On 5 November, No Fire Zone was shown at Riverside Studios as part of a series of Between the Lines follow up events hosted by Frontline Club and DocHouse. This documentary chronicles the last 138 days of the civil war in Sri Lanka, revealing the brutal tactics employed by the Sri Lankan army and government against the Tamil population. The screeninng was followed by a lively Q&A with director, Callum Macrae, who introduced the film as evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and warned the audience to prepare themselves accordingly for the images they were about to see.
The film uses footage taken by civilians, Tamil Tigers and government soldiers, plus testimonies from civilian survivors and UN officials, forming a harrowing and disturbing picture of the final stages of the 26-year civil war, where an estimated 40,000 – 70,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by the government’s military. The title of the film refers to the government-allocated no fire zones that were set-up as safe areas for Tamil civilians, which the military then purposefully attacked.
All the footage used in the film has been authenticated as genuine by forensic pathologists. However, as Macrae told the audience, the Sri Lankan government continues to maintain that the videos in the film, which have mostly been taken using camera phones or satellite phones, are fabrications, as are the estimated death count and disappearances.
The Sri Lankan government has strongly opposed the release of this film, using their influence to pressure other countries into preventing screenings. A recent Malaysian screening was raided and one of the organisers was arrested for censorship charges, facing a possible three year prison sentence. Macrae is also having problems obtaining an Indian visa to attend screenings of the film, an application process which he started in February.
One audience member asked why the videos and photos of the atrocities presented in the film did not make it into our news media or social media the same way images from the Arab Spring did? Macrae responded that the Western media needs to ask themselves that question, as the images did make their way onto the Internet, as events were occurring, and British Tamils were staging large campaigns and protests to draw attention to the atrocities.
The Sri Lankan government dismissed the videos as propaganda. They were able to gain international support from allies, as much of the world already viewed the Tamil Tigers as terrorists, and were able to hide behind a ‘shameless’ adoption of the West’s rhetoric of the “war on terror”, creating a ‘conspiracy of silence’, Macrae said. This view was challenged, towards the end of the session, by a Sinhalese audience member who accused the film and Channel 4 of bias against the government, which was vehemently rejected by Macrae.
Much of the Q&A focused on the lack of action by the international community. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is due to be held in Colombo towards the end of November, despite criticism from international human rights organisations. Currently the only government who has expressed their opposition to this decision is Canada, who will boycott the conference.
The film depicts the UN leaving Sri Lanka, and presents testimonies from former UN staffers on their distress over this decision, and the abandonment of their role as protectors. Macrae was also critical of the UN, noting that the Human Rights Council passed a resolution congratulating Sri Lanka on ending the civil war. He stated that the UN made no real effort to intervene while in Sri Lanka, and strongly believes that they consciously concealed information about the number of deaths by preventing information being revealed during the time. Furthermore, Macrae added:
“I believe [that by staying there] it wasn’t just that it was complicit in what was going on, it provided an active cover for what was going on, because . . . people were assuming the UN was providing some kind of monitoring process. I think, in a sense [the UN] facilitated the ongoing massacres by saying nothing.”
He did, however, acknowledge that some progress has been made since, in part due to his film, and is hopeful that the UN’s criticism of Sri Lanka’s actions will grow stronger. He noted that the film has been shown to UN delegations also, with positive responses.
Congrats to @Callum_Macrae on powerful documentary showing truth to power #NoFireZone pic.twitter.com/2oFxaYPJZX
— James Denselow (@jamesdenselow) November 5, 2013
Many audience members wanted to know what they could do as individuals, and what the international community is doing or should be doing to hold Sri Lanka to account. Macrae stated that the intention of the film was to increase awareness of the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government and hopes that it will be used as a form of evidence for justice in the future. He continued:
“Without justice you can’t have peace and reconciliation, and to get justice you need truth”
He asked that everyone put pressure on the UK government, by contacting their MPs and the Prime Minister, to remain true to their promises to raise these issues with Sri Lanka during CHOGM. He pointed out that David Cameron maintains that it is a better decision to participate in the conference to bring attention to the issues, but that the government has made no sign of opposing Sri Lanka’s actions.
