Virginie Nguyen Hoang’s web documentary produced in Ukraine with civilian populations is entitled “Life under the fire of war”. The Franceinfo Digital Information Visa d’Or was awarded to him on Wednesday September 6 in Perpignan as part of the Visa pour l’Image festival. Several public service media are associated with this prize, including those of France Médias Monde, of which RFI is a member.
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From Kharkiv, in the east from Ukraine, in Sloviansk, in the Donbass, or Mykolaiv, in the south, it was exhausted Ukrainian families that the 36-year-old photojournalist, Virginie Nguyen Hoang, met. ” This report is the life, the daily life of Ukrainian families trying to survive. There are families, for example, who come from Donbass. They have been living through the conflict, not since 2022, but since 2014. So what comes up very often is: “We want our children to be able to grow up, to be able to go to school”, she describes.
Lengthy reports
About her approach, the photojournalist explains: “ When I do a report in a conflict zone, it is very often lengthy. I like to tell the daily life of families who experience these conflicts and how they manage to try to have a normal life. So, when the full-scale war started in Ukraine, I thought I would like to cover this conflict in this way, through different families who are in different parts of the country. »
For Virginie Nguyen Hoang, spending time with people leaves its mark. It’s definitely about getting attached to them. ” For me, what’s difficult is seeing these people suffer. Yes, I tell their story, but there is a side where it is not enough. We should help them more “, she says.
” An intimate work »
Like every year, director and photographer Samuel Bolendorff chaired the jury that awarded this Visa d’Or for digital information. ” It’s an intimate jobhe notes. We have seen a lot of subjects on the Ukrainian question, but this is really an attempt to try to tell what a country at war is for civilians. It is a kind of life with micro solidarity, children’s lives which play out in a normality which is no longer normal. »
This digital Golden Visa comes with a reward of 8,000 euros, a sum that the young photoreporter intends to use to finance her next report in Ukraine. ” This prize will allow me to be able to continue working, because the paradox of photojournalists is that we earn money in order to be able to work. »
To discover on the La Libre websiteUkraine: life under the fire of war