Denial

I deliberately went to see 'Denial' without reading up about the film, or the facts about David Irving or Deborah Lipstadt.

Moment Magazine

What greeted me was a whole host of emotions in a film about the 1996 libel suit in which David Irving accuses Penguin books and Deborah Lipstadt - who, in her book 'Denying the Holocaust' wrote that 'David is a liar, racist and extremist' - of slander and a conspiracy to debunk his reputation.

I'm a young ambassador for HET, a charity dedicated to educating young people and empowering teachers with knowledge of the holocaust and highlighting the roles of the ordinary people that lived to see it and experience it. We speak regularly on the subject alongside survivors and try to be visible both in our communities and online.

I have often, during my time as an ambassador been named on social media as 'part of the conspiracy'. In 2014 for example, myself and two young colleagues ran a 10km to raise money for the charity and were met with direct Twitter comments including this one (pictured). I, like Deborah, struggle to separate my emotions when comments like this are made. In fact, twitter is an engine that has given voice to many more deniers than before were heard. During the launch of a London exhibition early last year, I was asked via Twitter if holocaust survivors would be present - quite an innocent question it seems, until I did some digging and found that the user was in fact a holocaust denier who has previously directly targeted survivors.

Over Facebook I also received a direct message, as a result of a post I'd written about the rise of the far right in Greece with parties such as the Golden Dawn with a view to championing multi-cultural society. It might not be holocaust denial in this instance, but a direct attack on the very foundations of a society that values the lessons we have learned from it. I think this response speaks for itself...

I've received direct messages like this since my work began at 18 and it is sad that we must be so vigilant.

The film 'Denial' did highlight the question of what to say to these deniers. Do we stay silent and let the facts speak for themselves? Or do we give in to our emotions and respond? Can we be educated enough to do both? There are many of my peers I believe could be one day - but none of us can ever be armed with enough, can we?

There were more parallels than this though. Young lawyer Laura Tyler stays up late into the night incessantly working on the case, much to the annoyance and intense misunderstanding of her partner who managed to sum up what many peers have thought of me and my work as an ambassador and probably of Lipstadt too.

The Telegraph

They have asked me, 'isn't it time to let the past be the past', say 'you're obsessed', ask me 'why do you even care, you're not Jewish' and tell us there is 'more to life than the holocaust'. But in the same room the question has been uttered 'What is the holocaust?'. For me, it is impossible NOT to involve myself in the continuance of holocaust awareness and education. Because once you have looked truth in the eye, walked the rubble and ruins of Jewish cemeteries and visited Auschwitz, you cannot live with a version of yourself that is silent. I cannot be uncaring, I cannot forget, and I cannot deny that it ever happened.

Denial wasn't just about the libel suit, but the absolute passion for truth, that the holocaust HAPPENED. It was about speaking against all prejudices and facing denial in all it's forms, from bedroom-denouncings to outright racism.

odeon.co.uk

I've been to Auschwitz and 'Denial' managed to capture the exact essence of the place that remains through some respectful film-making - although I am sure that many early mornings were needed to find the place so empty. From the shoes and suitcases of Auschwitz 1 to the endless rows of barracks and razed crematoria at Birkenau. Upon my visit I did not cry but since then, I have come to consider many holocaust survivors I work with, as friends or extended family even. To see that place again, was as though I was seeing it through fresh eyes, and I cried. (This helped me to gain some idea of why some second and third generation survivors cannot bring themselves to know their family stories in detail). The stillness of the shots, the mist, the coldness of the image, the quiet - it was exactly the eerie place I remember. Somewhere you can almost feel the past vividly. 

The film reflects and values this experience. It also asks us to be vigilant in our analyses and critique those who claim to be experts in the field but he film above all, champions that the truth is ultimate. The outcome of the case was as it should be, and Deborah and her legal team can indeed say that the voices of the victims were heard as justice was done.

EveningStandard

The fact that posters for the film were defaced with anti-Semitic comments and drawings here in London, tell us exactly why it's important to show it at present. The fight against denial did not end when Lipstadt and her team won the case. It continues today and is rife in social media. What comes next is up to us but it's important I think that we take from the film, that truth is ultimate. Do not deny truth. Be someone that fights for it. 

time.com

13th

13th, is a documentary about the administrations and prison systems of America, about injustice, racial prejudice and anti-black rhetoric. What follows in this post is only part of the argument that I gleaned from this poignant film and I can't recommend that you watch it enough to understand the bigger picture. If you're nervous about this week's election result, then watch this film and understand that there is a lot more to worry about than we realise, that there is a lot of work still to do and that the fight for civil rights and liberty continues to this day.

Number 13, unlucky for some and perhaps surprisingly, unlucky for anyone who believes in justice, freedom and racial equality. The 13th Amendment was the amendment to the US Constitution that abolished slavered and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime.

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

LAWCHA

But although the amendment abolished traditional slavery, the latter clause was one that would shape a future of negative racial rhetoric against black people through to the modern day. The probability of a white man going to prison in their life in the US is 1 in 17. The probability for black men stands at 1 in 3. Black men account for 6.5% of the US population but a huge 40.2% of its prison population.

