UCL student’s human rights film to be broadcast globally

A courageous UCL filmmaker's graduate documentary is to be screened on the BBC after she overcame Covid challenges to highlight the plight of an imprisoned human rights journalist. Marina Shupac's film ' Last Chance for Justice ' follows the story of Uzbek artist Khadicha Askarova as she tirelessly campaigns on behalf of her activist husband Azimjan , who was imprisoned for life in Kyrgyzstan for a crime he says he did not commit. On her UCL mentor's encouragement, Marina applied and was selected for One World Media's Global Short Docs Forum which offered valuable intensive training on how to pitch to international broadcasters, including the BBC who snapped up her film. The 23-minute film, partially shot in challenging circumstances during the pandemic, will be broadcast on 12-19 February as part of the BBC News 'Our World' series. It will also be available on BBC iPlayer for a year. Marina, from Moldova, graduated from her UCL Master's in Ethnographic and Documentary Film in 2020. She said: "I come from an ethnic minority background in Moldova.