Macrae remains hopeful, however, that India, an influential country in the region with a large Tamil population, will decide to boycott CHOGM. He told the audience that he has received threats over his decision to travel to Sri Lanka during CHOGM, due to the opposition to this film.
A shortened version of No Fire Zone can be viewed on Channel 4 4od and there are a number of international events lined up.
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By Antonia Roupell
Between the Lines Follow-Up Events once more succeeded in showcasing a diverse range of films at the Frontline Club on the 25th October. Each of the five documentaries opened a window onto a subject rarely documented from places like North Korea, Yemen and Iraq. Multimedia journalist, Adrian Branco and filmmakers Jason Lee and Tim Travers Hawkins were present for the Q&A with a large audience.
A bleak and urgent tone was set, starting with Travers Hawkins’ film 1000 Voices. It dealt with the reality of asylum seekers held in indefinite detention centres across the UK. The inhumanities the detained face were conveyed through authentic voice recordings juxtaposed with animation and performance art. Travers Hawkins said, “all the footage is suggestive.” He explained that the multiple mediums used were born out of their limitations, stating:
“There was talk at one stage of smuggling in camera phones and getting that kind of footage. . . . But then you have to ask yourself a question whether that kind of footage is better?. . . I think there is also an opportunity when you are denied access to film the subject to create something new and to use new forms of documentary expression.”
Branco also struggled with having to obey protocols in the pursuit of his story. In his film, The Death of Corporal Rivierè, he followed French troops to Afghanistan’s Surobi Valley and told the intimate story of one soldiers’ burial. He expressed his frustration at finding out that the images he had captured could not be made public:
“I was pissed off a lot and I was wondering how can I succeed in giving the feeling of being true to my audience without lying to the audience.”
He achieved this balance with the help of cartoonist Adrien Demot who drew the censored images, thus conveying the story without breaking any rules. Through both Travers Hawkins and Branco’s films the blurred boundaries within the aesthetics of reality were brought to light.
Death of a Prisoner by Laura Poitras also dealt with the direct reality and consequences of death in a war context. This time it was a disturbing portrait of a deceased Guantanamo Bay prisoner. His is a final journey home in a coffin to his family in Yemen after suffering great physical and psychological trauma in captivity which lead to his death. A glimpse into an individual tragedy, in view of a far bigger picture, had the effect of silencing the audience.
Evidently, creativity became the key in many of these films to overcome technical boundaries. Performance art itself empowered by a social statement was the subject of Maryam Ebrahimi’s film, The Death Row. This portrayed an act of defiance made by a group of 15 females in Kabul dressed in traditional mourning robes in a plea for Afghan women’s right to education. As they stand anonymously side-by-side the footage focuses on their audience of bewildered locals passing by.
Perhaps the most uplifting of the journeys was captured in Lee’s Letters from Pyongyang. A touching story which sees Lee make the journey with family in Canada to reunite momentarily with their long-lost relations isolated in North Korea. Their joyous reunion proved to be a painful reminder of the lost time stolen from them. From idea to completion this project took five years. The audience wanted to know how Lee had permission to film in North Korea. He explained that gaining a visa was the hard part and that in terms of filming:
“I was there on a very personal mission. My intentions were very clear from the beginning when I was in contact with the North Korean authorities.”
In both content and access it would be an understatement to describe these films as difficult. However Lee made an important point with regards to this in explaining that the complexity of the film process should not eclipsing the films’ subject. He spoke for the three filmmakers present when he said, “we stayed true to our stories.”
[vimeo clip_id=”77472035″ width=”400″ height=”225″]
Branco’s online documentary can be explored here: http://www.journageek.com/
Travers Hawkins’ multimedia projects continues here: http://www.invisiblepictureshow.com/
[vimeo clip_id=”57211223″ width=”400″ height=”225″]
No Fire Zone – The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, chronicles the final 138 days of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war. Told by the people who lived through it, the film builds on two award winning television documentaries by director Callum Macrae.
