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.

'Born in Gaza'

This week, I spent my Friday evening among NGO representatives, documentary-goers, journalists and truth-seekers at the Frontline Club, for the UK premiere of Hernan Zin's beautifully filmed, 'Born in Gaza'.

The film follows 10 children between the ages of 6 and 13 as they recall the impact that the war in Gaza has had on their childhood and the price that the ordinary people have had to pay for a war where they are constantly asking themselves, 'why, why me?'.

www.elimparcial.es

I'll start with the cinematography. In a world where news reels show us unsteady mobile phone footage and blurred images of people fleeing an event, Zin wanted to give the audience time to understand his subjects, by slowing everything right down. The result was somewhat beautiful, as we watch our children of Gaza go about their daily tasks, we have the time to study them, to work out their thoughts from visuals before we hear them explained. The slow motion captures are unique amidst a backdrop of war and conflict and yet it speaks just as loud as any comment does, when we are able to study their every emotion, and have the time to conclude for ourselves just how much pain lies behind those eyes. It's tragically authentic.

Then I have to mention the drone. How Zin got a drone into Gaza I'm still not sure, but he did. And the aerial shots are the first images from the region that I've seen that really show the scale of the destruction, as well as how large the region of Gaza actually is. He also had some really lovely shots of Mohamed swimming underwater, so again, I'm not sure how he managed to get so much equipment into the region in the first place but I am so glad that he did. The cinematography was fantastic, especially considering the short amount of time that Zin spent there getting it right. His first visit, was cut from 5 days to just 1, so it's remarkable he got any footage at all.

decine21.com

Next, I'll speak about the story. It did lack a little in narrative but I feel that that's due to the rushed nature of putting the whole thing together. It was merely an editing together of separate stories and jumping through them, rather than instilling a narrative between them. The narrative was almost the destruction, shown through the wonderful drone shots I mentioned above. In Zin's words, 'We didn't even edit, just the questions and answers, they are incredible'. I seem to remember Zin telling us that the whole film was pieced together and edited in just 3 weeks? He wanted to get the film out whilst the message was still strong, and succeeded I think, in that. Despite the lack of narrative, it did not take away from the compelling nature of the children, and the way they told their stories. They have endured a constant barrage of fear and now, finally, with a middle finger held up to the bias of mass media corporations, we as an audience are allowed in to see it.

theguardian.com

In 2013 I travelled to Israel, and whilst my friends were content with learning about the conflict from the Israeli side, with input from Toby Greene of Bicom, who gave us a run down of the political history of the region, I really wanted to see for myself what life in the West Bank or Gaza is really like. During the session with Toby, although he allowed us to come to our own conclusions, the history of the state always came back to the plight of the Israelis... never to the plight of the Palestinians. THAT is the reason I attended the screening, because I wanted to see 'beyond the lines' if you like. Hernan Zin's film allowed me to do just that. I wanted to hear more about the fact that 'Palestine has for six decades, been denied the right to become a state' Hernan Zin.

Hamada - cultura.elpais.com

Motasem & his father - feelmakers.com

There were no politics involved in the film, no adult intervention - just children - and with it, the remarkable absence of hate and revenge as well as the complete removal of 'blame' - after all, the word Israel is only mentioned once. These children speak with such clarity of conscience about their innocence, their needs and their hopes, or absence of, for the future. The two children that touched me the most, were Hamada and his cousin Motasem; two of the surviving boys from the aerial attack on the boys playing football on the beach. 13yr old Hamada has such an intelligent and mature outlook on his life that he blew me away. He knows that they are innocent in the war, he knows that his cousin has been affected deeply by it and he knows that he needs help. Motasem, is 11 years old, and suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Just two days before Zin returned to film, Motasem shares with him that he tried to kill himself. He was going to jump from a building and his relative stopped him - Is this what this war is all about, crushing the will of children? You can see the fear and the pain etched into his face. Just as you can feel the children on edge as they tell of how they would jump at the sound of doors slamming. The film brings with it a 'feeling' rather than just a 'commentary' and that I feel, is unique.

blogs.elpais.com

I also thought it was remarkable that 6yr old Bisan, a young girl who refuses to talk about an attack that left her unable to close her right eye, has a young friend who is able to explain this to us, in a way that we could never have dreamt of communicating when we were her age. It is perhaps comforting to know, that her injuries are now going to be treated and operated on in Madrid, with the help of the film-makers, so perhaps Bisan will be able to at least draw a line under her external pain, if not the internal. However, the permission to travel must at first be granted by the Israeli authorities of course.

