Mikel Konate (Madrid, 1982) is an award-winning independent visual journalist and filmmaker currently based in Madrid and working worldwide. His work focuses on armed conflicts, migration, and the climate crisis, particularly extreme wildfires.
Konate began working in the industry in 1999 and started his career as a video journalist in 2005, covering political issues, social movements, and breaking news for Spanish media. Since 2014, he has worked internationally with news agencies, production companies, and NGOs.
Driven by a deep commitment to uncover human stories behind the headlines, Konate has always sought to give voice to those often overlooked in major crises of our time, from war zones to climate disasters.
His work was recognized with the Rory Peck Trust Award for News in 2018 for his reporting in the Central Mediterranean. He was also a finalist in 2019 for his coverage in Northern Syria.
Konate co-founded Sonda Internacional in 2022, a non-profit organization dedicated to visual journalism addressing the climate crisis, where he worked until 2025. During his time there, he led a long-term project on extreme wildfires in the Iberian Peninsula, one of whose published reports received an Honorable Mention at the SIP–Solutions Journalism Awards.
Konate has worked on numerous documentaries and investigations, particularly those related to migration and armed conflict. His credits include the BBC documentary “Captagon: Inside Syria’s Drug Trafficking Empire”, which won Best Investigative Long Documentary at the DIG Awards 2024, or “Leaving Afghanistan” for PBS’s FRONTLINE, just before U.S. troops were set to leave the country (selected).
Over the years, his work has had tangible impact on our society. His footage has played a key role in legal proceedings, including a case at the European Court of Human Rights regarding pushbacks and abuses against migrants, and a landmark ruling by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The latter led to the CRC finding Spain in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and forced Spain to amend the special legal regime authorizing automatic expulsions in Ceuta and Melilla — the first decision of its kind by the CRC.
Konate has worked worldwide with Reuters, The Associated Press, BBC, CNN, ARTE, Al-Jazeera, Euronews, ABC, The Independent, UNHCR, MSF and CEAR (selected). His work has been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, CBS, NBC, Channel 4, France 24 and Univision (selected).
