FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Zara Balfour, Co-Director of CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND

CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND
Massachusetts Premiere
CinemaSalem
Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 11:45a.m.

Imagine being separated from your parents at age 4 and not seeing them for 12 years. This is the reality for some children born in the remote High Himalayas of Nepal, where families living an ancient way of life send their kids to school in Kathmandu — the only hope for providing them with better opportunities. CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND follows a group of teenagers as they make the arduous trek home, after 12 years in a modern world, to the highest inhabited villages on the planet to reconnect with their traditional parents.

Zara Balfour, who directed the film with Marcus Stephenson, spoke with Salem Film Fest writer Sarah Wolfe ahead of the Massachusetts Premiere at CinemaSalem on Saturday, March 30 at 11:45a.m.

Sarah Wolfe:Your film just screened in London. Did the film’s teens, Nima, Tsering, and Jeewan, attend the premiere with you and Marcus?

Zara Balfour: They were there with us! They left Nepal for the first time to come to the London premiere. It was their next big journey after the one they took in the film. They just flew back home today and I miss them already.

SW: What do they think of CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND?

ZB: They love that their stories are being told. It’s not just their own, but the story of the Himalayan people. They really appreciate that the world is listening.

SW:All the stories in this film are simply amazing.What led you and Marcus to document them? You each have such extensive backgrounds in film, television, and digital media, and this is the first feature-length documentary for you both as directors/producers.

ZB: Marcus and I met a few years ago when a production company hired and sent us to Nepal to film charities. It was the first time either of us had been there. We both immediately fell in love with this amazing country and its people. I stayed in touch with a charity I’d been filming, Future Village Foundation, and a few years later they started funding the Snow Land School. That’s when Marcus and I heard they were also supporting trips for the Snow Land students to visit their families at age 16 before graduating. We were surprised and asked why the children needed help going home. We then learned that students from the High Himalayan villages would otherwise not see their families for 12 years, or possibly longer, because the parents didn’t have enough money to send for them. Some children could never see their families again. We were shocked. It was such an extraordinary story and it made me and Marcus want to fly out and meet the children of the Snow Land School. We wanted to see if we could bring their story to the world and raise awareness.

SW:What was it that drew you to Nima, Tsering, and Jeewan to help tell this story?

ZB: When we first flew out to the school, we basically did a casting process across the top two class years. It was to find students who would be able, and willing, to express themselves; who would trust us enough to let us into their lives to tell their personal stories. Nima, Tsering, and Jeewan were just amazing. They each had very distinct personalities and stood out as being charismatic and so open to the film. They really wanted to help Himalayan kids like themselves.

SW: How far ahead were the families in the remote, Himalayan villages contacted about their children visiting home? And with a documentary film crew?

ZB: Because there’s no communication in the villages, the families actually weren’t notified at all. But there had been children in the previous year that had gone home to reconnect with their parents. So the families knew there was a charity that was now funding students to visit the villages. And they knew roughly the time of year the children arrived. They were hoping to see them, but nothing was confirmed. And they definitely didn’t know the children would show up with a film crew.

SW:Wow, so everyone basically crossed their fingers and hoped it would all work out.

ZB: Exactly!

SW: How did you film each student’s individual journey? How big was your crew?

ZB: Fellow cameraman Mark Hackansson and I trekked up to the villages with the students in a staggered fashion, following one and then another, and then went between the villages. Marcus covered the filming back in Kathmandu. The kids did their own filming, too, of personal journals — especially while with their families.

SW: Was giving the students cameras something you’d planned from the beginning?

ZB: It was. We didn’t want to overshadow their journey, especially the moments of reunion. Part of the reason we taught them filmmaking was so they could be with their families without too much intrusion from us. It’s also a part of the world that hasn’t really seen foreigners. We wanted to get a bit under the skin of the culture and its people, and the children were better placed to film that than we were.

SW:There’s an incredible amount of physical risk as we follow the students through the High Himalayas. Have you ever filmed in such dangerous conditions before? How did you plan and adapt?

