|
CONTRIBUTE BLOGS
04/02/2009 18:22
by Marcia Stepanek
When in Britain last week at
the Skoll World Forum, I was
referred to a recent article
in The Observer written by
Joss Garman, the 24-year-...
03/02/2009 22:35
by Marcia Stepanek
As the recent copyright woes
of Obama poster artist Shepard
Fairey show, there's a war
raging over what some now are
calling a new art form in ...
02/16/2009 07:24
by Marcia Stepanek
I just finished reading an
advance copy of "The Blue
Sweater: Bridging the Gap
Between Rich and Poor in an
Interconnected World,&qu...
| |
60 Seconds With...
Film Festival Director John Biaggi
Q&A with Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Director John Biaggi
For the past 19 years, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has held an annual screening of films made by social activists to shed new light on social problems at home and abroad. This year’s festival, which ran through June 26 in Manhattan, featured 32 films from 20 countries. Included were some of the film world’s newest and most topical nonfiction works, such as China’s Stolen Children, a critique of that country’s one-child policy, which carries particular resonance in the wake of the killer earthquake that swept China’s Sichuan Province this past spring. Another, the American film, Traces of the Trade, offers a new take on the issue of race in America as it follows one Rhode Island family’s modern-day struggle to reconcile its ancestors’ role as slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries. The festival also offered a special series of nine short films by young filmmakers under the age of 19 that highlight issues ranging from immigration reform to the downside of global trade. “Documentary films along with human rights have gone mainstream,” festival director John Biaggi told CONTRIBUTE reporter Cristina Maldonado in a recent interview. “Documentaries are now the dominant form of how people get their information about larger issues.” What follows is an edited transcript of that interview. To view clips of some of these films, go to the Featured Video area of this site.
What is the importance of film in society today—chiefly documentary film?
What’s changed in the 12 years I’ve directed this festival is that documentary films along with human rights have gone mainstream. What you have is documentary techniques being used in fiction films, Hollywood films, and television. I think the vocabulary of documentary filmmaking has become central in viewers' minds and because of that, more people want to see them. People are also more political and more attuned to the issues in the world that need attention.
For those kinds of concerns, I feel it’s documentary film that can really bring you factual information with great impact because it allows you to enter into a situation in a more intimate and intense way then you would otherwise.
What were the origins of this particular festival?
There was a concern in 1988, when this festival was founded, that human rights needed a broader platform and film seemed like a logical way to give it that platform. Now films are the dominant form of how people get their information about larger issues.
Back when we began the festival, human rights films and human rights were not as central in the general consciousness, certainly not in the consciousness of many Americans and in the world at large. During the last two decades, that has radically changed. What you see now is that, as globalization expands our consciousness of one another, human rights issues are prevalent as never before.
How effective is a film festival in exposing crucial social issues to the public? Are the audiences big enough to have an impact?
We provide a very important platform for some of these films, which won’t get [commercial] theatrical exposure. When filmmakers screen at our film festival, a lot of people notice that wouldn’t otherwise.
The audiences for any film festival are small compared to, say, the debut of a film, but you have to consider that people who attend film festivals are usually the types of people who can influence others. In addition, these films touch not simply the audience present in the screening room. They also can influence people who read articles about the films or see them reviewed on television or who hear the directors interviewed on the radio. All of this has a huge ripple effect on how wide the net is cast on these films and the issues they present.
How is a film chosen for screening at the festival?
It’s a very layered process. We had over 1,000 submissions this year—a record amount--and in my view, that’s a sad commentary on the amount of human rights issues and abuses in the world today. When selecting a film, we’re first looking to see if it is centrally a film on human rights or if human rights are just being used as a backdrop. If the central themes are on human rights, then the film is considered. Then it becomes a question of how good the film is. Is it well structured? Does it have an arch? Is it engaging and accurate? We employ researchers who screen each film and check it for accuracy. In addition, we have an extensive volunteer screening committee made up of filmmakers and people in the field of human rights. Our staff also weighs in. Finally, we also look at the subject matter. Do we have a variety? Are we screening four films on Argentina this year? We want to offer as wide a range of themes and countries of origin as is possible each year.
With a multitude of films competing for the public eye, how tough is it for filmmakers to get their films seen?
