Bayeux – The 30th edition of the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie war correspondents awards gives centre stage to women on both sides of the camera, past and present. As a series of exhibitions and screenings highlight, while often depicted as victims of conflict, women are also a driving force behind news coverage from the frontlines and at home.
One of the key exhibitions at this year’s Prix Bayeux festival is “The Other Landings, war correspondents in Normandy”, a detailed look into how journalists covered the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 and the long battle that ensued.
The grainy black-and-white images of soldiers jumping off barges into churning surf are embedded in our collective memory. But who took those pictures?
More than 500 journalists, many from Britain, the United States and Canada, armed with typewriters and "Midget" tape recorders were accredited to cover the scenes of one of history’s most memorable battles during World War II.
Not only does the exhibition shine a light on the technical and logistical challenges of the time, it lends a sharp focus to the overlooked role of women reporters.
They waged a war on two fronts: one to get by in the same tough conditions as the soldiers and other journalists on the frontline, the other to be taken seriously by their editors, who often wanted them to hang back and only report on the civilian side of war.
Lee Miller, who had gained financial independence and notoriety thanks to her modelling work in US Vogue, was one of the better-known women involved in reporting the war.
She earned accolades for her report on burns victims at a US field hospital and the siege of Saint-Malo.
Lee Carson of the Chicago Times was given permission to go beyond the limitations posed on women correspondents, as was Betty Knox of the Evening Standard, who covered the fate of the wounded.
Associate Press correspondent Ruth Cowan said that the excuse given to discourage women from going to the frontline was lack of toilets. Men only needed a shovel, while women required latrines, she wrote.
British reporter Iris Carpenter even faced a court martial after she set off for Cherbourg without permission. But seeing as the boundaries of the so-called restricted landing zone had not been clearly defined, the case was dropped.
Contemporary conflict
Elsewhere at Bayeux, the exhibition "Thirty Years of War in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo" highlights the work of five African photojournalists, including two young women from the region. They were lucky to get visas in time to attend the Bayeux awards week, unlike two of their male counterparts who were not able to travel.
Born in the late 1980s, Ley Uwera and Esther Nsapu have only ever known a nation in conflict. Their courage comes from wanting to "show the world that despite violence and difficulty, life doesn't stop".
Their photos depict tragedy but also hope and joy, with weddings and fashion shows side by side with volcanic eruptions and camps for displaced people.
Asked how people react to them while they are reporting, they explain that they face many challenges, not least that of being women journalists.
"Sometimes people call us prostitutes, or traitors, accusing us of selling out to white influence," Nsapu told RFI. She adds that in small villages, people often run away when they see journalists, frightened that by having their photo taken, some form of spell might be cast over them.
Others see it as an economic opportunity, says Uwera. "They want to be paid for having their photo taken, they think I'm going to make a lot of money off their portrait and they want a piece of the action."
Both journalists say that most of the time, they can reason with their subjects and explain the nature of their work, insisting on the fact that they want to tell the story that the outside world needs to hear.
As curator and journalist Maria Malagardis points out, these young women are ambassadors for a region mired in violence, cut off from the rest of the country by distance, lack of infrastructure and political will.
There are few or no roads, and airline access is difficult or sometimes non-existent. That's why it's important to have young reporters on the ground, sharing their vision with the world through new eyes, Malagardis says.
'Women, Life, Freedom'
Claire Billet is a French documentary filmmaker, whose "Women, Life, Freedom, an Iranian revolution" is to be screened on 15 October as part of the Bayeux programme. It is also available online through Arte television.
More than a dozen Iranians, including the film’s co-author, took part in the project, both inside and outside Iran.
Billet acted as coordinator, curating hundreds of mobile phone videos sent by civilians inside Iran who documented the uprising following the death of Mahsa Mina Amini in September 2022.
Amini, 22, had been arrested by morality police for allegedly wearing a hijab headscarf in an "improper" way.
One of the most striking aspects of the public protests that ensued was the fact that men joined the ranks, and that despite the crackdown, the resistance has not faltered.
Throughout the documentary, exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani reads from a letter written by Narges Mohammadi, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, who is currently held in Evin prison in Tehran.
"She upsets the regime because she is emblematic. Her voice is extremely well heard across the country," Billet told RFI's Yaël Caux.
"There's a network of resistance that is really strong and present across the country. It's doing everything it can to make sure these messages are getting out of Iran."
And that's exactly the goal of the Prix Bayeux. To celebrate and encourage journalists and reporters both in the field and back home, who are risking their lives to bring the truth to the world and share it with the public.
Exhibitions as part of the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie war correspondents awards run until mid-November.
