In 2001, filming began on City of God which would stun audiences with its unflinching honesty.

It captured the brutal realities of child gangsters from Rio De Janeiro’s favelas trapped in an unforgiving cycle of violence.

Local children were cast in the film, which was nominated for four Oscars, and their own lives weren’t far from the stories on screen.

Katia Lund who co-directed the movie, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about how she was able to draw powerful performances from the children, capturing moments of anguish and terror.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.

(Photo: Katia Lund (second right) with some of the cast of City of God and director Fernando Meirelles. Credit: Francois Guillot/AFP via Getty Images)