Jamie Doran

Jamie Doran is an Irish/Scottish independent documentary filmmaker and former BBC producer.

Many of Doran's documentaries have raised controversy. His latest film, The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan allegedly exposes widespread and systematic child sex abuse by former Northern Alliance commanders, ISAF's closest allies in Afghanistan. His 2002 film Afghan Massacre: the Convoy of Death claimed that U.S. troops were involved in a Dasht-i-Leili massacre of Taliban prisoners in 2001. The United States' government and its allies in Afghanistan have disputed the claim. A preliminary version of the film was shown to the German and European Parliaments in June 2002, causing widespread media coverage in Europe. Allegations made in this film resurfaced in July 2009 when US president Barack Obama called for an inquiry into the massacre in response to claims that Bush administration officials had actively discouraged an investigation. Another of Doran's documentaries, screened in 2004 by the BBC and reporting on drugs trials involving HIV-infected children in New York, was subsequently found to have made false claims and presented a biased picture of its subject matter. Yet another of his controversial films, Afghanistan: Behind Enemy Lines, first broadcast in February 2010, involves a journalist being embedded with the radical Islamic group, Hezb-e-Islami, as they construct and plant roadside bombs and attempt to ambush coalition soldiers. This was one of the first films to show in detail how Afghan insurgents are waging war against ISAF and Afghan National Army forces. In May 2010, Doran was nominated for a BAFTA for Afghanistan: Behind Enemy Lines. One month later, he won two One World Media Awards: Best TV documentary for Afghanistan: Behind Enemy Lines, and the MDG award for Africa Rising