Travelling to school in Secret Hebron

Donna Baillie, a student of Social & Political Sciences at Lucy Cavendish College, won top place in a competition for 59-second documentaries, known as micro-documentaries, organised by Social Documentary Film Society and Channel 4 with Waiting.

Footage for the micro-documentary was taken during the filming of her documentary Secret Hebron: The School Run, which revealed the dangers of travelling to school for young Palestinian children from the H2 section of Hebron, in the West Bank.

The documentary was shot during extended periods of curfew in 2003. It shows the children's encounters with armed soldiers, who regularly stopped the children from going to school, often using tear gas and rubber bullets against them, and the children's attempts to avoid them by travelling across the roofs of buildings.

The competition was judged by Charlie Phillips and Patrick Uden, editors of FourDocs, Channel 4's online documentary channel. The prize, a copy of industry-standard editing software Final Cut Studio 2, was donated by Apple.

Secret Hebron was also nominated for a Rory Peck Features Award in 2003. The awards celebrate the work of freelance cameramen in TV news and current affairs and are the only award of their kind.

Donna Baillie's career in documentary began in December 2001, when she travelled to Palestine to document the activities of the peace organisation Women in Black. Her film, also named Women in Black, follows the journey of the organisation's London branch to the West Bank to act as a human shield for Palestinian civilians.

Her micro-documentary, Waiting, can be seen through the link on the sidebar.

Lucy Cavendish gives women over 21 from every possible background the opportunity to study for an undergraduate or graduate degree at the University of Cambridge in a stimulating and enriching environment.