Civilians, Tamil Tiger camera operators and government soldiers filmed the events using small cameras and mobile phones. This disturbing footage is carefully analysed and authenticated by video analysts.
Macrae pieces together the scenes with personal accounts from civilians who survived the conflict and testimonies from UN officials who were forced to leave the area. The Sri Lankan government contests the depiction of events shown in No Fire Zone and dismisses the documentary as fake.
Directed by Callum Macrae
Duration: 90′
Year: 2013
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
Presented by:
Supported by:
On 28 October 2012, a government jet dropped a bomb on the village of al-Bara. Only 300 meters away, Olly Lambert was filming a meeting of rebel soldiers. While keeping his camera rolling, Lambert documented the shocking impact of the regime air strike on a civilian population.
As he was editing the highly acclaimed Syria: Across the Lines – a revealing report for Channel 4/PBS – he realised the footage shot that day in al-Bara offered a candid insight into the reality of documenting a war. Lambert decided to narrate the raw footage and publish it online, creating a rare, immersive and powerful portrait of the civil war. This footage went viral and reached a far greater number of people around the world than had tuned in to the original Channel 4/PBS piece.
Taking as his starting point the stark difference between the standard format piece of reportage he was commissioned to film and the 36 minutes of intimate personally narrated footage which became known as The Bombing of Al Bara, Lambert will discuss in depth the experience of filmmaking on the front line.
Directed by Olly Lambert
Duration: 36′
Year: 2012
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
Presented by:
Supported by:
“The evening breeze
blows towards the bride
as she takes her leave
on her wedding day.”
(“New Bride, New Night” by Salma)
On Thursday 26 September, the Frontline Club and DocHouse screened the evocative documentary Salma. Hosted at Rich Mix, the film was the latest in the Between the Lines Follow-Up series.
Directed by Kim Longinotto, the film follows the poet and novelist Salma on her return to her home village where she was effectively imprisoned for 25 years. Editor Ollie Huddleston joined for the post-film Q&A.
Elizabeth Wood of DocHouse began with a discussion on the craft of editing:
“Fiction films are shot to a script, but really, with a film like this, and with all Kim’s films, a script is really written during the edit.”
“I think the best documentary films are like fiction films,” responded Huddleston:
“You’re building a story. . . . I look at this film now and I see it’s of course a film about Tamil Nadu and Muslim culture and Salma, but the important thing is always that it should connect to us. It’s a very universal story in some ways. The bonds, the knots, the ties, the families. Fear of breaking away and not being able to break away.”
Editor Ollie Huddleston. Photo: George Symonds
An audience member asked if the village had changed since the film was made.
“My experience of the village,” said Huddleston, “is what I see through that material. My understanding is that it hasn’t changed, no, not at all. And I think Malik – Salma’s husband – is quite unusual. As much as he was a very strong part of keeping her away and keeping her apart from society, he also helped her to break free, and that’s very unusual.”
“He must have grown too, in a way do you think?” followed Wood.
“Yeah, the weirdest thing was that Kim and Salma, when I finally met her, said he liked the film, that he was proud of the film. That is amazing for me,” said Huddleston. “Because he doesn’t come across brilliantly sometimes. Kim said he was a lovely guy and incredibly friendly and all the rest of it, but maybe he’s happy that the story is being told. He seems very proud of his wife so eventually maybe he’s coming around and maybe the village will change, one day.”
“But,” countered Wood, “do you think perhaps he’s the one who made his sons critical of her?”
“Yes, I do. Definitely he did. But he’s part of the village, isn’t he? I mean they all are. So the village tradition has meant that they’re all bound by the past and traditions that women are locked up and hidden away.”
Ollie Huddleston in conversation with Elizabeth Wood. Photo: George Symonds.
