2025 Nominees

Songs from Inside

BBC World Service

UK

- Short Form Non-Fiction Series

‘Songs from Inside’ is a groundbreaking short film that combines investigative journalism with brave and compelling storytelling. In a world first, the BBC gained rare access to the stories of women currently being held inside Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, including those sentenced to death. Entrusted with a vital story beyond the reach of cameras, the team turned to animation to build a picture of life inside prison walls. Working with artists and sound designers, the filmmakers painstakingly constructed the film with 9,000 individually hand drawn frames. Real audio from inside prison is woven with powerful accounts voiced by actors, and narration by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was herself a prisoner of Evin’s women’s ward. Translated into multiple languages, and covered by global news outlets, ‘Songs from Inside’ is a deeply moving short film that uses the power of documentary animation to bring the urgent issues of torture, political oppression and execution in Iran to light.