Tuesday 5 June 2018

BAFTA winning documentary maker, photographer and film director Paul Berriff has long been dubbed the “Indiana Jones of Television”, having cheated death on a regular basis during his lifetime’s work. He has produced over 180 prime time major network television documentary films and is highly acclaimed around the world. Last year (2017) he was awarded the Guild of Television Cameramen Award for Continued Excellence in Cinematography.

In addition to all of this, he has one of the most fascinating life stories you could imagine. He mixed with the Beatles and Rolling Stones before they were famous and was friends with Roger Moore, has survived a major helicopter crash, leapt to safety from a sinking ship during a North Sea gale, and escaped death when a volcano erupted around him. He’s also a qualified and decorated lifeboatman and fireman

Paul was in New York on 9/11, filming with the FDNY’s Deputy Chief Fire Commissioner at the World Trade Center when both the twin towers collapsed on top of him; he was knocked to the ground and lay unconscious for 25 minutes before crawling out of the debris. Of the 22 people he was with, only 4 survived. His camera was smashed but his tape was recovered, and his iconic sequence of the south tower collapsing became the most powerful image recorded on the day.