Huddleston then spoke of the difficulties faced during filming:
“Salma had to hide a lot. They thought she was making some kind of drama film and she was going to make money out of this film in some way. So I think there was a lot of antagonism in the village. But she’s an extraordinary, pragmatic, charismatic, thoughtful, incredibly eloquent person so I imagine she found a way to explain it to them, and to get the film made.”
Hands went up in the audience to ask about the inclusion of the Hindu wedding:
“We wanted to balance the film out. That it’s not just Muslim weddings. I mean, that girl is about 10 or 11. It happens quite a lot in the village so that was the reason. It’s quite shocking, and truthful.”
Is she, Salma, interested in the world of politics and making a difference that way?
“She started a women’s refuge in Chennai and yes, she’s very interested in changing the world, most definitely,” explained Huddleston. “Politics is one way of doing that but I think at the moment she’s writing. I couldn’t say whether she’d go back into politics again. Maybe.”
Huddleston then responded to how he approached representing the many complex characters:
“You try to make stories develop. . . . Throughout the film you’re probably thinking, ‘God, how could she [Salma’s mother] do that to her daughter?’ . . . In the end, she helps her publish her books, she smuggles them out – she’s more complicated than that. So to be really crude about it, there’s a kind of set up about who the mother is. You think she’s this person then, later on, you’ve changed your opinion of her. ‘Wow, she’s stood up, she went and got the books, she sent them to a publisher, she is on Salma’s side.’ There’re many references to the mother and the complexity of that relationship is huge and crucial to the film really. You’re trying to make it understandable and very real.”
'Each shot has to count and each moment has to count' – editor Ollie Huddleston #documentary #Salma
— BerthaDocHouse (@BerthaDocHouse) September 26, 2013
To conclude, Huddleston commented on the circularity that the film depicts:
“It’s that idea that we’re constantly going in a circle. When she lies on the floor and says, ‘What can I do, I can’t leave the ones that love me, I’d be completely alone,’ isn’t that true of all families? It’s a circular thing. That seemed to be the most truthful point. She’s still yearning for her mother’s approval or love or closeness. Nothing has changed, in certain ways, even though she’s done extraordinary things.
“It’s because it’s a film about circles. Circles within families, within tradition, within religion, and trying to break free from those. That felt like the most honest end, the most truthful end. Nothing is simple.”
A collection of Salma’s poems and Longinotto’s reflections on creating the documentary is published by OR Books.
Upcoming films in the Between the Lines Follow-Up series can be found here.
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Thursday 26 September 2013, 8:00 PM Rich Mix London
Growing up in South India, Salma spent most of her childhood under house arrest. She poured out her anguish writing poetry which she sneaked out of the house. Against the odds she became one of the best known Tamil poets and her newfound fame helped her start on the path to freedom. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Kim Longinotto’s long-term editor Ollie Huddleston.
Which Way is the Front Line from Here – The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington + Q&A
Thursday 17 October 2013, 8.30 PM Lexi Cinema
Colleague and co-director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Restrepo, Sebastian Junger, thoughtfully portrays Tim Hetherington’s life and work. At a time when greater numbers of journalists are losing their lives covering conflict, the film also addresses the high risks taken by war journalists. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer James Brabazon.
Shorts at the Frontline Club – Between the Lines Special – BOOK NOW
Friday 25 October 2013, 7:00 PM Frontline Club
Join us for an evening of short documentaries, showcasing films from different parts of the world, covering a wide range of topics. As part of Between the Lines the selection will focus on ‘filming the unfilmable’, followed by a discussion on how to document events that that are difficult to access.
The Bombing of al-Bara + Q&A – BOOK NOW
Tuesday 29 October 8.30 PM Ritzy Picture House
2012, a government jet dropped a large bomb on the village of al-Bara. Only 300 meters away, Olly Lambert was filming a meeting of rebel soldiers. While keeping his camera rolling, Lambert documented the shocking impact of regime air strikes on a civilian population. The result is a rare, immersive portrait of the reality of civil war.
No Fire Zone : The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, chronicles the final 138 days of the 26 year Sri Lankan civil war, told by the people who lived through it. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Callum Macrae.