The adamant racism of members of the American administration, have manifested a rhetoric over time, utilising the exception of freedom if punishable for a crime. On the abolition of slavery, black people were arrested for the smallest of crimes, such as vagrancy and interned as labourers, and importantly, as criminals across the South. Popular culture aided this negative campaign against blacks, by painting them as criminals, as rapists and as violent savages who are not to be trusted with their white women. They even lynched a 14yr old boy to death for supposedly flirting. Brutality towards young black men of course, is not something that we, in 2016 are unfamiliar with.

aglfblog

When, during the civil rights movement, black people headed a power shift over this criminalisation by deliberately getting themselves arrested in standing up to the state, the rhetoric then manifested into dog whistle politics concerning a mostly-fabricated 'War on Drugs', in which black people were painted as the problem. The War on Drugs became one of the most important battles of Nixon and Reagan's administrations, all the while coveting and condoning racial prejudice and the targeting of black Americans by law enforcement services and the deliberate over-represented depiction of black Americans as criminals, monsters or 'super predators'. And black communities themselves bought into the lies spread about their own children. The Central Park 5 were interned for sexual assault and murder, just one example, of an outrageous number of unlawful and racially driven arrests. Never mind that the facts point at the higher percentage of interracial rape being of white men towards black women, than black men against white women. Public opinion made these boys guilty before they were even handcuffed.

Columbia.edu

Den Of Geek

Over decades, the generalisation that black men and black people in general ARE criminals had become veined as a social norm. It had manifested over years, not just in whites, but in black people too. It became a primitive fear, the same fear depicted over decades since the abolition of slavery, abused as part of the Bush presidential campaign by publicising his opponent's support of the weekend release of Willie Horton, a black American and felon, serving a life sentence for murder. This was followed by Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in favour of the death penalty to tackle crime, followed by mandatory minimum sentencing without parole, and a three-strike rule that saw prisoners given life sentences for their third felonies, a rule that put immense strain on prisons, forcing the LA Sheriff's Dept. for example, to release 4200 prisoners every month, held for misdemeanors. A rule that saw crimes such as shifting cocaine put people away for life, without parole. A rule that prompted the building of more prisons and more police on the street. This was, in effect the beginning of the militarisation of policing that is exactly the problem that black Americans face today. A rhetoric that has turned law enforcement into a weaponised mafia on the understanding that black people are, and have always been, the problem. But Bill Clinton apologised - so it's all ok.

Los Angeles Times

But it isn't ok. The prison population is higher in 2016 than EVER before. Ordinary people can take the law into their own hands, murder an innocent young black man simply because they feel threatened by their presence and be excused of their crime under the Stand Your Ground law, written by a private group (ALEC) made up of politicians and corporations. A law that could basically mean that if I so wanted, I could declare that I felt threatened by the old lady across the street, so I shot her. Of course no-one would believe that. But if my target were black, particularly a black male, I could probably get away with it. So corporate lobbyists have their sticky hands in key US legislation and old a great deal of leverage over their result. It gets more unbelievable the more we dig. The corruption runs deep, fast and thick throughout the 50 states. Turns out, the minimum sentence, the 3-strike rule - all of it came through ALEC, including SB1070, a law that allowed police to stop anyone who looked like an immigrant. A lot of people have become very rich on this falsified notion of criminal punishment and THOSE people, should be held accountable. As the rhetoric continues to manifest itself, to slip through the cracks of federal and state law, we must be on our guard to challenge its every move.

"If you look at the history of black people’s various struggles in this country, the connecting theme is the attempt to be understood as full, complicated human beings. We are something other than this visceral image of criminality and menace and threat to which people associate with us."

newyorker.com

Today, young black people are arrested on a whim on the street for petty crimes and charged bail amounts of thousands, which they cannot afford to pay. Often, even if innocent, they will take a plea bargain to plead guilty for a reduced sentence, in fear of the mandatory minimum sentence still operating from the Clinton administration. The Central Park 5 fell victim to this. Khalief Browder decided not to take the plea deal and take the decision to trial. After 3 years of awaiting trial behind bars on Rikers Island, after attempting suicide several times, the charges were dropped and he was released. They had nothing on him. He was innocent. And it seems to the masses, that no-one with any political leverage is challenging this kind of injustice. Justice isn't justice unless it's universal. In 2015, after his release and a battle with psychotic episodes probably associated with the trauma of having been wrongfully incarcerated and beaten for 3 years of his young life, Khalief Browder hanged himself at his home in the Bronx. His mother found him.

And today we witness the US election result, Trump or Clinton. Now is the time to share this film. Now is the time to challenge corruption. Now is the time to end this heinous era of criminalising black people and the privatisation of prison services that trades sweat shop labour for phone time. Corporations, under the blanket of self-improvement and rehabilitation, are operating inside prisons and making millions from the labour of the interned. Now is the time to demand human rights for those imprisoned, and those released having served their dues. But most importantly now is the time to realise, that this is ingrained in our society, it has been channelled directly from the days of slavery, and it can no longer go unnoticed, unchecked or unchallenged.

