A Turkish journalist who has spent years documenting immigration in the United States has again been recognized at one of the world’s leading photography festivals. Lokman Vural Elibol, chief cameraman for Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency in New York, announced that his film “Inside the Arrests” won an award in the Short Documentary Film category of the Siena International Photo Awards 2026.
The film takes viewers inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and the detention process that follows arrests. Elibol received the award at the festival’s ceremony on Oct. 10 at the Teatro dei Rinnovati in the Italian city of Siena.

Three years, three films
It is the third consecutive year that Elibol’s work has been honored in Siena. In 2024, his short documentary “New York in Apocalyptic Haze,” which captured the wildfire smoke that blanketed the city, received an honorable mention in the same category. A year later, “Crisis on the Line: Texas,” filmed at the U.S.–Mexico border, was recognized for its portrait of migrants during the border crisis.

The new film grew out of reporting Elibol carried out in New York’s immigration courts and federal buildings, where arrests of migrants have become a regular scene. Anadolu has previously reported that Elibol was injured when ICE agents pushed him while he was filming arrests at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.
The Siena International Photo Awards, held each year in Tuscany, draw entries from photographers and filmmakers in more than 160 countries and showcase work on war, human rights and the environment.