Annie's updates about the trip to US and UK

After sending my Hotdocs party clothes back to New Zealand, Peter Gilbert (one of our two DOPs) and I set off to begin shooting. We started with three historians/participants in the US. All have had a real commitment to Cambodia — for example one of the three Elizabeth Becker lived in Cambodia up until 1975 when she was thrown out by Pol Pot. She was then asked back by him for a propaganda tour and one in her party of three was murdered during that last trip.  The three historians all managed to make Cambodia’s history, a complicated Cold War affair, lucid and accessible so that was an encouraging start.

We then set off for the UK which went really well although emotionally difficult at times. We started in Loughborough in the midlands and interviewed two Englishmen who had been on Foxy Lady just prior to the fatal voyage and had not known of the murders until a few years ago. We filmed them in a very picturesque pub — despite the three decades intervening, they remained very emotional. And then we headed north to interview Hilary, John Dewhirst’s sister (he was the Englishman tortured and killed along with Kerry Hamill).  Although I have known about Pol Pot of course, the reality of the pain he has caused really hit me through Hilary.  She lives in this exquisite Lake District area full of old stone walls and cute villages, not far from where she and John were brought up.  She has been unwilling to be interviewed before about her brother and in this instance, is prepared to because of  Rob Hamill ‘s(the brother of the murdered Kiwi) key role in the film.  He of course will be confronting the man, Comrade Duch, responsible for the treatment of their two brothers. I know Rob will be speaking for Hilary as well as for himself.

Rob is really strong on camera — a real Kiwi sportsperson who unusually enough, is prepared to express grief and emotion. Both he and Hilary can barely comprehend what the Cambodians must have been through — and mentioned the trauma of the country constantly.

And Peter Gilbert as DOP was brilliant not just on camera but also as a “directorial advisor”. Even though I have taught myself for so long, I am self-taught, so it was great to feel a bit “mentored”.  Plus he is funny and communicative and really helped during the tough moments. So all good. 

Before taking off to London - Rob Hamill

Well, I’m in the ‘as you’d expect’ chaos mode at the moment. Nearly ready to get in the car and head north to the big smoke (Auckland, of course) and board my plane destined for London, England to hook up with Annie Goldson and Peter Gilbert. 

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have played a significant role already in helping us get this far.  The Cambodian community based in New Zealand have been incredibly helpful and generous but a particular mention at this point must go to Chakara Lim. He has been a pivotal person in helping us make contact with community leaders and has shown us the active and colourful culture thriving here in New Zealand.

 

I can’t emphasis enough how important this project is in reminding the world, lest we forget, of the atrocities in Cambodia.  I was reminded today of this very issue whilst having a hair cut.  I had to ask for a specific cut (#4 on sides etc) so that it’s consistent each time we film. I was asking how best to achieve this and in their inquisitiveness the two hairdressers in ear shot naturally asked why.  When I got to mentioning Pol Pot by name they said, “Who?”  They didn’t know anything about the Khmer Rouge either.  Yet they knew plenty about Adolf Hitler.  If I had said Pol Pot was the Adolf Hitler of Cambodia they would have immediately understood.  As it is many people around the world have a similar lack of understanding of the recent history of this country.  

 

This needs to be told in the hope that it doesn’t happen again.

 

Rob Hamill

Hotdocs - Annie's thoughts before the trip...

Am packed and ready to attend Hotdocs to pitch Brother Number One before a powerful and discerning group of funders. It all takes place in a kind of cloister at the University of Toronto – thousands of other documentary producers attend, either sitting in the bleachers or hanging from rafters it seems.

Hotdocs for me is one of the finest documentary events in the world and this is a great, albeit a bit scary opportunity. We have gotten generous support from TV3 and New Zealand on Air and some fabulous private investors, but the project is ambitious. The reality is that the war crimes tribunal currently underway in Phnom Penh sends prices sky-rocketing so we need to eke out our dollars to make sure they last the distance. James Bellamy and Rob Hamill, the originating producers have been toiling away on research and fundraising tirelessly for two years now—and thanks to their efforts, it seems now the film is on a roll.

Somehow Hotdocs—as both a festival and a marketplace—manages to be big and professional but still very personal. It was where I premiered Punitive Damage in 2000, which was to be a significant film for me, my first cinema release and a film that received a lot of critical and some commercial success. Punitive Damage followed New Zealander Helen Todd who sued an Indonesian general after her son Kamal was shot and killed in the Dili massacre in 1991. 

By chance, the film was released as huge changes unfolded in Asia and East Timor – the run up to the referendum on independence (thousands of Timorese were intimidated and subjected to violence, interrogation and disappeared, the trashing of Timor by departing Indonesian military), and the nation’s final independence. I was back the following year to Hotdocs to pitch Georgie Girl, my next film, which showed in the festival two years later – then last year, An Island Calling screened and this year, I will be back again with Brother Number One. So Hotdocs and I, I have to say, have a history - and it will be great to catch up with a documentary community whose spirit and determination I treasure.

In many ways, this new film replicates some of the horrendous background elements of Punitive Damage – Cambodia, like Timor, was caught in the crossfire of Cold War politics, with Kissinger playing a bit part behind the scenes.  Cambodia and Timor lost almost a third of their population through execution and starvation, Timor to the Indonesian occupiers, who were funded by the US and Britain, Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge, funded by China but s

ome would argue, given impetus after the US bombed Cambodia and sent thousands of angry peasants into the arms of the ideologues.

Both films too deal with attempts at finding justice. New Zealanders who unwittingly found themselves drawn into the tragedies—whose determination speaks of an attempt to ameliorate some of their own grief and pain, but also a willingness to speak for local populations whose suffering was almost unimaginable.

After Hotdocs, I will commence filming – first in the US with three historians, Elizabeth Becker, Ben Kiernan and Peter Maguire, and then in the UK – with friends and family of John Dewhirst, the young Englishman tortured and murdered alongside Kerry Hamill. Rob is coming too, and will meet John’s sister Hilary for the first time. I know it will be very emotional for all of us. . ..