Features

June 16, 2008

Filmmaking and Human Rights

This month the ICTJ co-presents two documentary films at the 2008 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Bruni Burres, ICTJ Productions Executive Producer, explains the importance of human rights films and their significance in our work.

What role does filmmaking play in the promotion of human rights?

The strength of using film to highlight human rights issues, whether in a documentary, a fiction, or animation work, is that it offers an emotional, or human, element that news reporting often lacks.

Film takes the viewer on an emotional journey as well as an intellectual journey. It shows-instead of merely tells-viewers about important human rights issues while letting the audience connect to the characters in the story.

If it's really a great film, then days later you'll think about it and the story it tells about the main characters-the victims of a mass atrocity, or activists who are fighting for change-and you will want to learn more about the situation and become involved.

Why is the human element so important?

Because that's how we relate to the world around us. The statistics and numbers that we hear on the news every day can affect people sometimes, but when you meet a victim's family members or see footage of a person before she or he was murdered, you begin to make a personal connection.

When you have a personal connection, it's much harder to say "that happened over there" or "it doesn't affect me," because you realize it does. What happens to a woman in Nepal, for example, affects all of us at the very least on a human level. A human face helps people understand the issues and begin to extrapolate the larger issues-and what can be done to address them.

What are the necessary ingredients for an effective human rights film? Is entertainment a prerequisite?

The necessary ingredients are the same as they are for any great film-great story, enthralling character, cinematically riveting.

It has to be engaging and take the viewer to a new place. It has to be visually precise-that's the joint responsibility of the cinematographer, the director and the editor. There are many documentaries that are "beautiful" in a useless way, with impressionistic shots of landscapes interspersed with indifferent framed interviews and documentation of events. In a good film, every element is working together-dramatically, aesthetically, morally.

How do you balance the demand for documentation and entertainment?

Every filmmaker has to battle with how to best move the story forward, and has to ask her or himself when-if ever-the need for entertainment is above the need for the truth.

What films is the ICTJ co-presenting?

They are A Promise to the Dead, by Peter Raymont, and The Sari Soldiers, by Julie Bridgham.

A Promise to the Dead [which premiered on June 13] looks back 33 years to when Salvador Allende was in power in Chile. It then brings the viewer through the military coup, the 16-year rule of Augusto Pinochet and the loss of hope that came with the serious human rights violations during the life of his regime.

What the film brings to light, though, is that during the 33 years of struggle and loss of hope, there were people fighting. If you look at Chile today, it is a democratic country and a country living out a transition, in large part because of the people that chose to and continue to fight for justice and democracy. Through Ariel Dorfman's story, you can see the positive impact of the people who continued to fight-even from exile.

But Dorfman also makes us realize that we can not romanticize that time in Chilean history; but it is important to get an accurate look at the period and ask the right questions.

What do you mean by the "right questions"?

Critical questions, like, "did we do the right thing?" or "did we do all that we could do?"

The dictatorship was obviously wrong. But history is not black and white. There are always missed opportunities or political blunders. So, it's interesting to see the people who were on the "right" side, like the characters in A Promise to the Dead, ask themselves those important questions. It brings a more historical lens to the situation, and keeps the political and human viewpoint alive and vibrant.

Does The Sari Soldiers have a similar theme?

A Promise to the Dead looks back over three decades, while The Sari Soldiers [which premieres on June 20] examines the current situation-the current transition-in Nepal. The filmmaker, Julie Bridgham, spent three years there documenting the fight of six courageous women against the abuses of an oppressive regime.

Why are these films significant to the ICTJ's work?

First, the ICTJ works in Nepal. So, the knowledge that we can get from Bridgham's three years in the midst of the conflict is really valuable. It adds to our knowledge of the transition there by giving a three-dimensional picture of the situation that you cannot get without spending time on the ground.

While both films highlight the importance of individual courage and human rights, Sari Soldiers documents the situation in a country that still has a very fragile peace.

It remains important that these women, and the human rights movement in Nepal, keep international support. We, as part of the international human rights community, have to keep our eye on Nepal because the transition will take a long time. This film is a good tool in that effort.

We're not currently working in Chile. But transition doesn't happen in one year, or two years. Chile's transition has taken time and is still progressing. And because of its many successes-like electing the first female president in Latin America-it will always serve as a landmark for countries going through transition. We don't want to forget a place when there has been a positive change.

Both films are significant also because they highlight that one person, even with a small action, can be part of a larger movement and can make a difference.

How would you advise people who are moved by one of the films and want to get involved or make change?

Start learning more. Find out what's happening in Chile, or what's happening in Latin America over all. What about Nepal? What is that country's government doing to address human rights issues? Considering Nepal-find out what exile groups are doing to help women in Nepal. Look into school and education programs for women.

Also, see what's happening in your own backyard. Do you have people from Chile or Nepal living in your neighborhood? Maybe refugees? Or people in exile?

They don't have to be Chilean or Nepalese. What about Chinese, or Sudanese? Find out what their lives are like and make sure that they feel comfortable and engaged in your community. Finally, don't see things just as black and white. Keep your eyes open to what is happening around you.