Grierson Documentary Awards - The Winners

Here's the complete winner's list. Well... I got a few right (see results in red):

Best Doc on Contemporary Theme (Domestic): How To Die: Simon's Choice
Best Doc on Contemporary Theme (International): How To Change the World
Best Doc on Current Affairs: The World: Outbreak - The Truth About Ebola
Best Arts Doc: Amy
Best Historical Doc: Attacking the Devil
Best Science Doc: Oak Tree: Nature's Greatest Survivor
Best Natural History Doc: The Hunt: The Hardest Challenge
Best Entertaining Documentary: Secret life of 4, 5 and 6 Year Olds
Best Doc Series: The Murder Detectives
Best Constructed Doc Series: The Real Marigold Hotel
Best Cinema Doc: Cartel Land
Best Newcomer Doc: Where You're Meant To Be
Best Student Doc: Women in Sink
Best Doc Presenter: Paul Mayhew-Archer
Grierson Trutees Award: Louis Theroux

It's been another great year for factual film and television, providing me with all of the inspiration I need to grow my own factual career. These are the best of the bunch and I can only watch and learn from them all in the hope that one day, I might be even half as successful.

Grierson Documentary Awards - The Nominations

With the Grierson Documentary Awards happening tonight, I thought I'd look back at some of the stand-out nominations.

Among the films nominated for Best Doc on Contemporary Theme, is My Son the Jihadi (MSTJ) and Breaking into Britain: The Lorry Jumpers (BIB).

channel4.com

MSTJ was the perspective we'd been waiting to hear from the first instance of Brits leaving to fight with IS. Who are these people, why are they leaving, how can their families let this happen - the doc gave us answers to most things, how easy it was to find yourself trapped, how it felt to be a part of a cause (a feeling you'd never felt before) and how grooming takes place bit by bit so that it doesn't seem so extreme. I'd seen a play earlier in the year 'Losing Our children to Islamic State' where this viewpoint was further explained. The only thing missing from both, was someone who had been there, who had joined IS and who had defected. I wanted to hear all the answers from them personally, because listening to a loving mother unable to understand the actions of her son, and mourning the loss of his life, twice over - just asked more questions. It was a documentary that explored the makings of how ordinary men and women spiralled towards extremism.

squareeyed.tv

BIB is another highlight. There was some great covert film-making at work here by Leo Maguire. The stakes were high, the risks obvious. Our cameraman even finds himself physically attacked by a police officer despite his journalist status. We meet men and women desperate to jump the border, regardless of the risks that accompany the crossing and the filmmaker doesn't shy away from that risk. It was a tough watch, but a good one too. Either of these films deserve the title for me.

okayplayer

In the Best Arts Doc category, Amy soars to the top of my list. For someone who never truly appreciated her talent (I was only 11 when she sprung to fame) this was the side of the story I never got to hear. It portrayed the instant tabloid madness that came with her fame, and the overwhelming attention paid to all aspects of her personal life. It's a story about a young girl who just wants to sing. The things that come with it are often unwanted. The failure of those around her to recognise her suffering. The way that the success of her shows was put well before her well-being. It's a tragic story. Even on retreat across the ocean her father brings a camera crew - she's over it. Tabloids have long painted Amy in a negative light, as a bad egg, and Amy the film totally transformed the headlines I'd been fed throughout my teenage years about her. It's sad, I feel we all realised that too late.

dailymail.co.uk

Best Historical Doc lines up My Nazi Legacy and Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners. Although it gave glimpses of investigative brilliance, I was disappointed with the latter I have to be honest. David Olusogo did a worthy job, but it felt very static. I wanted dynamic, it is slavery we're talking about after all. It felt a bit restrained to artefacts housed in stale environments and although the concept excited me, the content failed to match. My Nazi Legacy is top of my watchlist at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see how it does at the awards!

netflix.com

For Best Science Documentary, it's no doubt My Beautiful Broken Brain that comes out on top (& it's now excitingly on NetFlix). The visuals were immersive, the story was intimate and the ups and downs were made all the more powerful with that. It explored the after effects of suffering a stroke that I'd never thought about and Lotje is completely inspiring. The fact this documentary exists is testament to her resolute ability to carry on, despite the hardships and emotional challenges that we witness throughout the film. It was a fascinating from start to finish and so well presented, a definite winner in my opinion.

bbc.co.uk

Best Natural history and Best Documentary Series, goes to The Hunt for some great wildlife cinematography, some intense life or death chases, some great music - need I go on. I don't need to say anymore than the Gogglebox contributors have already given us on screen - particularly following the scene of monkey vs monkey survival (I honestly had no idea that they ate each other). Best nature series we've had in a while I think.

evolutions.tv

Best Entertaining Doc, Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6 years olds by a mile. I can't actually pin down what's so brilliant about it. I find kids entertaining anyway, but there's something about the psychology of it that absolutely fascinates me. I find myself thinking I'm a child psychologist in every episode. The challenges are brilliant, the fixed rig cameras expertly placed and the children brilliantly cast. It's just a great format and having  run around with a C300 shoulder rig for a taster tape for a similar idea, I have even more respect for the team that manages to construct and capture the brilliance.

