Cambodian army because they think it is an easy way to make money. You can do almost anything for money in Cambodia so the story is about the limits and moral issues in the third world country,” he says.
      The team is heading to Cambodia in July, where they will shoot their documentary in the shooting ranges as well as grab some interviews with the tourists on what makes them want to shoot and the army on what makes them want to rent out the weapons.
      Afterwards, the 10 movies will compete in a documentary festival in Denmark, where the winner will receive an extra prize of 4,000 USD. Now as an internship at Scand-Media, a Scandinavian publishing company in Thailand, Knud is working his way as a young journalist and at the same time, preparing his team for the exciting journey to Cambodia.

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