ZB: I’ve filmed in a lot of countries, but nothing like this. Not this physically challenging or in these conditions. It was especially difficult because there was no electricity, so we had to rethink our equipment. We had to bring solar chargers with us and devices that were compatible with them. We didn’t carry laptops or hard drives for backing up material because we just didn’t have the capacity to charge them. We opted for lots and lots of memory cards and simply hoped for the best. We also didn’t have any satellite phones or ways to summon help for accidents. The students and crew basically travelled like the locals do. There were moments when we realized, with all these factors, just how difficult the journey was going to be.

SW: Once the students do make it home in the film, they touch upon questions about participating in the modern world versus preserving ancient traditions and culture. Can you talk a little more about this?

ZB: Western countries don’t have all the answers. So I was concerned when I started this film about supporting something that takes people away from a certain way of life. But having been to Nepal and met the villagers, I saw that all of them without exception wanted to leave, to have a different way of life. They are literally working from morning to evening – farming, harvesting, and cooking – just to survive. That’s their whole life. And there’s no communication, no sanitation, and many health problems with no doctors to treat them.

SW: That’s incredible.

ZB: It is. These villagers are making a tremendous sacrifice in sending their children away to school, but it’s one that will slowly develop these areas. The children already care about their villages and by reconnecting them with their families they are able to see and understand that lifestyle and are invested in it. At the same time, they’re educated, they understand city life, and they have tremendous potential for future careers. There’s a huge divide between those two worlds in Nepal. Having educated children from remote mountain villages, however, creates the ability to make a difference back home.

SW: Do you see a future where schools might exist across these mountain villages?

ZB: It would be ideal so children could stay with their parents. But right now the barriers are too great. Only by improving communication, sanitation, and transportation will educated teachers want to live in these remote villages. If that happens, then maybe children wouldn’t have to be separated from their families. Or perhaps they’d return home as adults to stay. But for now, the best hope for developing that society unfortunately involves the families sending their children away for an education.

SW: I understand that the film is helping to fund the children’s trips home?

ZB: We’ve set up a ‘Going Home Campaign’ to support the Future Village Foundation through our film website. We’re hoping CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND raises awareness and helps students reunite with their families. The Future Village Foundation didn’t have enough this year to cover the whole graduating class, so they had to choose which students saw their parents. We ideally hope the film can additionally help to support the Snow Land School’s operations as well as its students once they graduate – to find sponsorship for their continued studies and accommodation in the city. More immediately, though, it would be great if we could help get satellites and Skype up into some of those villages so all the parents and children could at least video chat with each other to stay connected.

SW: That would be amazing. In addition to raising awareness to support the ‘Going Home Campaign,’ what do you ultimately hope people carry away from watching this film?

ZB: It’s unimaginable that these children are being separated for 12 years from their families, but seeing the way that Nima, Tsering, and Jeewan deal with that is incredibly uplifting. They teach us we have a lot to be thankful for in our own lives in such an honest and inspiring way. These children are incredibly wise and stoic as they go through a very difficult situation in the best possible way. They show us that we can face our hardships with grace and acceptance and that we can truly feel grateful for what we have.

Tickets for CHILDREN OF THE SNOW LAND and can be purchased online.

Zara Balfour will be present for a Q&A after the film screening.

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Peter Gerdehag and Tell Aulin, Directors of THE COWS IN THE SUNSHINE VALLEY

In THE COWS IN THE SUNSHINE VALLEY, Two elderly siblings struggling with the care of their livestock face a decision about the future of their family farm.  Directors Tell Aulin and Peter Gerdehag directed WOMEN WITH COWS, which won the Special Jury and American Cinematographer Award for Cinematography at SFF 2013.  SFF program director Jeff Schmidt caught up with Aulin prior to the film's US Premiere as part of SHORTS BLOCK A at The National Park Service Salem Visitor Center on Friday, March 29 at 3:30pm.

Jeff Schmidt: SFF audiences were first introduced to you when we screened WOMEN WITH COWS at SFF 2013.  Can you tell us a little bit about your background and your approach to filmmaking?

