We are delighted to announce that a short film about West African soldiers in World War II directed by ODID's Olly Owen has been named best documentary at the Imperial War Museum's 2016 Short Film Festival.

The film, 'The Forgotten Army of WWII: West Africa's Soldiers in Burma’, was made for the Guardian with Robin Forestier-Walker, Dan Susman and Mustafa Khalili. It won the Annie Dodds Award for Best Documentary and the award for Best Use of IWM Archive Material at the film festival.

Some 90,000 West African soldiers, the majority of them Nigerians, were deployed to Southeast Asia after 1943, as part of the British army’s 81st and 82nd (West Africa) Divisions. But while the role of Indians and Gurkhas in the campaign to drive the Japanese out of Burma is well-known, allied commander General William Slim did not mention the African soldiers in his speech thanking the 14th army following the Burma campaign.

Seventy years on, many remain bitter that their contribution was never recognised fully. This film tells the story of some of the survivors, a story of two years of intense jungle warfare to help secure victory over Japan, through personal interviews conducted by Olly in Nigeria and exclusive, previously unseen footage of West Africa divisions fighting in Burma, courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, and Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League

Olly Owen is an ESRC Future Research Leaders fellow at the department.

• Watch the film.
• Find out more about the IWM festival.