The panel consisted of award-winning filmmakers Liam Saint-Pierre, Chloe White, Marc Silver, and Gemma Atkinson, with documentary programmer and DocHouse producer Jenny Horwell moderating the discussion. 

The discussion began with an overview of techniques and inspirations from each filmmaker – and it was soon evident that the speakers did not stick to any unchangeable formula in their work.

“There is no process for when I’m making films,” Silver said, with White adding that he views himself as “more of a spontaneous filmmaker.”

Atkinson said: “I let the character dictate what direction the film goes in, rather than going into it with a big plan, which means it can go in any direction.”

“It has been quite nice to hear the others tonight, often I thought it was just me who was so haphazard!,”commented Saint-Pierre.

Great to see such a talented, eloquent bunch of documentary makers at @frontlineclub. Time I dusted off the camera. pic.twitter.com/JXSRVQbox4

— Peter Yeung (@ptr_yeung) February 15, 2016

Although there was a general consensus that the creative process should not be formulaic, three elements were highlighted for their significance at the start of a project: inspiration by way of specific characters, places, and issues.

“I like characters who are really passionate about something, and they are kind of on the edge of society,” said Saint-Pierre, as he explained how he found the shopkeeper around whom his first film centred.

Silver added: “for me, the place is a character. It’s not just the people, but also the essence of a place.”

Each of the panellists agreed that they aimed to spend as much time as possible with their subjects. Silver explained that on a five-day shoot, he would try and spend the first two days with his subjects without his camera. “I might take a stills camera, just for fun. But I’ve learnt from the past that I don’t need to over-shoot – and also I need to get past the first layer with that person and gain trust.”

However, the panel also reflected on how working with tight budgets and shorter timelines meant that the aim of spending significant time with their subjects was often unrealistic.

Horwell then moved the discussion onto one of the final stages of short documentary production: the editing process.

She asked the filmmakers to comment on their top tips for this stage, and how they avoid common mistakes.

“Hold the shot for longer than you plan. Whatever time you are holding it for, add an extra 5-10 seconds” Atkinson advised.

White agreed, and cemented the point with an extended clip from her film The Long Haul: “At the time I didn’t know that shot would be so useful, but trusting your shots and holding them for a long time, you’ll be thankful when it comes to the edit.”

Saint-Pierre added that for him “it was a matter of the character; you don’t want to turn the camera off. Often I’ve done it and then missed an amazing moment.”

The conversation did not run chronologically through the filmmaking process due to the non-linear nature of short documentary production – as Horwell had predicted – and the discussion touched on subjects including the use of ‘playful’ introductions, to how to best distribute your content online.

Return to Homs follows two close friends and young revolutionaries as their beloved city is taken over by the army. Basset is a local football star, the goalkeeper for the Syrian national team who also became an iconic singer in the revolution, and Ossama is a media activist and pacifist.

The intimate portrait shows how they transform from peaceful protestors by August 2011 into rebel insurgents in August 2013 as Homs is turned into a bombed-out ghost town. The film directed by Talal Derki was previewed at the Frontline Club on Friday 13 June and a Q&A with producer Orwa Nyrabia via Skype followed.

Nyrabia started by explaining that he wanted to find the right production strategy and position the film in the right way from the start:

“For the way that really fits its nature . . . we [wanted] people to follow our protagonists and not only to watch from a distance, with the alienation of distance as they watch on the news. Syria today, it’s a far away world between al-Qaeda and some lunatic dictator. . . . [We were] trying to get the world to connect to our reality rather than only to the stereotyped media image.”

An audience member asked how the local people had been affected by the conflict in Syria and how it had radicalised them.

“The world media did not manage to accept the boring news of a peaceful revolution and really were calling on all the rebels for sexier news. . . . A lot of the media pressure that was taking place was being initiated towards Syria asking where is al-Qaeda because the news was boring. And in that sense what happened was disastrous because it was all about appropriation to al-Qaeda or whatever is a similar thing and it was all in supporting favour of Assad who claimed it was a sectarian revolt.”

“Syrians were left alone and we reach what happened yesterday and the day before in Iraq. We get the point where nobody wanted to give weapons to the Syrian opposition, the Free Syrian Army and any of its branches because the weapons might fall into the wrong hands. . . . When you stand aside and watch from afar . . . and try to count many Salafists are there and how many non-Salafists are there . . . today the wrong hands went for themselves and got the better weapons and now they will have their following because people need those weapons; . . . they will follow the people who have the weapons and who can arm people to protect themselves or to try to achieve whatever their schemes are or agenda is.”

Nyrabia said that he could understand why Basset was pushed so far away from his peaceful beginnings when pressured for such an extended amount of time:

“Of course after all this time in the siege, as much as any others in the siege he is definitely more radical than before. But who am I to judge someone, a human being . . . after all this pain . . . and really agonising experience. I am being radicalised in my European exile (or residency) so I cannot imagine how bad I would be if I was still in Syria.”

What about the role of Salafists in Syria? Another audience member asked.

