By Diane Bell Byrne
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that the reason I write and tell stories (and have to do it) is to address issues that I find incredibly hard to deal with in real life. It’s as if the stories create a way to go to the dark places that scare me the most and perhaps shed some light within them, illuminating some fragmented hope, perhaps even revealing a path towards healing.
My first film, OBSELIDIA, raised issues of impending climate disaster, the increased rate of obsolescence and the loss of biodiversity – all things I was obsessed with and terrified about at the time of writing. Obselidia, premiered at Sundance 2010, the same year that a documentary film called Restrepo made a huge impact. Everyone was talking about it. From the moment we arrived, Restrepo, a film about American soldiers in Afghanistan was the big buzz.
My husband and producing partner, Chris Byrne, was in the military for twelve years, and served in the Falklands War, as well as many other conflict zones. Like many ex-soldiers with combat experience he is drawn to films that depict war, so of course, Restrepo was on his must-see list. The film didn’t disappoint him and he was thrilled when a couple days later his path crossed with Tim Hetherington, one of its directors, in the filmmakers lounge and they shared a drink and war stories.
I didn’t meet Tim until over a year later at the Independent Spirit Awards. By then our two films had played together at many festivals, and in Little Rock, Arkansas, I had met Misha Pemble-Belkin, a young soldier featured in the film and his wife and had become friends with them.
Tim was everything that I had been led to believe from those who knew him: tall, bright, full of life and energy. Even in the star-studded crowds of the Spirit Awards, Tim stood out. The thing that was captivating about him, and immediately apparent, was his total authenticity. We spoke about our films, our festival experiences and I wished him luck for the Oscars the following day. He was with his beautiful girlfriend, and they looked more elegant than most movie stars.
Just a couple months later, news of Tim’s death in Libya came through. Like anyone whose path had crossed with Tim, I was incredibly shocked and saddened. How could it be? How could one so alive…so good…be killed like this?
It also got me to thinking more about war journalists and the risks they take. Why do they do it? Is it worth it? Does their work actually change anything?
I thought about the loved ones they leave behind and the questions they must grapple with in their grief. Why did the person you love choose to put themselves in such a dangerous situation? Was sharing the story more important than being around for you?
It wasn’t until last year however that I knew I had to go deeper into this. The beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff shocked me in a way I didn’t think possible. The questions that Tim’s death had provoked came back to me tenfold. These men died the most brutal of deaths, and their only crime was wanting to make the suffering of people in Syria known to the world. Since the start of the war in Syria, 210,000 civilians have been killed. This is happening right now. And yet still, no one seems to care.
OF DUST AND BONES goes straight towards the question of how we live meaningfully in a world that is beset with violence and suffering.
Do we just ignore it? Is that how we can sleep well at night, by pretending it’s not there? Do we look at it? Does looking at suffering make any difference? Do we alleviate suffering by being aware of it? Do media images of suffering raise awareness or function as propaganda, and how we can see distinguish between these? In a world where terrorists use the spectacle of horror and suffering as a weapon against all of us, where do we draw the line?
These are the questions that have been coming to me again and again as I develop this film. I don’t have hard answers to them. The film will explore them, reflect and meditate on them, and create a space for the audience to do the same. And perhaps in that reflection, together in the darkest of places…perhaps there, we will find hope.
If you are interested in helping OF DUST AND BONES get made, please take a look here: http://www.seedandspark.com/studio/dust-and-bones
http://rebelheartfilm.com/index.php/2015/04/12/the-origins-of-dust/
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