As I tell Gabrielle in the following interview, when a new Gabrielle Brady film emerges into the world, it is like the arrival of a gift, one that pulls us into a mindset of considering the lives of others, including those of the crabs of Christmas Island, or maybe the horses of the Gobi Desert. It's one that encourages us to see the world of truth differently. That notion of truth is something I've asked filmmakers a lot lately, and I'm conscious of its almost accusatory nature, as if documentary filmmaking must adhere to one True Reality. But it's impossible. The truth can never be captured on screen, and truth is in itself a falsity. After all, as soon as you put a camera on an event, or slice it with an editing suite, or apply a score to it, you are skewing reality away from the truth. Documentary storytelling is, by its own creation, not the truth. Yet, the emotions that we're left with and the memories that linger in our mind after the film has long played out, become a source of truth. Yet, as I slip into this spiral a little further, it's clear that co-authored filmmaking like that of Gabrielle Brady's exists to explore versions of the truth, to bring stories of subjects and collaborators to life, and to enrich our collective world.
These notions are underpinned by Gabrielle's choice to study at the prestigious La Escuela Internacional de Cine in Cuba, a place which fosters the notion to 'defend the rights to ones own image' and to 'liberate the viewer's gaze'. These are ideas that I ask Gabrielle about in the following interview, which gives way to an open conversation about her creative process, and what it means to be able to work alongside people like Poh Lin, Davaa and Zaya, and Michael Latham, on her films.
This interview was recorded ahead of Wolves' screenings at the Sydney Film Festival on 10 and 12 June. This is a film I urge audiences to see in a cinema, let it overwhelm your senses. Let it change you. If you're interested in reading about how the film changed me, then you can read my review here.
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