PHOTO DOCUMENTARY AWARDED

Photographer Karin Beate Nøsterud was awarded first price in the annual Norwegian "Photo of the Year" competition 2006 for her photo ducumentary "Waiting in Hell's Backyard". The documentary was directed and edited by Panopticon's Erik Hannemann.

"Photo of the Year" is organized by the Norwegian Press Photographer's Association. N�¸sterud was awarded in the video category for her innovative combination of stills and video photography in a documentary on tuberculosis made for the Norwegian Association of Heart and Lung Patients.

Every 15 seconds a person dies from tuberculosis in the world. In Russia 30,000 people die every year. This number has doubled since the Soviet Union collapsed. It is now thought that up to three million Russians are infected with tuberculosis. This is the highest rate in Europe.

Currently, nearly 20 % of all new cases of tuberculosis are infected by multi resistant strains. The highest level of Multi Drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is found in the Northwestern Russian city of Arkhangelsk. Every year approximately 180 new cases of this strain are reported here.

Several hundred people with MDR-TB are hospitalised under extremely difficult conditions in Arkhangelsk. Most of them do not have access to expensive drugs that could save their lives, due to lack of funds.

The Norwegian Association of Heart and Lung Patients (LHL) is seriously concerned about the situation in Arkhangelsk. It warns against the infectious risk of the MDR-TB, which could spread to neighbouring countries if not treated properly.

Torunn Hasler from LHL and photographer Karin Beate B�¸sterud spent long periods at a tuberculosis hospital in Arkhangelsk in 2004 and 2005. They interviewed many of the patients, some died shortly after. The result of this unique material is a 14 minutes film called Waiting in Hellâ��s Backyard. The main character in the documentary is a young woman, mother of two, who is infected by MDR-TB, and who shares her apetite for life with the viewers. She later died from the illness.

Erik Hannemann from Panopticon directed and edited the film for LHL in 2005. Erik himself has a background as a stills photographer, like Karin Beate.

Read more about LHL