We recently came to the end of our 2022 filming tour and are nested up in Houston for the next few months. Here, we’re working on prepping and reviewing our footage, launching our next crowdfunding campaign, and applying for a few grants. By April, we’ll be on the road again for a final 2-3 months of filming.
Over 8 months we’ve interviewed 15 groups and another 13 individuals. Our comrades have gifted us a lot of trust. While driving between locations or before we fall asleep at night, we’ll often talk about the process of filmmaking from an anarchist perspective. We wanted to record some of the values and practices we’re bringing to this effort since so much of our approach is informed by our experiences as organizers, being in community with others, and practicing how we can treat each other with dignity.
We’re not “neutral” or “objective” observers. We’re active participants in revolutionary direct action. Like Gordon Parks once said, the camera is our choice of weapon – at least in this iteration of social struggle.
The documentary field is stained with oppressive, extractive dynamics. How is a story told and who tells that story? With its history in colonial anthropology, documentary film has adopted oppressive production and storytelling practices. The term “subject” for instance is used to describe people “captured” on film. What exactly is the individual subjected to, and who or what are they the subject of? We’ve been intentional to avoid this and other language, while also naming and subverting tropes inherent to the genre – like the white gaze, rugged individualism, and poverty porn.
Anti-oppressive filmmaking encourages us to build, through trust and camaraderie, rather than to extract. Here are some of the ways we’ve been practicing that:
We avoid filming without enthusiastic consent. Equipment generally stays in the van or in a bag until we’ve introduced ourselves. Sometimes, we’re invited into spaces without everyone there knowing about us or our project. In those moments, we do our best to use trauma-informed communication – respecting that some people have complex experiences with cameras, strangers, and generally being perceived.
We provide opportunities for our interviewees to have control over the footage we’re gathering of them. So often interviewees are given little information about what will happen to the material after the shoot, much less an opportunity to weigh in on the content they’re a part of. But, we want to tell the story that people actually want told. Interviewees have the power to decide what gets filmed and what gets left out. Before rolling the cameras, we’ll reassure our friends that they’re sitting in the director’s seat, and that they can call “cut” whenever they need. After editing, we’ll share the scenes we want to include with our comrades to review before making our final draft.
We’ve wanted to honor that the people we’re interviewing are already doing so much to support their communities – on top of surviving under capitalism. We’ve worked hard to keep our schedule as flexible as possible. We’ll check in regularly with our interviewees to make sure they still want to be filmed; even after the cameras are rolling. Some days, we’ve packed up our gear when someone just wasn’t feeling it. It’s been important to us to offer thanks, celebrate the time and energy interviewees spend with us, and support the work they’re doing. So before leaving, we raised $3,200 for stipends in our first crowdfunding campaign (thanks to your support). We’ve been able to offer most individuals $100, with collectives receiving $200 to split. It’s not much, but it’s something to show our gratitude for their contribution to the project. We don’t plan to profit off this project, but if for some reason excess funds are raised, we’re committed to redistributing a substantial amount to our interviewees.
Anonymity is another aspect of this work we take seriously. Our comrades always have the option of being masked up, having their name changed, not filming identifiable traits, or having their voice altered in post. Liberatory mutual aid work threatens the dominant systems and culture of white supremacy, and some of the work required to care for each other is dangerous for a variety of reasons. Protecting people’s privacy where desired is essential.
Collaboration with other artists and filmmakers is essential to fleshing this project out. A few activist filmmakers have offered their footage to supplement our own. Soon we’ll be putting out a call for people to contribute their own videos and photos of their radical work. This goes both ways; we support people using the footage we’ve gathered for projects who’s values we share, and when this project is complete, we plan to release full length interviews for others to access. We’re also on the lookout for musicians and illustrators with styles that compliment the vibe we’re curating.
We’re committed to ensuring this project is freely accessible as soon as possible with both English and Spanish subtitles (and we’re interested in translating it into other languages if there ends up being resources and interest). This project is 100% autonomous. We won’t sign contracts to sell or stream the series on platforms with exclusive distribution rights. Most platforms require contracts that make it difficult to share films for free online. Another film industry hurdle is festivals, which often require submissions to be exclusive as well – meaning films have to be premiered at festivals in order to be eligible and cannot be publicly available. Some films will get stuck in festival circuits for years. To avoid this, we’ll only apply to grassroots festivals without these rigid requirements. It’s the people’s story – paywalls and industry gatekeeping shouldn’t make it inaccessible for anyone. Instead, we’re committed to distributing through independent platforms and ensuring it’s viewable for free on our website. We’re also planning a North American screening tour to bring the film directly to communities.
Much of the film industry continues to take advantage of people’s trauma and extract stories from them, often in the name of impact or change. Inevitably, we’re filming people who are being harmed by systems of power and who are building collective power together. Knowing how to gather and weave these stories in ways that empower those who are sharing them is so important. We need more independent, grassroots, community-shaped media to bring their values into this work. We’re still learning how to do this work better and are committed to being accountable to the people our filming impacts.
Do you have experience with interviewing people from an anti-oppressive perspective? Have specific questions about our process? Hit us up and tell us about it!
