GOD NO SAY SO / THE BOY MIR – TEN YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN / AGNUS DEI: LAMB OF GOD
As part of the 13th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, a press conference was held on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 with the directors Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky, (God No Say No), Phil Grabsky, (The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan) and Alejandra Sanchez (Agnus Dei: Lamb Of God).
In her documentary God No Say No, Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky records the bravery of people who lived through the horror of the war in Sierra Leone. As she explained, God is in the background and not the center of this film; its heart lies in the humanity that is blossoming after the barbarity of a ten-year civil war. “The film is a cry of humanity and centers on people who were maimed during the war. I was there in 2002, four years after the peace, and what I saw was shocking. More than 4,000 people have been mutliated”, Ms Kornetzky said. In her film, her characters leave the violence of war behind and try to find the courage to go on with their lives. It focuses on the hard working Bonka, Julieta, a prostitute, and on the young students of the local school. “What is marked on these faces is not the violence of war, but the thirst for life. These people lived through traumatic experiences, but this isn’t in the film. Africans are people full of hope. It’s true for them that hope is the last thing to go”, the director noted. In the film, she asks a baker who was maimed during the war if he would like to take revenge on the man who did this to him. He honestly answers: “Me? God no say no”. “When I got there, I asked myself if there wasn’t even one person who is angry; who wants revenge. But they said ‘no’. A westerner might have been thirsting for revenge. But these people are different, peace-loving”, Ms Kornetzky noted.
Phil Grabsky spoke next, whose documentary traces a period of ten years on Afghanistan and the life of playful Mir until he reaches adulthood. At the same time the film looks at the culture and history of the area. “In 2001 I was watching what was happening in Afghanistan on the news, but I understood that they didn’t show the whole truth. So I decided to go there”, the director noted. “I went to the area where the Taliban destroyed the stone Buddhas and people continued to live in caves. Even though I was looking for an adult leading character, I met Mir – really it was he who found me – and I followed his life for one year. But when I returned from Afghanistan, I understood that one year was not enough for a place and its people to change after three decades of war. So I decided to go back and follow Mir’s life as well as the community until 2010”. How much have things changed since the director first went to the area? “There has been progress in various areas. Two million girls are now going to school, but the situation is still dangerous, especially in the north, where Mir lives. If someone really wants to help, he must give money for roads, schools and hospitals. Imagine that of the 500 billion dollars that have been given in aid to the country up to now, only 25 million have been spent on covering basic needs. The rest has been used for military purposes”, Grabsky explained. He then said that in order for someone to understand Afghanistan, he must first understand poverty. “Young people in Afghanistan watch television and they are impressed by, for instance, those who have mobile phones. So, as strange as it seems, some children want to go to school and learn writing so they can send text messages. This is a paradox. Imagine that to get mobile reception in Afghanistan you have to climb a mountain”, Grabsky said.
Finally, Alejandra Sanchez spoke, director of the film Agnus Dei: Lamb Of God. In the documentary, an altar boy recounts the nightmare he lived through when he was abused at age 11 by his priest. Beginning from this testimony, the director records life in a small catholic school. “The catholic world is hermetically sealed; I believe there is a conspiracy of silence there. This is the reason the church remains as strong as it is, because many people know but they keep silent”, Ms Sanchez declared. The director needed to spend days with the schoolchildren in order to gain their trust. Her initial goal, as she said, was to make a film that reveals the truth and battles church corruption. “During research, a scandal was revealed, with irrefutable evidence, among which were also photographs that prove that the priest in question abused Jesus Romero when he was pre-pubescent. The perpetrators usually blame the victims in this type of thing. And in the film, the priest claims that it was the children that provoked him. So I wanted to show what really happens”, Sanchez explained. Regarding the reactions caused by her film, the director declared: “After my film was screened at the university where I work, Jesus received an email, not with threats, but with curses. I imagine it was sent by the priest himself”.