It’s very tough to distribute human rights films. What you have now are too many films coming out all year round—not just human rights films, but all independent films, as well. They can’t all get press notice and audiences. On top of that, human rights films tend to get less notice than other independent releases because many of these human rights films are under-funded and simply don’t have exposure. Further, the number of distributors willing to take these films on has decreased, so filmmakers are left with the choice of self-distribution, which requires time, energy and resources. If those resources aren’t sufficient, then a film sort of fades away. That’s another reason why a festival like ours is important. When you showcase these films, you’re giving a distributor a reason to take another look at a film.
Does the Internet help at all with distribution?
It can help, but I don’t think it’s helping enough. For instance, most filmmakers at this point have a Web site built for their film early on, which is very important. Some filmmakers will do a DVD release on their own and try to sell the film themselves. There’s certainly a lot more that could be done—such as put an entire film up on a site and let people download it for a fee. It would make it easier for filmmakers to be able to realize their film’s potential with audiences worldwide.
What are the biggest challenges to filmmakers in today’s burgeoning world of film?
There are two challenges. First, there’s the serious issue of funding that in the U.S. is a very big problem. We don’t have any kind of large foundations and funding opportunities for films at the moment, and that’s a real shame. Some countries, like The Netherlands and Sweden, for example, have great funding setups for filmmakers. The U.S., though, doesn’t have this, and it’s a pity because the United States probably has more independent filmmakers than any other country in the world, and yet we don’t help them find funding for these films. Consequently, a lot of talented people give up at some point. I used to make films but it was costing me too much money and I had to stop.
On the other end, you have the distribution and outreach problem. There isn’t enough funding available to distribute and market many of these films. It’s a tough market, so filmmakers are really in a tough spot for making these films and getting them out.
What about private philanthropy?
It’s interesting, I find when I talk to filmmakers every year that it’s often the case that what allowed them to start or finish the film was a good-sized donation from a philanthropist, whether it was an individual or foundation that had a particular interest in that subject matter. And without that, I don’t think that a lot of these films would ever get off the ground. More and more what I see is people who have found a person who is willing to kick in a significant amount money to help in whatever stage the film is and that’s made a huge difference.
In this year’s festival, which of the films are proving to be the most controversial?
Project Kashmir is a world premiere at the festival and I do believe it’ll be controversial simply because it’s about Kashmir, and we’ll have people from India and Pakistan in the audience. I would say it has the same level of controversy as, say, the Israeli-Palestinian situation. One of the other films that proved controversial was To See If I’m Smiling, which is about female Israeli defense force soldiers and their experiences in the occupied territories. It’s a subject that will always prove controversial. Another is Traces of the Trade, which is on reparations in the U.S. on slave trade and the largest slave trading family, the DeWolfs, of Rhode Island. It was made by one of the descendants of that family with the help of two other filmmakers. We also have, on closing night, the film, USA vs. Al-Arian, about a very outspoken Palestinian supporter and U.S. citizen who was hounded and deemed a terrorist sympathizer by the U.S. government. The government brought a case against him, which was later rejected by the courts. He was let go, but the government decided that if it couldn’t prosecute him, it would deport him. Two-and-a-half years later, he’s still in jail awaiting deportation.
Are you featuring films on areas of the world previously not on the radar of American moviegoers?
We certainly are. There’s a film on Nepal. I think some people have noticed it because there were demonstrations on the street against the king of Nepal two years ago and recently he stepped down. But I think most people don’t know what the government of Nepal is about and where it’s located on the map. I don’t think we’ve shown a film on Nepal in the past, or at least for many years. This year, the film, The Sari Soldiers, follows five women from different sides of the issue, women from the democracy movement and royalists who are supporting the king and everyone in-between. The director is the winner of our Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking, so we’re very proud of that film.
What makes this year’s festival most unique? Is there a film that stands out for you?
One unique program we have this year is our Youth Producing Change program. It’s the first time that we’ve featured an all-youth program in the festival. Out of a pool of 250 film submissions from all around the world, we picked a program of nine short films from South Africa, the UK, Canada and the U.S. It’s a program that’s being presented in partnership with Adobe Youth Voices, an arm of the Adobe Foundation. It’s one of the programs that Adobe has created to support youth filmmaking. The company gives grants to young filmmakers from around the world. We’re going to be touring the program, taking it from New York, to Boston, San Francisco, London and we’ll also put it in our travel festival and it’ll also available in our high school screening program.
|
