A: It is … we had to cover a very broad topic with all the intricate players, politically, socially, and culturally and we really had to stay focused on Brian in order to make a streamlined story. We interviewed Elie Weisel, the head of Human Rights Watch … we had all these interviews that we did because we needed to do it, partly for research … they never made it into the film because it really was such a personal narrative of his [Brian’s] experience there. We thought that made the film stronger … Then contextual material came in from the outside news reports … that was a way for us to tell the outside world perspective … When the U.S. named it “genocide,” from his [Brian’s] perspective in the field, they thought, “Wow, something’s going to change” … but it didn’t …
Q: Has this film changed your outlook as a director?
A: It changes every time I do a film … You become a mini-specialist on the topic … making a film on Darfur certainly made me so much more aware of what was going on …
Q: What was the biggest challenge for you?
A: Doing it so quickly … collecting the footage quickly, finding out what was shot … the biggest challenge was doing it quickly and also having a cohesive story. We didn’t really know until we were in editing how the story would come together.
Q: Do you think Darfur is finally getting the attention it deserves?
A: One thing that could be encouraging, as we go into the next elections, politicians, Obama specifically, have spoken about it … I think it will require U.S. citizens to tell politicians this is a concern of mine. You need to put it on your agenda. I won’t elect you unless you seem concerned …
Q: When Brian returned to Rwanda and Chad, how was that?
A: Actually, we didn’t go. We were finishing editing our other film [The Trails of Darryl Hunt]. But we did send Jerry Ryrisius [our cinematographer] …
Q: Do you have advice for women documentary filmmakers?
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