Heartland Community College kicked off its two-day film festival on Wednesday screening With This Breath I Fly. Codirected by Clementine Malpas and Sam French, the documentary shows the struggles and imprisonment of two women during the height of the international occupation of Afghanistan.
Viewers were joined immediately after the screening for a Q&A by French from San Francisco via Zoom. French was a 2013 Oscar nominee for Best Short Film, Live Action.
The website for With This Breath I Fly describes the film as follows:
“At the height of the international occupation of Afghanistan, two women – Gulnaz, raped and impregnated by her uncle, and Farida, on the run from an abusive husband – are imprisoned on charges of “moral crimes” by an Afghan justice system that is supported by billions of dollars of aid money from the European Union.”
“Shot over ten years, With This Breath I Fly follows these two courageous women as they fight for their freedom against a patriarchal Afghan society determined to keep them bound to tribal culture, while exposing the complicity of the European Union in censoring their voices, and how the international press – and our documentary – forever alters the course of their lives.”
During the Q & A Moderator Adam Scott, a communications professor at Heartland, asked French about the ethical dilemma of documentary filmmakers becoming involved in the story.
“We talked about that for a long time,” French said.”As a documentary filmmaker the goal is to not become the story. … Your supposed to sort of observe, but not influence. And that’s all good, but to be honest, it’s impossible.” According to Scott this was a constant discussion.
Eventually, the documentary team was faced directly with a tough ethical decision. They learned that Farida’s husband would agree to a divorce for $2,000. With the divorce she would be released from jail. Rather than stick strictly to journalistic ethics, they paid for Farida’s divorce. The alternative was to stand by and do nothing while she stayed in jail
The Heartland Community College Film Festival continued on Thursday with an evening of short films created by Heartland students and alumni.
