'Astonishing' British film voted best of 21st century — although it's like Marmite

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/tv-film-news/best-british-film-masterpiece-streaming-37080291

Exclusive Interview with Carl Deal & Tia Lessin, Directors of “Steal This Story, Please!”

I was deeply honored to have the opportunity to sit down for a brief Q&A with directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin as they promote their stunningly powerful new documentary, “Steal This Story, Please!” My review of the film can be found here. Many thanks to both Tia and Carl for a wonderful conversation.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

ITOL: My first question to you both is that Amy Goodman represents a certain style of journalism; I would call it investigative journalism. Do you feel that investigative journalism has been replaced by the filmmaking you do, documentary filmmaking?

Tia Lessin: “Well, we have the ability to do things over years, over time and a lot of news organizations don’t have the budget or bandwidth for that. And so many news organizations have been downsized to the point of being able to run like capsules of news and they take a lot of syndicated content, they take a lot of wire reports or pool coverage. And there’s just very little money out there to fund-well, there’s a lot of money out there but none of it’s being spent on the important work of investigative journalism.”

“And you know, because “Democracy Now!” is an independent outlet, they have some more wherewithal and they can put funds into not only their own investigative work but uplifting the investigative journalism done by the rare mainstream outlet, or more frequently from independent outlets like “Dropsite News,” “The Intercept,” the “Marshall Project,” and “ProPublica” that are really filling that void.”

Carl Deal: “And can I add, there’s a place where I think there’s a really strong thread of commonality between what Amy Goodman and “Democracy Now’s” approach to journalism and our approach to documentary filmmaking and that is, that we’re all about the audience. It’s very community oriented because you know, a film isn’t a film unless there’s an audience with it. Watching a film with an audience is an intimate, communal experience and it’s pretty cool. As cliché as it sounds, it’s real.”

“And what Amy and “Democracy Now!” do is they’re all about serving their listeners, not serving anybody else. I’ve not seen any journalist love and appreciate their audience with the same kind of passion and respect that Amy does for hers.”

ITOL: I can see that in your film, and I was very impressed with that. One of the things that really impressed me about your film, and I call it the definitive documentary of our time, is that it shows the timeline of how we got here in our present day. You present a brief history of political events that lead us here. Was there any concern on either of your part that certain segments of the political spectrum might not appreciate the film?

Tia Lessin: “We hope audiences more than anything else appreciate this film and we’ve seen that over the life of this film, first on the festival circuit, now in the theatrical world, audiences are not only showing up, they’re embracing this film in ways that have never happened. We’ve had some successes in our careers with films, but this has blown us away.  We’ve won eight Audience Awards, five more Jury Prizes; we broke box office records in New York City when we opened April 10th weekend. So whatever powers that be think of the film, and that remains to be seen, what’s most important to us is that audiences are responding, and that’s very exciting.”

Carl Deal: “Yeah, and we welcome the critique. If somebody doesn’t get pissed off over something we say or do, than we feel like we’re not doing our jobs.”

ITOL: This leads me to my last question. Some of my favorite scenes in your film are the ones that show the more intimate side of Amy, the personal cost of what she’s gone through and experienced in running “Democracy Now!” and covering stories. Was there any difficulty in saying to her that you would like to include those scenes as well?

Carl Deal: “We didn’t ask permission for anything, but I would say that Amy doesn’t do anything halfway. So once Amy agreed to participate as a subject and let herself be the center of our storytelling rather than the institution that she built, she was all in. She let us do our job, and you know it takes time [because] what we do is a little different than what she does. So, it did take time to get as personal as we were able to get.”

Tia Lessin: “I think that in the gravity of what has been happening in the world at this moment as we were making this film, particularly as we were finishing this film- it’s been unprecedented, the assaults on press freedoms. We made the decision as filmmakers to really keep the focus on Amy’s work. That’s not to say we don’t get glimpses of her emotionality and her personal life, but the real center of the story is this crisis in journalism. And she’s been navigating this crisis for decades, really. It has landed us in this moment. 

“You know, Donald Trump is not in the film a lot, but he looms large over the entire narrative. So, the film is not just a portrait of Amy but it’s a resistance and it’s an argument for the free press. And I think in the end, particularly at the end, it’s a call to action against these dark forces that are trying to silence us. I think that’s why there has been such a response. It’s in the context in which we’re living and the fact that we need more voices and more outlets like Amy Goodman’s and “Democracy Now!” not fewer.”

ITOL: Totally agree! There’s this lovely balance between Amy the human being and Amy, the face of “Democracy Now!” and I think that’s one of the reasons this film resonates so much. People identify with Amy. We all want to be Amy.

Tia Lessin: “Well look, despite this daily drumbeat of dire coverage that “Democracy Now!” is broadcasting to the world, she has this lightness of being, and this optimism, and this hope. That really surprised us. Not only that, but she’s funny as hell. I think that lightness and joy pervades her and pervades the film. I feel we’ve certainly been buoyed by that, Carl and I, in these dark, difficult times. And I think that and community is what is going to get us through this moment and collective action. In order to have collective action, we all need information.”

“Just one other point, you asked about investigative journalism at the beginning of the interview. If ever we needed investigative journalism, gosh! If ever we needed hard-hitting investigative journalism, it’s now. When we’ve seen these abuses of power and corruption going not unnoticed but unchallenged, we need voices and outlets and civil society holding those in power to account. And this is in government, government officials; this is in the private sector, with corporate entities. It is investigative journalism and journalists asking hard questions and exposing wrongdoing that has been serving as a check against these abuses over the years. I think that’s why forces like Donald Trump are trying so hard to silence the free press because he knows-what is that expression? “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” If ever we need some disinfectant, it’s right now!”

ITOL: You took the words right out of my mouth! I think that’s a great way to end the interview. Thank you both so much. I have a feeling we’ll be talking again when awards season comes around!

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https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/ive-worked-david-attenborough-decade-37079594

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