CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 57 By: Shaun Gowland
Preparing Journalists for Hostile Environments
Back in 2019, I found myself in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on a Military Special Forces camp delivering a Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) course for a diverse and experienced cross-section of professionals, the majority being journalists and documentary filmmakers. Two attendees in particular on that course I knew quite well, even though we hadn’t met until that point. The Weinert Brothers— Dennis, and Patrick Weinert—are based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are German independent filmmakers, photographers, and authors. Doing my research months in advance, I’d seen their 54
work, watched their films and documentaries, read their books and articles, (some in German I may add which was challenging at best for a language challenged Geordie who can “hardly speak English” some might say). Research and planning were to become something the brothers would be introduced to quite quickly, it was in essence the very things they were both missing and in search