Tell Aulin:  Peter and I have had a very special  relationship ever since we started to work together on our first film LIFE AND DEATH OF A FARMER in 2003. It was Peter's first attempt to film his own mentor Styrbjörn Ejneby, that taught him the importance of biodiversity, saving precious nature and various landscapes. This was my first chance to make a film on my own from his collected 80 hours of raw material. Peter was already an acclaimed still photographer, awarded by the Swedish King for his commitment to the subject and making several books. Myself, I was the young talent from a small film school dreaming of making my first documentary film, that Peter chose to believe in. Luckily enough the film was an instant success on Swedish Television and we continued with making documentaries like THE HORSEMAN and later WOMEN WITH COWS.

The approach we have developed is for Peter to create trust and have a very close relationship to the main characters that he's filming for several years. And for me to keep more of a distance, to be able to make the hard choices and to ask for more scenes or background stories that will show the most compelling narrative without compromising on either the truth or giving the characters ways of influence the story, due to his or her relation to the one filming them. It’s a method based on total confidence in each other’s profession and that have kept us both from ever going into conflict over a story. Basically, Peter is the director on scene and I’m the director in the edit room.

JS: How did you first become acquainted with Sonja and Gösta and when did you decide to make a film about them and their farm?

TA: Peter started to film Sonja and Gösta in 2007 when he was told that they had a very special old breed of red and white cows. By then we had no interest from any investors in the project at all. But this is also something that we have learned that has to come second, since we often document people and places that probably won't be around for too much longer. The decision of finally making a short film was taken when SVT (Swedish Television) decided to support the project in 2017.

JS: This film has some similarities to WOMEN WITH COWS, can you talk about your interest in the area of agriculture and aging?

TA: We were both born in small villages in the Swedish countryside. I was raised on a small cow farm as a child and Peter has also lived close to nature since childhood. Peter is really true to his own life history, and has always sought his motifs in nature and later also in the rural landscape. Myself, I have found it very satisfying to reconnect to my roots telling these stories since basically my whole family background comes from a history of farmers since hundred of years ago. For Peter it is important to not shy away from using his art to tackle the most fundamental questions in life. One of those themes is of course aging and the great value of life experience that comes with it. This is also something we both share deeply in our passion for storytelling. The respect for things to develop naturally and try to learn as much as we can from it, to be able to leave this earth a little bit better than we inherited it ourselves.

JS: What motivates you as filmmakers?

TA: Peter’s personal motto has always been: A good photo isn’t a goal in itself, the real goal is the effect that the photo generates. I totally buy into this motto and try my best to use his fantastic footage so that the audience will have different ways of "reading the story". To tell the films with what I find to be symbolic pictures and with a narrative that also demand something from the audience. That they must invest their own experiences from life to be able to read the full context. It's our main goal that these film portraits make the audience think about their own life ambitions and the very meaning of life.

JS: What do you hope people will take away from your film?

TA: Life is worth living no matter how it plays out and the sooner we accept this, the more happier and fulfilling life we'll have.

THE COWS IN THE SUNSHINE VALLEY screens as part of Shorts Block A at the National Park Service’s Salem Visitor Center on Friday, March 29 at 3:30pm – FREE ADMISSION.

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Nubar Alexanian, Director of RECIPE FOR DISASTER

An explosive invasion of green crabs is an ecological catastrophe in the making in four neighboring towns on the Massachusetts coast in RECIPE FOR DISASTER directed by Nubar Alexanian.  SFF program director Jeff Schmidt caught up with Alexanian ahead of the short film’s World Premiere as part of Shorts Block D at the National Park Service’s Salem Visitor Center on Sunday, March 31 at 10am.

Jeff Schmidt: You have been working as a documentary filmmaker for over 40 years, what are some of the past films you have worked on that have inspired you to carry on all of these years?

Nubar Alexanian: I’m very fond of the expression:  “It’s not what calls you. It’s what keeps you.” There is no shortage of compelling stories out there waiting & wanting to be told and some of them just grab hold of you and won’t let go. This is what happened with RECIPE FOR DISASTER.  It quickly became a film I had to make because it’s about a catastrophe in the making that is happening in my neighborhood. Also, my daughter and I have been working on a feature length documentary film since 2011 currently called SCARS OF SILENCE: Three Generations From Genocide, about the affects of the Armenian Genocide on our family. This certainly keeps me going…and often keeps me awake at night.CALLING ALL CHEFS is one of my favorite short docs because it's about the importance of the food we eat and the main character, chef Paolo Laboa, was a spectacular subject.  So, for me, inspiration has always come from connection to the subject.