Presented by:
Supported by:
On 20 April 2011, photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington was killed by mortar fire in the city of Misrata, Libya. He bled out in the back of a pick-up truck on his way to the hospital.
In his work Hetherington focused on the experience of war from the perspective of the individual. Through his photographs, writing and films, he offered new ways to think about human suffering as a result of war. He captured the perspective of the soldiers and the civilians, caught up in the many conflicts he reported. The work he did throughout his ten-year career has established him as one of the most important photojournalists of his generation.
Colleague and co-director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Restrepo, Sebastian Junger thoughtfully portrays Hetherington’s life and work. At a time when greater numbers of journalists are losing their lives covering conflict, the film also addresses the high risks taken by war journalists.
Directed by Sebastian Junger
Produced by James Brabazon
Duration: 79′
Year: 2013
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
Presented by:
Supported by:
The Death Row (SE) One morning 15 figures appear in traditional Afghan mourning costumes in one of the most crowded public spaces in Kabul. Zarneghar Park is known for its background as the public place where the Taliban used to commit mass executions.
Directed by Maryam Ebrahimi | Duration: 5′ | Year: 2012
Letters from Pyongyang (CA) Canadian-Korean filmmaker Jason Lee makes a rare journey to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in search of long-lost relatives. With exclusive never-before-seen footage filmed in North Korea combined with archival images and family photographs, Letters from Pyongyang brings to light the tragic issue of divided families in Korea affected by political conflict.
Directed by Jason Lee | Duration: 28′ | Year: 2012
1000 Voices (UK) On an answer phone in a government basement, those detained indefinitely in UK removal centres leave messages. As they speak their experiences materialise in nightmarish images.
Directed by Tim Travers Hawkins | Duration: 9′ | Year: 2009
The Death of Corporal Rivière (F) From June 2010 to July 2011, Adrian Branco documented the daily life of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment, deployed in the Surobi Valley, Afghanistan. Back in France, the army asked him not to publish the photographs he had taken during a funeral service held for a soldier killed in Afghanistan. Through the drawings of French cartoonist Adrien Demont, Branco reflects on freedom of speech for embedded journalists covering conflict.
Directed by Adrian Branco | Duration : 6’| Year : 2012
Death of a Prisoner (US) Filmmaker Laura Poitras makes a journey to Yemen, following the return of the body of Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif to his family. In 2012, he died in solitary confinement at Guantánamo at age 36, after nearly 11 years of imprisonment there, despite never having been charged with a crime.
Directed by Laura Poitras | Duration: 9′ | Year: 2013
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
Presented by:
Supported by:
Growing up in South India, Salma’s parents took her out of school at the age of 13 and locked her away in a room with a single window. After 9 years she gave in to pressure to agree to an arranged marriage and was released from her house arrest into another kind of prison, in the home of her new husband’s family.
Throughout her desperate years of confinement, Salma poured out her anguish writing poetry which she sneaked out of the house, eventually getting a notebook into the hands of an enthusiastic publisher. Against the odds, Salma became one of the best known Tamil poets and her newfound fame helped her start on the path to freedom.
Following Salma on a trip back to her village, renowned British director Kim Longinotto (Divorce Iranian Style, 1998; Sisters in Law, 2005; Rough Aunties, 2008) paints a nuanced portrait of an extraordinary, resilient woman. Salma has hopes for a different life for the next generation of girls, but as she witnesses, familial ties run deep, and change happens very slowly.
Directed by Kim Longinotto
Duration: 2013
Year: 90′
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
Presented by:
Supported by:
The second Between the Lines Festival follow-up event took place at the ICA on 29 June, and was a showing of the director’s cut of the Act of Killing followed by a Q&A with director Joshua Oppenheimer. This remarkable film provides a look at the 1965-66 anti-Communist mass killings in Indonesia from the perspective of the former members of death squads. Oppenheimer offered perpetrators the opportunity to re-enact some of their murders in the style of their favorite movies, providing a unique and controversial insight into a period of Indonesian history that still remains largely ignored and unknown.