“What’s happening now should be a big alarm to the world. This inaction, standing in silence saying lets leave them because we don’t understand al-Qaeda versus Assad. . . . There’s a total of 750 lines of subtitles in the film, something like 10,000 words. . . . Once in the film the word Salafist was mentioned. . . . It’s not a priority in the film, it’s a priority in the stereotype, in the prejudice. We had no Salafists until the end of the shooting of the film. . . . They were no more conservative or more radical but just our own local neighbourhood inhabitants. What’s been happening the past year to 18 months with a lot of anger from my side now is this major international investment in not doing anything and that is the best empowerment to both Assad and al-Qaeda.”

Return to Homs premiered as the opening film of the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam in November 2013; won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at Sundance Film Festival 2014 (among others) and will be released by Journeyman Pictures in Picturehouse Cinemas across the UK from Friday 27 June.
 

The nature of death, the right to justify it, and the value of human choice. There are few documentaries that deal with these weighty issues as uncompromisingly as After Tiller. The award winning film by co-directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson revolves around the four remaining doctors in the US who are willing to perform legal third-trimester abortions. Despite relentless opposition, they continue their hard work in the wake of the assassination of their colleague Dr Tiller by an anti-abortion extremist in 2009. The Frontline Club was packed on Friday 10 January for the screening which was followed by an animated Skype Q&A with Wilson.

Lana Wilson during the Skype Q&A

With only nine American States allowing late-term abortions, it remains a highly contested and pressing domestic issue. Wilson explained:

“In the last year more anti-abortion restrictions have been passed in the US than ever before. Since abortion was legalised in 1973 it has just been a tidal wave of restrictive legislation.”

Set in Colorado and Nebraska, Wilson recounted how shooting began in 2010 and that it took another year before the two female doctors gave their permission to be filmed along with their male colleagues. Evidently the doctors’ fear of further public stigmatisation was a major concern. Wilson expressed her frustration over the media’s abortion coverage, which was an underlying motivation for her film. She said:

“It is always dressed in this polarised black and white way. We are so often divided into these different camps: pro-choice and anti-abortion . . . as though there is no area in the middle.”

After Tiller successfully sheds a more nuanced light on the largely grey areas of third-trimester abortions. It achieves this through insights into the individual patients’ compelling stories and touching glimpses into the doctors’ personal lives. This is in stark contrast to the doctors’ demonisation as “sick individuals” in the papers and courtrooms across the country.

Instead, a very emotive atmosphere is presented inside the clinics and the sadness of each case is seen to have a direct effect on the doctors. After Tiller presents the uncomfortable truth that, without access to legal abortions, women might seek highly dangerous alternatives, and illustrates that there is no easy answer. As one expecting mother summarised in the film: “It is guilt no matter which way you go.”

A few audience members commented on how in touch the doctors were with the subjective element of evaluating the viability of a late-term abortion case. Wilson explained:

“Women who aren’t very articulate and who often find it difficult to get an abortion early in pregnancy are women who are poorer and less educated across the board.”

She continued to outline a major dilemma in the justification process:

“If you are really pro-choice you have to be ok with other people taking decisions that you might completely disagree with. . . People have the right to regret their decisions, that is part of being free. . . It is really hard to wrestle with.”

Despite the huge grey area that After Tiller deals with, when it came to its message and style Wilson was very clear:

“For us the bottom line is to get people to think about this with a little more compassion and less judgment. . . . Our goal was to try to bring more humanity and more understanding to these people who are at the centre of the abortion debate and whose voices have rarely been heard.”

The documentary’s filming style was remarkably subtle and observational. Wilson said: “We were trying to be invisible flies on the wall.” Links were made during the Q&A between the ethical considerations and delayed judgment necessary for the doctors dealing with abortion patients, which are also qualities synonymous with good documentary filmmaking. Wilson agreed:

“All four of the doctors really taught us a lot about being better documentary filmmakers: How do you listen to someone without judging them but just with compassion?”

What is the future of this fragile profession? Wilson explained that the doctors’ concerns are not the lack of professionals performing the procedure but the tightening legal restrictions in the various states. Since filming, a new law has been implemented know as the Fetal Pain Act, banning abortions after 20 weeks.

The anti-abortionists’ wrath lead one lady in the audience to ask: “Did you worry when making the film that you would be brining down some of that negative attention on yourself?” Wilson reassured her that despite some “nasty emails” the reception to their film, which has also been screened in medical and nursing schools, has surpassed any expectations. It is no surprise why. After Tiller breaks free from the polarised abortion rhetoric in a way that moves its audience.

For upcoming UK screenings of the film please visit November Films or the After Tiller website. You can also watch the film on iTunes here.

The Spring Season programme highlights includes Nash Edgerton‘s Cannes and Sundance hit Bear, the follow-up to his sensational Spider; Sam Taylor-Wood‘s BAFTA nominated Love You More, the latest short form work from Spike Jonze and Cannes winner The Man Without a Head.