JS: How did you come to learn of the Green Crab?

NA: I’ve lived in the marshes of Cape Ann for a long time as a photographer and avid striped bass fisherman.  So I know these marshes very well. However, in June of 2017 I heard about the explosion of the green crab population and was stunned that I had not heard about it before.  How could this be? How bad was it? Like many documentary filmmakers, producing a film is a way of educating myself about a subject and finishing the film is a way of sharing what I’ve learned.

JS: It seems improbable that a small creature could wreak so much havoc on our habitat, but this really has become a serious problem hasn't it?

NA: In some areas of Maine, green crabs have destroyed 80% of the soft shell clams and decimated more than 1,000 acres of eel grass, which is an important nursery for fin fish.  This hasn’t happened in the marshes around Cape Ann… not yet, although they have destroyed the mussel beds in the Essex River. As the water temperature in the Gulf Of Maine increases (and it’s increasing faster than any other body of water) the green crab population continues to grow.  Adam Smith, the fisherman and crab trapper you see in the film with his son, hauled in 200,000 pounds of crabs in 2017. In 2018 they trapped almost 500,000 pounds in exactly the same place! And there’s another species of green crabs making their way down the East Coast from Nova Scotia that’s far more aggressive than those who live in the Great Marsh right now.

JS: Did you encounter any challenges or surprises during filming?

NA:  The science in this story was quite a challenge at times. This was, in part, because the population of crabs has been increasing so fast, that the sciene was slow to keep up and scientists often disagreed about what was actually happening.  Are the crabs destroying the structure of the marsh, or not? If not, who is making all those tunnels in the Great Marsh that are causing the banks to cave in? Six months ago we did a screening of an earlier version of the film in Gloucester to a packed audience. During the Q&A I thought a huge fight was going to break out in the audience about what is actually happening with the crabs and why. It was very interesting.

JS: What do you hope people will take away from RECIPE FOR DISASTER?  And... do you have any favorite Green Crab recipes you would like to share?

NA: RECIPE FOR DISASTER is a wake up call-- to people and policy makers alike---about the fact that there are billions of crabs in the the Great Marsh. No one knows about this problem! When Senator Bruce Tarr saw the trailer for our film he said:  “OMG, there’s a horror film taking place in my district and I had no idea it was going on!” If people don’t know about the problem, the folks trying to solve it have little access to the resources they need. Everyone agrees on one thing: the crabs aren’t going away.  The only solution is to find ways to keep pressure on them to slow the growth of their population.

I don’t have any green crab recipes (although the She-Crab soup is delicious).  However, if you visit www.greencrab.org/act you can find recipes provided by the Green Crab R&D Project along with their terrific green crab cookbook.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER screens as part of Shorts Block D at the National Park Service’s Salem Visitor Center on Sunday, March 31 at 10am - FREE ADMISSION.

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Katrine Philp, Director of FALSE CONFESSIONS

FALSE CONFESSIONS
New England Premiere
CinemaSalem
Sunday, March 31 at 7:30pm

Why do people in the U.S. confess to crimes they didn’t commit? In this eye-opening piece, Defense Attorney Jane Fisher-Byrialsen fights for the rights of victims of a fractured police interrogation system.

Salem Film Fest writer Sarah Wolfe caught up with Director Katrine Philp ahead of the film’s New England Premiere at CinemaSalem on Sunday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m.

Sarah Wolfe: You show us, with chilling clarity,that it’s not just vulnerable people who are pressured into false confessions. It could be any one of us. Did you begin this project believing you’d be immune to this situation?

Katrine Philp: I was sure it couldn't happen to me. Absolutely.

SW: And as a filmmaker from Denmark, what first led you to this story based here in the U.S.?