It's nominated for best constructed documentary series too, alongside the tough opposition of Gogglebox and Hunted. Gogglebox gives us all of the emotions we like to experience through television in one sitting. Hunted likes to allow us to think we could escape the state way better (when actually we'd all probably be worse). And Secret Life, is well, see above. This is a tough category for me and I think any of the three deserve the prize.

netflixlife.com

Best Cinema Documentary is hands down Cartel Land for me (now on Netflix too). I went to a talk about acceptable risk on productions at Sheffield DocFest last year and then saw this film, which blew the 'should-dos' out of the water. Watching Matthew Heineman capture gun fights made me hold my breath sure that the camera would hit the ground. Heineman evokes hope in his audience, in a rising leader against the cartels and a hardened vigilante member whose face told a thousand stories of its own. A doctor and family man, the story feels like your common good vs evil, and only towards the end do the lines appear to blur. It's got some great cinematography and the story is brilliantly crafted to allow the audience to witness the same feelings of fear, hope and hopelessness as the Mexican people, from the comfy seats of a cinema. He won the Tim Hetherington Award for a reason and he deserves this one too.

bbcstore

The last category I mention, is the Best Doc Presenter. Louis Theroux's Drinking To Oblivion just pulls itself above the others I think. To watch as Louis was powerless to help as a young man discharges himself and heads to the local off-licence - we wait in hope that he returns without a bottle. Louis conveys exactly what the professionals, families, friends of alcoholics feel every day. They hope, they support, they wait, they worry - it's a constant see-saw of ups and downs, never knowing at which point they'll get off. Seeing the young man walk through the doors and tell Louis he decided against it was a moment of victory for 'man vs addiction'. Great honest work from Theroux again. Give the man a Grierson.

That's it from me, over to the judges to announce the worthy Winners tonight, 7th Nov, 2016!

Life Inside 'Islamic State'

This was a great 17min animated short, created from the diary entries of one brave individual who kept track of daily life under Daesh rule. Where shopkeepers are taxed unlawfully, men are arrested for wearing trousers that are too long and women for failing to wear a veil. Where stoning to death is a just punishment and lashing and beheadings a daily occurrence. How can we possibly understand what it's like to live our lives like this?

bbc.co.uk

Animators Ross Plaskow and Scott Coello have done a brilliant job in portraying these scenes in ways that will not distance us as Westerners. It informs us, shows us only the humanity of the victims and does not aim to shock or turn us away from its content - which is important when all too many turn their backs on the problem. Not only are the drawings skilful, with the aid of dan Pollard's score, they are symbolic of the many meanings behind the look in a man's eye, of the acts of violence, of defiance and of despair.

bbc.co.uk

What came across most for me is the loneliness of a life in Raqqa. Attending any meetings in public places can see you accused of plotting against Daesh, you cannot see your friends, you cannot watch television to connect with the outside world, what can you do? There is nothing but the four walls of your home, and the sound and tremor of bombs dropping all around you. The world has deserted you. Our diarist is advised, 'Live your life without considering the present' - well what else can he do?

It is frustrating for me as a viewer as I too search for ways to act, to fight back, to help the civilians of Raqqa - but fail to come to any hopeful conclusion. All I can do is write this post and let someone somewhere know that I am thinking of them, that they are not forgotten, that they are not alone.

Find Life Inside 'Islamic State' on Iplayer, available until 9th April: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03lcxh7/life-inside-islamic-state

Unicorns and Hook-Up Apps

So last night I watched a film about a man who identifies as a unicorn - yes a unicorn. 

i.ytimg.com

A recovering alcoholic and prolific drug-addict, a burning-man enthusiast has created his very own universe, cornicopia, in which all of his polyamorous friends can live - only it's not a universe, it's his bedroom and apparently they can't all bring themselves to sleep together. 

I can't say much more without directing you to watch it - I'm all for extroversion, gender fluidity and non-binary expression but unicorns are taking it too far. With his obsessive personality and recurrent need to try new outrageous hobbies - he clearly needs counselling above anything else. Maybe one of the glamicorns should tell him?

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/unicorns-038  

vice-images.vice.com

Then I watched a film about the mobile love industry - that's things like Tinder, Grindr and Her for the layman. Most of these apps feel a little too much like window shopping for me to ever get stuck in - that, and I already have a partner. There was however, one exception. If you Happen to come across Happn you may be surprised at how it manages to keep the spontaneity and coincidence of an actual meeting. It tracks the route of your travel and matches you with someone nearby who shares part of that journey - almost as though you were to bump into them on the way to work. Magical...that is until we meet the guy who says it's good for a girl not to sleep with a guy on the first date - only to be asked, 'why does the girl have to say no, why can't it be the guy?' - good question!

I'm stuck in the past a bit with dating apps, I don't trust things (or people) I cannot see. Particularly when you look at stats of sexual violence against the increase in the use of hook-up apps. Because that's what they really are aren't they, hook-up apps. I don't think dating has been a part of dating apps for a while now. I'm not planning on using an app to find my catch, but if i found myself single and was ever to start, I'd start with the gift from the city of love: Happn.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J9V3fLUSQFM

9999

9999, a documentary filmed at Merksplas, a maximum security prison in Belgium. Home to mentally ill inmates who have no guarantee of ever seeing freedom again; their release date: 31/12/9999.