Hernan Zin with Mohamed - twitter.com

There are a wealth of moments that I could speak about, but the children of the film itself provide more justice than I could ever do with my words. They create a portrait of pain and of need for psychological support. They show that they are resilient: Mohamed, is just a boy and the only bread-winner in his family. He works all day collecting plastics with his horse and cart, for just 5 shekels - the equivalent of 80 pence.


It may not be the perfect film in terms of narrative, but from what I got from Zin, his only objective was to voice the suffering of the children... and in that he succeeded beautifully. The film is a wonderfully authentic portrait of childhood in Gaza and a powerful plea for psychological therapy, and an end to the conflict. After all, how can a child grow up when everyday he wakes to the sound of Israeli drones and the sight of Israeli warships 5miles to the horizon? He can't. And 'Born in Gaza' gives a particularly emotive voice to the people who endure this every day.

The wonderfully filmed, brilliantly authentic and tragically moving #BornInGaza tonight @frontlineclub Thank you for sharing
— Kat Mace (@KatMace11) February 20, 2015

Here's the trailer:


BORN IN GAZA_official trailer from CONTRAMEDIA FILMS on Vimeo.

The Eichmann Show

'The Eichmann Show', aired on our screens on BBC2 last night. Some of  us however, chose instead to watch the film at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton where we were treated with the company of producers Laurence Bowen and Ken Marshall, director Paul Williams and Writer Simon Block.

steelmillpictures.co.uk

I wasn't completely sure what my preconceptions of the film were and contrary to my normal routine, I decided to keep it that way. What I got in return was a film that despite its specific title, was entirely focused upon the trial of ordinary men, both the witnesses and the accused. A tangible link that, as Paul later reminds us, links us through time, to what man is capable of perpetrating and what man is capable of surviving.

picturehouses.co.uk

I find it hard to impugn any aspect of the production's value. Shot in 23days, edited in under 2months - and you wouldn't know it. You wouldn't know it at all which makes it almost pointless for me to mention it. Martin Freeman and Anthony LaPaglia do a grand job of creating an onscreen relationship and in characterising the battle of their inner demons. The lack of budget is unnoticeable at the hand of a good research team and art/costume department and the cinematography is cleverly orchestrated to complement the archive footage and keep the audience involved within the story.

bbc.co.uk

As a film-maker myself, I last year made a documentary entitled 'After Auschwitz' which champions a similar sentiment in that, the lessons there to be learned from the holocaust are ones that remain relevant within society today. In making the film I watched through much of the archive footage used within the Eichmann Show, but despite knowing I had seen some of it before, whether on my laptop screen or onsite at Yad Vashem, it felt like I too, was seeing it anew. The seamless quality of the original footage embedded within the scripted drama of the film, meant that we never once lost sight of the narrative. We instead were drawn to it, willing for it to act as proof, willing Eichmann to show even a glimmer of humanity. And that of course leads us to that one unanswerable question, 'why?' The question all of those 37 countries who televised the trial were asking, all of the 112 witnesses at the Eichmann Trial, were imploring to be answered. And yet, still now, we may never know.

This unanswered question was enough to drive Leo Hurwitz almost to despair and we too feel his agony at this indictment. Milton Fruchtman keeps up his impeccable, impenetrable nature of producing, of getting the job done, as any producer would. But what unfolds in The Eichmann Show is almost a cinematic re-construction of what short deadlines, a bold message and big ideas can really do for a production.

I have to say I didn't really think about the emotional impact of the film straight away. A lot like my visit to Auschwitz, it hit me on my journey home. As I transferred from the Victoria line to the jubilee line I noticed the assistance box, where TFL workers sit when on duty. Stood deserted in the station it looked a lot like Eichmann's box in the courtroom. I suddenly found myself picturing those faces I saw on screen, resting in Eichmann.  It actually made me forget which tube line to take.

As I said to Laurence when leaving the cinema, on meeting with many holocaust survivors at the annual Lord Merlyn-Rees memorial lecture this evening, I can't wait to hear what they thought of the film. After all, for now they are our witnesses, but in time, we will live to be theirs.

I am sure it will be a popular topic.

(Check back tomorrow when I'll have posted the Q&A with the film-makers. It'll be an interesting read!)