Documentary

About

Lorenz Huber is a videographer based in Madrid and Zurich. He has a vast portfolio, working as an international documentary, sports, and news cameraman and editor for major networks and production companies, including CNN International, the BBC, IMG, Whisper, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Lorenz was immediately deployed as part of a CNN team after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, prompting Israel's devastating Military campaign. The assignment, which later won an Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage, lasted four months and included embeds inside the Gaza Strip, where he reported alongside Middle East correspondent Jeremy Diamond. He also covered the devastating 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake - the deadliest to hit the region in modern history - alongside CNN correspondent Jomana Karadsheh. He was among the first foreign journalists to gain access to the then opposition-held region of northwest Syria. There, the team reported the impact of the disaster on the already war-torn Idlib province and its people. In 2024, Lorenz diversified into sports, working on several magazine shows and documentaries for companies such as Whisper, IMG, UEFA and FIFA. This included months-long coverage of the 2024 Euros and the 2026 World Cup. Before relocating to Europe, Lorenz spent three years in East Asia, based in Shanghai, where he extensively covered major stories including the suppression of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, the mass protests in Hong Kong, and the coronavirus pandemic. During this time, Lorenz contributed to several documentaries, collaborating with BBC Panorama, Arte, and The Telegraph on a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence to human rights. He also ventured into photography, shooting for The New York Times. Before moving to China, he spent half a year in Tajikistan in 2017 to shoot reports for Swiss Caritas. He accompanied the NGO on their various poverty alleviation and reforestation projects in the remotest corners of the country. 

Africa's fastest man on two wheels. Eritrea's Biniam Girmay is the first black African to win a grand tour stage in one of the world's big cycling races, the Giro D'Italia. For many young fanatics of the sport, he is a big role model.

More than one million Uyghurs - 're-educated' through forced labour, imprisonment and sterilisation. It is a silent genocide happening behind the walls of these camps. What is the government's plan in Xinjiang? ARTE takes viewers into this region where surveillance has turned into the total control of an entire population.

TVs, computers, video games, and smartphones are omnipresent in our life. What can the latest science tell us about the effect that this constant exposure to screens has on us? Which parts of society are affected the most? What kind of consequences does this exposure have for young children and adolescents and their future? Experts, contemporary witnesses, and researchers provide answers to these questions.

For Raphaël Hitiers documentary about the impact on screens on our life Antoine Védeilhé of Keyi Productions and I were shooting the scenes in China (starting at 35:55).

In the picturesque little town of Beypazarı, everything is about carrots. Beypazarı lies in the middle of vast fields, where around 60% of Turkey's carrots grow every year. In the town center, tourists can buy a wider range of carrot products like soap against wrinkles or carrot döner, or just take selfies in front of the huge carrot statue in the town center.

For once it was not Beijing leading the list of China’s most popular tourist destinations during its national holiday, Golden Week. This year it was Wuhan attracting the biggest number of travelers. It is seen as honorable to visit the town and to support its economy which suffered so much under the long lockdown. From the epicenter of the pandemic to tourist hotspot, Wuhan has come a long way. Months of propaganda created a national pride for the “hero city” that went through so much and managed to emerge (under the capable hands of the Communist Party of course) as a completely safe place for tourism.

For the Wall Street Journal’s piece about the national tourism to the former epicenter, I visited Wuhan during the golden week.

Story and Editing by Sharon Stone of the Wall Street Journal.

Fixed by Jie Xiong

Yevgeny Savin is the current president of independent Russian football club Krasava. Savin has openly spoken out against Russia and the war in Ukraine, standing in solidarity with Ukranians. In this episode of The Power of Sport, he speaks about the importance of standing up for what you believe in.

For China’s self driving car startups the Covid-19 pandemic turned out to be more of an opportunity than a crisis. Their main competitors in the US are still paralyzed by the impact of spiraling virus cases in the country. Road-testing, which is essential for the development of the technology has come to a halt. China on the other hand has recovered quickly. Its autonomous vehicle industry is now pushing ahead, ramping up production and profiting from the latest 5G infrastructure, financed and installed by the government.

 

For the Wall Street Journal’s piece about China’s push in the race for autonomous vehicles I visited the sites of AutoX in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

 

Story and Editing by Clément Bürge of the Wall Street Journal

It’s the world’s biggest afforestation program: China’s Green Belt initiative. One of China’s many environmental problems is the spread of the Gobi desert. It already covers a quarter of the Countries area and it keeps growing. In an attempt to stop the desertification, the Chinese government started in the Seventies to plant millions of trees in its northern provinces, using local farmers living in these areas. The project is still ongoing and in many places, it seems to have been successful. 

Story by Claudia Stahel

Camera and editing: Lorenz Huber

When the Province of Xinjiang opened its borders after the pandemic lockdown last September, Yvonne Murray from RTÉ, Anna Fifield from the Washington Post and I went to Kashgar. The city in the heart of Xinjiang used to be dominated by a rich Islamic culture and history. It is home to the country’s largest mosque and the vast majority of the population is of Uighur ethnicity. It is no surprise that a number of China’s reeducation camps, where hundreds of thousands of Uighurs are detained, are located here. We found some of the former camps deserted and spotted vast new prison-like facilities seemingly waiting to go in service. The outcome of this trip was three TV pieces on RTÉ and Channel 4, two major stories in the Washington Post and a radio piece on RTÉ.


One of Tajikistans biggest problems is the massive deforestation taking place on it's slopes. In an effort to return this dangerous trend Caritas Switzerland in Tajikistan implemented an afforestation programme. This film was made as a communication tool for Caritas Switzerland, documenting the ongoing process of afforestation.