Oppenheimer filmed almost every perpetrator he could find within the North Sumatran Plantation Belt and collected some 1,400 hours worth of material. He explained how he was motivated to understand how these men saw themselves and how they felt others perceived them. If these questions could be answered, he would be able to better understand the regime, its motivation, as well as the perception of the killings in Indonesia today.
The film largely follows one man, Anwar Congo, who, like all the other perpetrators that Oppenheimer interviewed, proudly boasts of the murders he committed, even demonstrating the methods he used to kill to the camera. Towards the end, after participating in and viewing scenes from his past being re-enacted, Anwar appears to express remorse. Oppenheimer stated that the film holds up a ‘dark mirror, first to Anwar, and then to Indonesian society as a whole, and I hope that we . . . will see ourselves in that dark mirror to’.
Oppenheimer described how scenes were put together: the perpetrators provided ideas for how the scenes would be portrayed and Oppenheimer encouraged them to re-enact scenes in the style of different film genres. These re-enactments, and the justifications the perpetrators gave for the killings, were important as they began to serve as ‘allegories for impunity, allegories for what happens when no one’s held to account’. In listening to these justifications, he realised that they may actually ‘be a sign that the person is too afraid to admit that what they were doing was wrong; it can be a symptom of remorse…or…a conscience’.
In addition, Adi, another perpetrator, states regularly in the film that the killings were wrong and that the government should apologise. By stating that the killings that he participated in were wrong, he is portraying himself as someone who is tough and can live with himself; he is ‘showing off his numbness’ and lack of conscience.
In response to a question regarding a scene where Adi is shown at the mall with his family, Oppenheimer explained that he wanted to show an image of consumer society that could be anywhere in the world, that relies on devastation to exist:
“We destroy everything we touch, and we’re almost helpless to do so. . . . We’re collectively responsible insofar as we depend on these kind of men everywhere in the world, to keep labour cheap, to keep our consumer society going. . . . We also should remember that the military dictatorship allows Western corporations to break strikes, to seize land – this is the West’s vision for Indonesia.”
An audience member pointed out that in the closing credits, many roles are credited as anonymous. Oppenheimer explained that while Indonesia has welcomed the film, it is still unsafe for the many of the Indonesians that worked on the film – including his co-director – to give their names. It is still very difficult for Indonesians to discuss the events from 1965-66, and Oppenheimer explained that his motivation stemmed from encountering survivors from this period who had been terrorised into silence. He felt that what he was witnessing was too similar to his own family’s experience of the Holocaust for him to not try to expose truth to other Indonesians.
★★★★★ for The Act of Killing in the FT: 'mind-boggling, psyche-boggling, soul-boggling' http://t.co/IpJ6aeykmf Director's cut screening here
— Institute of Contemporary Arts (@ICALondon) June 29, 2013
From the beginning Oppenheimer was in contact with the organisation Tapol and many other Indonesian human rights organisations, who all contributed to the filmmaking process. He acknowledged that the government of Indonesia needs to apologise, before any changes to society can be made. This film has had a big impact on Indonesian society, and has ‘triggered an opening in Indonesia’, where there are discussions about what happened in the media. Investigations are being held and young people are becoming more interested in their history. There is also a movement to recover Indonesian culture, which was destroyed.
Oppenheimer expressed his hopes that Indonesia can go further by holding tribunals for the high-ranking men who ordered the killings, beginning the process of truth and reconciliation, along with developing grassroots political movements to reform the government, remove corruption, and work towards a fairer redistribution of wealth.
Both the regular and director’s cut of The Act of Killing are distributed by Dogwoof and continue to play throughout London and the UK. A list of upcoming screenings and Q&A’s can be found here.
Between the Lines was a three-day festival that took place at Rich Mix from 1 to 3 March. In a series of follow-up events we continue to explore the challenges facing documentary makers, investigative journalists and citizen reporters in the new media landscape.
This screening was in association with Picturehouse Docs and Tapol.
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