Nepal Update and Documentary Surprises

Documentary Notebook is a weekly newsletter for people interested in the state of the genre, people behind the camera, and the process of making documentaries. 

First, an update about Discord Democracy (working title) the documentary I am doing with Jon Lee Anderson of the New Yorker magazine.

Our intention, as described in previous newsletters, is to show global examples of how technology, specifically social media and AI, are not healthy for democracies and other living things.

Jon Lee and I connected a year or so ago over mutual interests in the Syrian civil war and the overthrow of the Assad regime.

I had been filming for several years about Facebook and other platforms being used by intelligence and security services in Syria to target and detain activists in Syria.

Jon Lee published two stories in the magazine right after Assad fled Damascus for Moscow.

He was just recently given the Ed Cunningham Award by the Overseas Press Club for this piece on the abuses of the Assad regime. Click the link below to download and read it:

Jon Lee and I researched places where we might film and raised a little development funding. Then, surprising (to us), Gen Z activists took to the streets in Nepal, Bangladesh, Madagascar, and elsewhere demanding the end of corruption, internet restrictions, and autocracies. Regimes changed.

Suddenly we saw positive examples of social media being used for social change, not unlike the early days of the Arab Spring when political fervor was organized online before it went to the streets.

In Nepal thousands of young people met and deliberated on Discord to debate strategy and to coalesce around a replacement government. Which recently culminated in electing Balendra Shah, a one-time rap star and cool cat in shades, as the new prime minister.

An ideal character for an article by Jon Lee and a short film by yours truly.

The New Yorker said the story was intriguing.

We planned to go in early May.

Then a breaking reporting opportunity popped up for Jon Lee in Cuba.

Wait. Make that Venezuela!

Nepal will wait.

I can’t complain. After all, this is just how the documentary world also rolls. Things happen. Usually, if you can be patient and persistent, it works out for the best.

Last week I saw a film that exemplifies the wonderful (and sometimes frustrating) serendipity of documentaries.

Among Neighbors is about the Jewish community in one village in Poland — before, during, and after WWII.

A moving story ten plus years in the making, it reveals, among other things, how Jews in Poland were attacked and murdered by Poles after the war was over. It centers on a village, Gniewoszów, in the eastern part of Poland not far from the border with Ukraine.

Jews and non-Jews lived harmoniously in this small settlement for many years. Those bonds proved resilient and lifesaving once the war broke out. Neighbors took huge risks to help neighbors in the face of the Nazi invasion.

Amidst the darkness and trauma there’s a sweet story of reconnection and reunion in this film which sneaks up and grabs you.

I recommend watching it when it becomes available on Amazon and Apple TV next month.

In the Q&A after the screening director Yoav Potash mentioned two chance events that happened during production which grabbed my attention as a filmmaker.

Quite by accident he came across a Jewish gravestone was lying in an elderly man’s yard.

The director explained how he had initially filmed an interview with this man and his son. But on editing the material he realized he did not have any B-roll — footage of them doing something when they are not speaking, which he needed for editing.

So, on his next visit he went back and filmed at their place while they were going to tend their garden.

As the cameraman followed the pair and was filming, he nudged the director. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a tombstone with Hebrew lettering lying on the ground.

So the director pivoted from shooting “atmosphere” to asking the father and son about the gravestone. Which leads to a very moving denouement.

A second unexpected turn of events changed the trajectory of the narrative completely.

The film’s executive producer, Anita Friedman, had first come to Gniewoszów because she was researching her family’s roots. On seeing how the Jewish cemetery in the village had been neglected for many years, she decided to help reconstitute and consecrate it.

A commemoration event was held, which is in the film. On the cover of the printed program was a reproduction of a painting done by a former Jewish resident of the town who had relocated to Israel.

The filmmakers tracked down his relatives and went to see them in Israel.

They met a nephew, Yaacov Goldstein, who also lived Gniewoszów when he was a child. His life was saved due to a series of unimaginable events.

As a child Yaacov had been best friends with Pelagia, a non-Jewish girl. During filming, late in her life, she reveals how she witnessed her neighbors murdering Jews after the war.

You can read a story about the film here.

Her shocking revelation, and now having a new major character, Yaacov Goldstein, meant another year to completely restructure the film.

More evidence of how twists and turns in the making of a documentary film can bring you luck — if you keep eyes and ears open. And, if you can live with the uncertainty and occasional chaos real life hands you.

Not everyone is cut out for it.