KP: I had read an article about a Danish-born defense lawyer, Jane Fisher-Byrialsen, who was fighting to help people in the U.S. who had been wrongly convicted. The piece was more about her, however, than her specific cases. I knew immediately that she’d be a good subject for a documentary. So the original idea for the film was based on my fascination with Jane as a great human being. I ended up calling her and just two weeks later we started filming in New York City.

SW: Wow, that’s fast! At what point did you realize this project was going to shift from Jane to the broader issue she’s battling — an interrogation system that allows police to lie and manipulate in order to force false confessions?

KP: It wasn’t until I heard about Jane’s cases, and met some of her clients who had falsely confessed to crimes they didn’t commit. Their personal stories made a strong impression on me. This made me want to study the phenomenon of false confessions, about why it’s such a common problem in the U.S. Why would a person confess to something he or she didn’t do? Violent crimes like sexual assault and murder. I simply couldn't understand it. But now I do. I understand how easy it is to manipulate a human being. Certain techniques are so effective that they can make anyone confess — not only the vulnerable and minors, but anyone. And when the police are also allowed to lie about evidence, it becomes a very dangerous cocktail.

SW: Just as it was for Jane’s client, Malthe Thomsen. These interrogation tactics pushed the Danish student teacher to falsely confess to sexually abusing children at a Manhattan preschool. Had you heard about this case in Denmark before meeting Jane?

KP: Yes, I first learned about Malthe’s case in the Danish press. It was major news in my country and everyone was following the story. Malthe actually died two months ago from a heart attack. He was only 27 years old. It made me so incredibly sad and frustrated. He spent four years under enormous stress and the case destroyed his life. We don’t know why his heart suddenly stopped beating at such a young age. We can only guess.

SW: That’s awful. I’m so sorry to hear that.

KP: All of Jane’s cases covered in the film have made a huge impression on me. Renay Lynch is still in prison for a murder she didn’t commit. She and her family have been through so much and it’s a tragedy that they continue to face this nightmare. She is such an amazing woman and she’s been so patient. But the system keeps her trapped. The Innocence Project in New York City is now assisting Jane with the case. However, there’s a long way to go before Renay can hopefully be free.

SW: Throughout your film, we see the overwhelming amount of work involved to exonerate someone. As Jane notes, ‘you have to do the job of the cops all over again,’ to find new evidence. It appears she has a great ally in Professor Saul Kassin, an expert on false confessions.

KP: I am deeply inspired by Saul. He has so much knowledge and is a very sympathetic person. After my first meeting with him, I knew he’d become a big part of the film. He has contributed so much and has helped me, and now audiences watching this piece, to understand the mechanisms of an interrogation and why people confess to crimes they haven’t committed.

SW: What do you ultimately hope the audience comes away with after seeing FALSE CONFESSIONS?

KP: Everybody thinks, “Sure, but it won’t happen to me.” But it just might one day – to any one of us. It’s crucial to shed light on this issue. It’s simply unacceptable that these abusive interrogation tactics are perfectly legal in the U.S. With a few simple measures – such as forbidding police to lie, videotaping all interrogations, and requiring that there always be additional evidence in order to convict someone, a lot of false confessions could be stamped out. I sincerely hope this film will help ignite a debate toward future change.

Tickets are on sale now for FALSE CONFESSIONS and can be purchased online.

Katrine Philp will be present for a Q&A after the film screening.

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT: Katrina Costello, Director of THE SILVER BRANCH

Irish philosopher, poet, and fifth-generation farmer, Patrick McCormack lives in harmony with the natural world. He becomes a reluctant fighter when the fate of this iconic wilderness is threatened by encroaching development in THE SILVER BRANCH directed by Katrina Costello.  

SFF program director Jeff Schmidt caught up with Costello ahead of the film’s New England Premiere at the Peabody Essex Museum on Sunday, March 31 at 3 p.m.

Jeff Schmidt: What is your background as a filmmaker and what is the origin story for THE SILVER BRANCH? How did you come to meet Patrick McCormack?

Katrina Costello: It is my debut documentary, which I shot, edited and directed. I am self-thought in all disciplines, guided by some wonderful friends.