9999_Trailer English from Associate Directors on Vimeo.

This documentary by Ellen Vermeulen granted fantastic access to one of the most timeless places on Earth. Where the only thing to do each day is watch shadows disappear from the wall and listen to the slow knocking of pipes. It is tragic, to see so many people unsure of their futures. Unsure of their present. They are granted no access to psychiatric help, no proper advice or control of medication and essentially left to be forgotten about in prison until either they kill themselves or die naturally. These men have made mistakes, but Vermeulen's characters are remorseful and it is heart-breaking to watch as they sit confined to their tiny rooms, that have become their only world, as their mental health and emotions fluctuate. One man explains the story of how he came to be here. He had done wrong and was scared that his father would send him to prison for fear that he would be admitted to a prison like Merksplas and left to rot, so he attacks him and leaves him for dead. He powerfully states, 'because I wanted to keep my life, I lost my life'. He knows he did wrong and he has had many years to confront this decision.

Another young man was trying to seek help for his mental health but being turned away from a clinic, he set fire to a bike to get attention. He did not receive the help he was seeking, instead he was incarcerated and has been in prison without therapy for 8 years.

The Human Rights Commission condemns the Belgian government by serving fines to them. The government merely pays the fine for the breach in human rights, and continues, business as usual, whilst approx 900 people remain in prison, without a release date.

After the showing of this incredible documentary, we were treated to a Q&A with director Ellen Vermeulen. Here's what happened:

Aud: A really powerful film with amazing access.

It's only afterwards when the media said to me, this is really absurd that you can make this, that I realise this is maybe strange, that they allow me.

Aud: So it was a challenge? You knew it was a challenge to try and make this film?

Dir: I think the challenge was not that much, how to make this film but how to be honest with what I saw and to capture this kind of, their lives. What will I show to show how their life is? I think that was the most difficult thing.

Aud: Could you tell us a little bit about how you made, why you chose to make the film as you did in the sense of locking off the camera, filming people mostly as they're doing things and keeping most of the, well keeping the interviews off camera.

9999themovie.com

Dir: Yeh, very important moment was when, to find funding I had to shoot a trailer so I filmed myself. Afterwards I worked with a cameraman so I filmed myself. And as I was very close to my characters I filmed like very close and when i looked at it I felt bad because it was, you know a very famous dutch film-maker says 'when you have poor children with a little dirt on their mouth you feel sad for them', you feel it's like exotic and I didn't want to do that. I wanted to respect them and show them in their strength. This is one thing. but also you want to film the space. I am not a filmmaker with lots of words, I want to show. So my idea was I want to make this film and if you turn off the sound you can also see the film. But before I worked for one year and a half doing research. So the moment I filmed it was very obvious what I wanted to film, I only shot for 4 days. So I did research for one year and a half and filmed for four days. I knew how they would react when something was happening. There was one moment there was a fight between one of the prisoners and the guard. And I thought I cannot film this because if I film this I have to show tomorrow, this relationship with this guard and my film is not about that, my film is about the timelessness of their being. So, it was all very clear and that's why I think the shooting was very strict, very obvious for me.

Aud: Did you actually film the interviews or just record the sound?

Dir: Both. there are some interviews I did before I recorded them myself when I was alone.

Aud: And so the period of research, you worked without a camera did you?

Dir: Yeh, I only want to film when I'm tired of talking. The characters also said finished, stop.

Aud: Stop the research?

moviesthatmatter.nl

Dir: We were tired talking to each other I new every spot on the wall I knew everything. I had been there for so many times so long time and I had to film. I was so upset I had to film, I had to film something with what I saw.

Aud: Have they seen the film?

Dir: Sure. They have seen it I think three times and they were really also tired of it. Yeh but it's very important because it was screened on telvsion twice in belgium and I was so afraid. They are in this little room alone and they look at television and they see themselves and this is so difficult for them. So I wanted to make sure that they knew everythign by heart. They had to know it so good because one day they are good, the next day they can be ill. And I wanted to show the film in every stage of their, every stage as much as possible.

Aud: So you also made a decision not to film, or put in the film, any sequences where they were less in control of their lives. Less well?

Dir: These are the moments that I'm not going to film because I'm there with them and there is something happening I am not a film-maker. I'm not the kind of film-maker who wants to film err, this in my reality. I didn't put the camera for 24hrs. It's the way I see their lives and it's a confusion maybe. Of course there are moments when you really see that they are ill. It's hard to film and I'm not going to show them in their weakest moment. But, I think you can feel that there is something happening with them so I wanted to give the feeling and not show everything. A judge said to me, if you see the film you can realise how much worse it is in reality and I think he's right. This is very, ok. Their life is good when you see this film. In reality it's much worse.

9999themovie.com

Aud: There were a couple of moments in the film, when people address you. Was that, were you questioning him. Or did he know he wanted to make a statement?

