Selected Works
DIG FESTIVAL
A special evening focused on investigative journalism.
6.30 pm: The Antidote of Investigative Journalism in the Age of the Power of Confusion.
A discussion with director James Jones, journalist Lorenzo Bagnoli, and Philip Di Salvo, co-artistic director of the DIG Festival.
In an era of authoritarianism and increasing polarisation, investigative journalism is a practice rooted in truth and resistance. Democracies are under pressure, the space for independent reporting is shrinking and the ability to hold those in power to account — to name and shame them — is under systematic attack. Digital platforms are becoming increasingly opaque, amplifying disinformation, while artificial intelligence is being used on an industrial scale for propaganda and information pollution. Political and economic powers are exerting direct pressure to impose silence or delegitimise those who investigate. In this context, investigative journalism is riskier and more necessary than ever. In this panel discussion, journalists and documentary filmmakers will talk about this situation in Italy and around the world, sharing their experiences and perspectives in the face of contemporary journalism’s challenges.
The conversation will take place in light of DIG Festival’s mission and objectives, which have promoted investigative and documentary journalism as a tool of democracy for over a decade. The event also precedes the screening of two outstanding documentaries: Antidote (Channel 4) and Surviving Syrian Prisons (BBC), both of which were finalists at the 2025 DIG Awards. This accolade attests to their value in the field of international investigative audiovisual journalism.
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h. 19:30
ANTIDOTE
Film
In Putin’s Russia, telling the truth can kill you. Antidote recounts the personal stories of a few courageous citizens who decided to challenge the Kremlin’s tyranny, revealing the profound human cost of fighting against a regime that will stop at nothing. The documentary brings us the testimony of a whistleblower on the run, a political activist poisoned twice, and an investigative journalist threatened after exposing Putin’s murder machine: chilling truths about how the regime uses an iron fist to silence protests and plunge the country into a perpetual state of terror.
Lenght: 89 min.
English, Russian and Bulgarian with sub. Ita and Eng
directed by: James Jones production: Impact Partners, Submarine, Passion Pictures, Bellingcat distribution: Channel 4 country of origin: United Kingdom production countries: Austria, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America. data: March 2025
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h. 09:15 PM
SURVIVING SYRIA’S PRISONS
film
In December 2024, the world witnessed the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad after 13 years of civil war. This momentous event uncovered a sinister legacy: that of over 100,000 citizens who disappeared during the regime, vanished into impenetrable prisons and mass graves. Surviving Syria’s Prisons reveals one of the most brutal campaigns of repression in contemporary history, through the accounts of those who suffered it and those who imposed it, such as intelligence officers and prison guards who supervised torture and executions. Their confessions are interwoven with the powerful story of two brothers who survived the Syrian prison system, forming a narrative canvas from which the brutality perpetrated by the Assad regime against its own citizens emerges.
Lenght 74 min.
English and Arabic with sub. Ita and Eng
directed by: Sasha Joelle Achilli, Sara Obeidat production: BBC distribution: BBC Two, PBS Frontline country of origin: United Kingdom date: June 2025
Info
Tickets
Free adminssion without reservation
Single ticket admission €5.00 per documentary
Accessibility
These films contain images that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewing is recommended for adult audiences only.
Event accessible to people with reduced mobility.
James Jones is an Emmy-winning British filmmaker whose documentaries are produced for international television and cinema. His films tell extraordinary human stories with journalistic rigour and a distinctive cinematic style. He has filmed in Iraq, Gaza and Ukraine, and has conducted undercover investigations in Saudi Arabia and North Korea. His most recent works include On the President’s Orders, which is about the ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines, and Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes (BAFTA award-winning), and the Emmy-nominated series Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn. His latest documentary, Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare, was released in March 2026 and premiered at the CPH:DOX festival.
Lorenzo Bagnoli is an investigative journalist and co-editor of Irpi Media. He has been a member of the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI) since 2012 and focuses particularly on issues relating to immigration, organised crime, financial crime and corruption. He was an International Fellow of The Groundtruth Project. He also participates in investigative journalism training courses with the Lombardy Order of Journalists (Odg).
Philip Di Salvo is a researcher and lecturer at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland. His work focuses on investigative journalism, digital surveillance, and ‘black box’ technologies. He was previously a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (2021–2022) and Harvard University (2024), as well as holding research and teaching positions at the University of Italian Switzerland (USI). As a journalist, he contributes to various publications, including Wired and Swiss public service media. He is also the co-artistic director of the DIG Festival.
DIG – Documentari Inchieste Giornalismi is an association based in Modena that supports the crucial role of investigative journalism in democratic societies. Their motto is “I wanna be your watchdog,” evoking the watchdog role that the press should always assume in holding power to account. The acronym “DIG” also refers to the act of digging—to dig in English—an allusion to the courageous work of investigation and truth-seeking carried out by reporters and investigative journalists around the world.
For the past ten years, DIG has organized a five-day event, the DIG Festival, with the aim of showcasing the best of international journalism and giving visibility to voices and stories that remain invisible in mainstream media, inviting journalists, documentary filmmakers, whistleblowers, activists, writers, and artists to take the stage.
During the DIG Festival, the DIG Awards are also presented, recognizing and celebrating the best international journalistic works in audio and video formats. As part of the second edition of LIFE, two documentaries from the DIG Awards 2025 will be presented.