I grew up farming in the 60s and 70s, a time in Ireland when the pace of life was slow and easy BUT as John Moriarity, Irish philosopher, said, “We were the generation who were educated out of the land” What a shame that was – but even though I qualified in Electronic engineering, my love of nature and culture was always very strong.

I left Ireland in the 1980s to work in trading room computer software...That allowed me the opportunity to do what I love; to go alone… photographing and living in far off reaches, from the mountains of Asia to the basin of the Amazon. I was especially drawn to rural communities, to the people who live close to the soil or the water. I am always compelled by the elders, for their stories, their honesty, acceptance and knowledge of themselves.

My husband and I returned to Ireland to raise our family in 2000. I realised that The Burren was as magnificent a landscape I had ever seen and, walking there with my children, I started filming there in 2011. That was my first time to use a video camera – and it went from there.

The desire to make this film has grown out of my feelings for the wilderness, the moments of magic on the hills and my memories of farming with my father… but equally to evoke our connection back to the earth, to allow ourselves freedom and time to ponder those questions of the soul; our nature and our acceptance of light and darkness in our search… and finally to give our unique Irish landscape and the stories of our lost agrarian culture a place in our modern society.  

I did not know Patrick growing up – but many people had told me he was an extraordinary man, poet, visionary and grounded in the landscape. The first time we met, he opened his door, with a lamb under one arm, a child under another, and two bottles of milk – one for each. I knew he would be the single voice of the creative film I wanted to make.

JS: Can you talk about the process of making such an intimate film?

KC: The funding process took 3 years – they were hard times, with many rejections from broadcasters and distributors - and Weetabix for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Looking back on that now, it was a blessing in disguise. I got to learn my craft, but more than that, I got to know sides of Patrick’s character, which are only revealed through spending time talking and even from experiencing those lows of rejection. As Patricks says, “Often, it is out of those deep wells of darkness and despair that the greatest creativity grows.

JS: Your visuals are quite stunning. What is your approach as a cinematographer working in documentary film?  Do you also work on other types of projects?

KC: Wildlife, rural landscape, and people, in natural light are all I know. My approach is spending time in awe of nature – be there when the first embers break forth and when the stars start to twinkle.

JS: Did you encounter any challenges or surprises during filming?

KC:Money, money, money. Hard to get it, and easy to spend it. I did most of the editing–with the help of Andrew Netley, who finessed it. The biggest problem was the edit suite crashed a lot, due to the different formats that I had within the project, a problem caused by the project growing over 5 years, with different versions and upgrades and incompatibilities.

JS: What do you hope people will take away from THE SILVER BRANCH?

KC: As in Patrick’s poem “To walk the fields a dreamer”–in wonder and awe that there is magic in each moment if you really look at it. And as the myth of The Silver Branch goes – “to Find your place in the world is to let Nature work on you.”

In this age of convenience and rapid development, more and more people live in the city. But, whether we live in a city block or a mountain, the natural world is part of all of us and people do feel that, deeply and instinctively. Sadly, in our modern lives, I often feel we get disconnected from our soul, who we really are, and what we really want, because we have lost our stillness. Anybody who wants to connect with nature and culture and ponders the relationship between man and landscape, between tradition and spirit, between body and soul; and how nature and culture can help us inhabit what is asked of us in our everyday lives.

On the face of it, this documentary is about a farmer, Patrick McCormack, a man who has an extraordinary connection to the land, history and nature around him, and has the courage, humility and words to describe it, in such a way as to move those who have neither knowledge nor appreciation for these things.

There is another and even bigger picture to this —the UN says that realistically, the earth has 60 more good harvests left in it if modern day farming methods continue. Intensive farming is killing the land, which is a large and universal problem that effects everyone. There are many reasons for this but one of them is that many of us think all food comes from Tesco rather than a vegetable patch and that farmers are commercially squeezed using pesticides and over fertilizing which is leading to Biodiversity Oblivion, not to mention climate change. As renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking said, “right now, we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity”.

We need to reverse this if the human race is going to survive.

It’s hard for people to appreciate a thing you have no connection to and no sense that we need to protect it, or that it is a finite resource, which is why THE SILVER BRANCH is an important documentary for these times.

Tickets are on sale now for THE SILVER BRANCH and can be purchased online.