Dir: Yeh he wanted to make a statement and it's also about who is watching who. You are watching him all the time and I think at one moment he's like, I'm like a character in a fiction film, but he's playing with that all the time. When I entered his room he always had something for me, like I'm from the mafia. He was addressing, always symbolic to me and I think this moment is a very important moment because as a spectator you are confronted with your position of watching them and being on the outside. I was not asking anything I think this is the moment that lots of people would cut, I was just like not watching him coz I don't want him to react to me.

Aud: You say the film has been shown on TV, judges have watched it. Has the film had any impact, any debate at least?

Dir: Yeh. Things are changing. I'm not going to say it's completely because of the film but I think this film also had an impact. I showed this film for example in the European Court of Human Rights and that's very nice because lots of judges said to me, we are reading these files and now for the first time we see faces. It's like the same with judges, they say we send people to prison and now, we see what's happening in prison. The European Court is judging individuals and one month after this film, they judged the complete, they gave a fine to Belgium for everybody, not only individual anymore. So, this maybe the film, and also there is one of these guys not in my film but one of these guys who asked for euthanasia, to end his life, so it was a huge thing in Europe and it was shameful for Belgium. I think these things are, helping to change, because they now have a building for 200 people, and there are now 800-900 left. Also what is strange is that some months after the first screening, the characters were put in psychiatry, after 16yrs, 15yrs of prison, something - I don't say it's my film. but I say, it's strange.

Aud: All your 5 characters got therapy?

Dir: Yes. Very strange. Yeh, you say applause but for me it's hard because then I should have made a film about 1100 people. It's very sad that I chose them and not others.

Aud: Why did you choose those 5 people?

cobra.canvas.be

Dir: Very early I wanted to film them. Four of them didn't want to be int eh film, they said no I don't want to be filmed. I think so many other people asked, can I please be in your film but they are very angry and they shout at the guard and they say, it's all their fault, no it's not. And also I wanted people to have, they have to know that they did something wrong. I met people who were proud of what they did and that was very difficult. I have to like my characters. And very early in my process I decided I wanted to film them. Like Wilfried, everybody said to me, the guards, they said 'don't talk to him, he will play with you, he will play games' and for one year and a half he has played games. he has teased me, he has offended me, he has attacked me. there was one, in my head I think there was a changing point. I was in his room and I touched the door and it closes and I couldn't go out anymore. I think I was there for 15minutes. He said to me, 'now you are depending on me, I can do whatever I want, you have to trust me'. And I was really relaxed, I am happy for that and I said 'Wilfried I totally trust you' and this was the first time I could show it to him. And I think from that moment on he had a different way of reacting to me. There were some moments he shouted at me and I never panicked, I said 'you're right', I also shout. So I thin that made him like 'ok she comes back every week, she doesn't hate me for that'. So it has been a long process.

Aud: So you talk about 8months research. Were you there once a week?

Dir: Yeh. I was there once a week, a whole day that was enough. It was not funny time, it was horrible to be there. I could not explain to anybody what is happening and now I have the feeling I can show it with this film. there was one nice thing in the European court also, there was a woman from I think Latvia and she cried and said, 'for years I am trying to explain to people what is happening and now I don't have to explain any more'. This is, it's impossible to explain, these people, whats happening. It's impossible for them to live in this way.

Aud: Do you think that in the time you were there that they found the therapy they were lacking, through you? 

Dir: Yeh, I think. I think, it's also very hard to know, they only see two kinds of people; people who judge them for what they did, like criminals and people who treat them like mentally ill people who are, who have to be treated. And I was I think the only person in their, in a long time, who was just there not judging them, not saying you are ill. I just talked to them like human beings and I think that was very nice but also very hard when I left I think. When I left I was very emotional and they were like, (happily) 'bye-bye'.

Aud: You say you wrote it, I just wondered how you call yourself a writer when this is a documentary?

Dir: Oh but this is a very directed film.

Aud: The writing aspect?

dailymatters.moviesthatmatter.nl

Dir: Yeh I wrote every scene, I. It's not I know this will happen but I know this is what I'm searching for. After so many times of being there i know when I do this, how they will react so I knew for example, every scene has to have timelessness. There can be no chronology. so, the only moment there is someone saying something, is the moment the boy leaves the prison. The rest of the film is built without scenes of chronology. Even inside the scenes. this was very important for me, to write scenes that have this timelessness. So, when I make a film I know exactly what I want and I write everything down so this is a very directed film. I put people there and I say. There is one scene that I didn't know and I don't like it at all, this scene. But it was very hot in Belgium, this bit on medication. This was the first news, there was big news in Belgium, and this is the scene I really don't like and I didn't want to put in the film because it has something 'now', somebody is coming inside the room and this is not. It's very concrete what's happening there.

Aud: When they're discussing when he's going to take his medicine, today, tomorrow?

Dir: And also it was not presented, I didn't know, it was out of my control. So when this guard was coming in I was like shit, my morning scene is gone. And then, we kept on filming and then afterwards I saw that it was very hard to see because this was against the law but I really fought against my editor because I didn't want to have it in the film.

Aud: When you say it's hard to see because it's against the norm, what do you mean?

