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“5 BROKEN CAMERAS” | directors, Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, January 23 9:00 pm –Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City]
Co-Director Emad Burnat:
I been filming during the last 7 years so I sow many films been done about the wall and the occupation the conflict in palestine but most of these films by film makers or directories who came from out said palestine they didn’t live the experience so after more than 5 years of documenting and filming the struggle in my village bilin and the villages around
I decided to make film from point of me because I live here and make this from my feeling the really life and thought that I have strong story to tel ,it’s not like directors who come to make films fore money or to be famous so I want to
Show the audience my experience and how I live how my family live and feel and my village the purpose to make film is to reach the audience in the world to make them feel and affect in said to make change.
co-director Guy Davidi:
I don’t remember ever really choosing to be a filmmaker; it was a natural thing more then a calculated decision. Making 5 Broken Cameras was not the right or better medium in any case. But the choice to make it was so organic that I almost forget it was a choice.
I made many mistakes for my first decade of filmmaking. After turning 17 when I made my first short film, every decision to make another film was calculated and elaborated. In each film there was an enormous amount of energy invested, and there was a strong initiative. But, if I managed to get a decent film out of the overall experience, I finished feeling bruised and empty.
I think many great filmmakers just stop making films because there is so much effort and you are under so much pressure, and self-criticism. But the worst thing is that all the people around you keep convincing you that this is the way it should be. So it kills your love to simply express yourself with images and sounds.
I was told many times filmmaking is tough, and so I refuse to hear it anymore. Making “5 Broken Cameras” was hard for Emad, my Palestinian filmmaking partner for this film. But not because of the filmmaking itself, but because of the oppression and the violence in his life. Life can be harsh, but the challenge is to make sure that filmmaking stays liberating.
The deep difficulties for me in my part were neither about the filmmaking itself, nor about two years of editing or writing text and thinking about new possible scenes. It was all about understanding the relationships, dealing with my fears and ego, and letting go of control.
I think the challenge is to make the choice to make each film organic in your life. Strong choices can be tiring. Really, the best choices I have made in life were mostly to repair the results of early bad choices I’ve made or that were made for me. For example, like getting out of my military service after enrolling in it – as every Israeli 18 year-old guy has to do. Or quitting the film school after a year, when all they did was to plant fear and criticism. Or to stop working on the wrong projects even when I thought I have to.
A film like 5 Broken Cameras is not something you can really choose to do out of calculation. Neither Emad or my self chose to do this. So I let go of calculated decisions and discovered that if I leave enough space for the universe to act after clearing to myself my sincere intentions – the film will ultimately reveal itself.
