Taking Fire was an immersive documentary series built around extraordinary first-person footage filmed by US soldiers during active deployment in Afghanistan’s Korangal Valley — one of the most dangerous postings of the war.
Using helmet-camera footage, personal video diaries and contributor testimony, the series explored the psychological and physical realities of frontline combat from the perspective of the soldiers living through it. My role involved directing sensitive interviews with veterans reflecting on experiences that were often traumatic and deeply personal, while shaping storylines from hundreds of hours of raw battlefield footage.
A major challenge of the production was balancing the intensity and immediacy of the combat material with the emotional aftermath experienced by the contributors years later. I worked closely with soldiers and production teams to build trust and create a series that felt authentic, immersive and emotionally grounded rather than sensationalised.
The series combined observational storytelling, archive-style combat footage and personal testimony to create an unusually intimate portrait of modern warfare and its long-term impact.
The Washington Post described the series as:
“so harrowing they border on unwatchable.”