Dir: Somebody who is mentally ill in prison has to have the same treatment as somebody outside the prison, but then you see no, they have to be responsible for their own medication. So there is a doctor, a psychiatrist that says you have to take your medication. Wilfried is collecting all his pills and sometimes he says 'I'm going to kill myself one day so I collect them, it's my only freedom'. Sometimes he puts them in his toilet and he says 'eat', 'bon a petit, have a nice meal' to his toilet.

Aud: I have a question about the environment. I was amazed to see they were locked in with glass glazed doors, and was wondering about the safety aspect of that. In prison here, those safety things would never be allowed, like the stack of chairs in another scene, that could be used as weapons.

Dir: It's a very old prison, it's good for my film of course. In a very modern hospital it could be different. When I was there were some moments when there were a lot of guards who had to attack somebody who was aggressive but er, I cannot really answer your question, because they have never attacked me.

Aud: In a British prison there'd be no glass.

Dir: Wilfried says that they will happy if I kill myself coz they have the room for somebody else, and I think he's right. Nobody takes care of them, they don't mind. So I can just say that, if somebody kills themselves - next one.

physicalimpossibility.com

Aud: When you showed the film, was there any sense from the people running the prison that this was actually, there was something shocking here.

Dir: I made one decision that was, when you make a film people have to sign a contract. I accept that I'm in your film etc. I said to them you have to sign this contract when you have seen the film and you like it, otherwise you don't sign it. They don't have any rights, they don't have any control in their lives, I said to them I give you back something which was a huge risk for me as well because they have their strange moments as well, so I was a little bit afraid. Also with the prison itself I said to them only afterwards you have to sign and if you don't like it...but I'm not somebody who will offend the prison itself. So I show them the film, to the prisoners and nobody, they were sad to see themselves. One said, I am sad but this one is very bad, I'm ok. So it's funny to see how they react on their neighbours. And the head of the prison itself, said it's shocking but it's reality so we cannot say anything. The head of the prison was at my screening and she took the mic and she talked to the audience which was also very nice. They said, we don't like what's happening, we hope something will change.

Aud: Has anyone tried to escape?

Dir: there was one very strange moment, I made jokes about it when I was there. I said 'next time I'll bring white sheets and I'll help you escape' but no. There was one very strange moment with Wilfried, he said to me, 'this weekend you have to watch the news because somebody will be killed who is responsible for my situation, so you have to watch the news'. And then I didn't, it was very difficult for me to decide what to do because I cannot be responsible for this. I was quite sure that he would not do that but if I would share it with somebody and he knows it, then I would lose his trust. So, it happened that people said things to me, where I had to make some ethical decisions. But nobody, no, they are too weak to escape I think. They can't run.

Aud: When you say they can't run, do mean in a state of mind where they can't escape or physically unable to run? Is it the medicine?

Dir: You have seen Salem in the film, the French speaking man, that says 'I'm lost'? This man, I knew he was between 9-10 o'clock in the morning I could a little bit, we could communicate a little bit. And then it finished for the rest of the day he's sleeping, it's impossible to really talk to him. So after the film one month after the film, after shooting the film, I visited him again and maybe at 2 o'clock he was very ok, and I said 'what's happening with you Salem, it's very nice to talk but what's happening'. He said, 'I don't know, they changed my medication'. So maybe he's there 8yrs, so maybe for 8 years he had been like this, and somebody decides we'll try something else and, he woke up. They don't have anybody to defend them so they are, completely lost.

cinergie.be

Aud: Did your research include talking to psychiatrists to see how they SHOULD be treated?

Dir: Yes but limited. Because I really decided to show their situation from inside and I thought I don't really know the situation with law and so on. Once I talked to them, I decide now I have to shut myself off from the outside world. Of course before I could talk to them, and spoke to the guards and the people around them. So I talked a lot to them in the beginning. I had to be positive about this film because, the day I said to Wilfried a little bit from outside, I said 'I will start filming', he said 'oh you cannot'. After one year and a half he said, 'no, forget it'. And I stayed calm and I said ,'ok I'll find somebody else'. And he said 'no, no, no film us'.

Aud: how come you chose not to interview the guards?

Dir: I'm not interested int their situation. My film is about them. Every information has to be. I'm not a journalist, I hate objective films, I hate it. I want to make subjective films and I don't want if somebody says, if somebody gives an a, somebody has to give a b - no, I'm not interested in that. It's the spectator who has to make their own story and there are so many.. I'm not interested at all in showing the opinion of everybody.

Aud: Comment on the sound scape. Was it almost all, filmed in the room?

Dir: A little bit composing but the challenge was, how can we reduce the sound because in reality, there is so much sound and so we had to put filters on it to reduce the sound. And so we decided, me and the editor decided, to put some details on it, to make it there. You don't want to be in a bath of sound, you want some little points to point out some feelings. Like the toilet, the water in the pipes, this is re-constructed. it's impossible, you stand there with the mic, it's not always reality but I'm sure it's like... And sometimes I wanted to have this effect of being in their head.

Unforeseen - War Stories

I'd seen Unforeseen - War Stories advertised and the idea of forum theatre interested me greatly, particularly with the exchange that was going to be taking place between AZ Theatre in London and Theatre For Everybody (TFE) in Gaza.

