WHAT THE CAMERA COULDN’T FIX — Journal

A camera can’t repair anything. Knowing that changed how I pointed it.

The easy version of this film is loud. Rubble, music, slow motion, a lesson at the end. I didn’t want to make people feel something by cornering them into it.

A damaged residential building on a street corner — A street corner, filmed at eye level and left alone.

Interior detail seen through a broken wall opening — Detail — what stayed behind.

So the rule became simple. Hold the frame. Stay at the height of a person standing there. Let people speak longer than is comfortable in an edit.

Interview portrait of an older man in Derna — Testimony — the interview carried the film, not the damage.

A place is not only what happened to it. It is also everybody still getting up in the morning inside it.

A child in a graduation gown lifting his cap — Everyday life, continuing.

Two figures walking past a white mosque under open sky — Movement, morning.

Related project

DERNA →