I'd assumed it would be an improv session that bounced back and forth over Skype. It turns out, not. Which now, thinking about the regular power cuts in Gaza seemed a bit of a foolish assumption. The piece began with a series of still images depicting words we associate with war: dislocation, realising, resisting and so on. Director Jonathan Chadwick then picked apart the still images, describing how they had arrived at their artistic decisions, what story each tableau was telling. He then proceeded to invite the audience to change the things that suggested war in each tableau to instead suggest peace; smiling faces, dancing and togetherness. I am sure that I understand the message that Jonathan was trying to get across but to many in the audience, the first part of the performance was more a dissection of theatre than a dissection of war. It seemed self-indulgent and inappropriate. Although in a 2 day workshop - what more did we expect?

The second part of the piece moved to readings of an email exchange between Jonathan and Gazan health professionals. The emails began to satisfy the feeling we'd been missing I think. It described rumours of multi-drug resistance in Gazans, and a quest seeking powerful evidence to support such claims. Amidst the exchange came stats like, 90% of the water supply in Gaza is undrinkable, which began to arm me with the facts I thought I'd find more of throughout the evening. The emails only went so far though and we are yet to hear of any conclusive findings but it's good to know there is at least an avenue of conversation across the globe between those who care enough to try and prove these public health rumours.

The third part was perhaps the reason many of us had travelled, some from Leeds, to Rich Mix, to hear the work of the theatre group in Gaza and to join them in conversation. 

Each of the young Gazans had written a poem about war and peace and performed it to camera. Filmmaker Hazem Alabyad had then edited them together with war-filled images that directly contradicted the beauty of their words. He said, 'I wanted the message of hope to be as strong as the message of war'. And I think we saw that, not just in the poems but in our conversation with them.

The poems were intimately about peace, about their lives, about their dreams. You can watch the videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqzurFteRe9-rR0Ijt7NldkYJxE1NKYQi

The Q&A

aztheatre.org.uk

Questions began a little timidly amidst a luddite audience fearing Skype initiated communication, but the first question finally arrived: 

How does it feel to live in Gaza under siege?

'My parents saw Jordan and Egypt. I have only ever seen Gaza. People ask me what it's like but I have only ever seen Gaza.'

And it's true, how would we know how good, bad, fun, boring, beautiful or unbearable something or somewhere is, if it is all we have ever known? With this answer, they'd set their self-awareness in stone and the floor opened up a little.

So why did you make the videos - what did you get from it?

'It shaped me into someone new' said a TFE rep. 
He shared with us that the video helped him to express his 'other self'. I can identify with this, performing (particularly spoken word) gives you a chance to reflect on who you are and channel your feelings in ways you wouldn't normally explore. It makes you think about things you think of every day, in a different light.

aztheatre.org.uk

One of the girls amongst the group took this further and said, 'it introduced me to drama as education, I'd never thought about it like that before'. 
Drama has been a huge part of my education and this realisation really spoke to me. Self-expression has been a part of who I am, through performance arts, writing and media and I think it really helped me to find peace in who I am. I totally understood her revelation and the impact it might have. 

Jonathan then sprang into action to let them know that the videos gave us, in this small space in Shoreditch, hope. It met with the response, 'Hope comes from the humblest of places...huh?'

They were testing us, challenging us to challenge our views about them - not to limit our expectations or underestimate them and the test continued...

usa.chinadaily.com.cn - Gaza sea shore

A member of the UK audience asked them: 
But how do you stay motivated?

They replied 'Everyone has a dream - I am living the same as you. My rights, my dreams, Israel limits everything, so we can create hope from anything'. 

Who are we to assume life there is hopeless? No-one. Yet TFE remain aware of their audience.

(Speaking about the Skype screen) 'This is a window to let the light through. It's tough, we still have hope because we know that outside Gaza there is this world that believes in us'.

And they do. They really do. 

es.klear.com - Gaza City

Taking it further - challenging us to see Gaza in another light, to see past the news reels and destruction, a TFE rep said:

'We Gazans cling to any slice of hope. The blockade, the siege, it's boring to me. We want to paint the picture of the beauty of Gaza.  Beautiful places and culture in Gaza that we want to convey'.

A culture we only caught a glimpse of, but really felt a sense of. If you didn't click the link to watch the videos above, then go back and see for yourselves.

youtube.com

Then followed a very clear message to anyone who would try to stand in the way of their project to reach out to the world - although with connotations spreading much further than the rooms we found ourselves in. When asked 'Are you not scared your messages will be censored?'. The reply simply came:

'It will not stop us.'

The TFE team were of course a lot like any other drama group, they had the class clown (who never failed to let us forget how cold it was there), the confident ones, the shy ones - we were even treated to a rap of a Shakespearean sonnet! It was like hanging out with familiar friends, friends who were sharing a very powerful message with the world. Messages that say we are just like you, do not underestimate us, do not assume we do not know hope.

When asked their final question, 'what is freedom to you?' - the most powerful answer of the evening came:
'We will not define freedom until we get it'

And why would you? How could you? 

With Thanks to Theatre For Everybody and AZ Theatre. Rich Mix, 2016.