TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2017 // A Conversation with CAMILLA HALL, Director of COPWATCH
Directed by the fearless Camilla Hall, COPWATCH is an important film of the reality of our times. It’s not just trending or popular—it’s the truth. Set in various parts of the US, focusing on locations such as Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, we see our leads of the "We Copwatch Team" doing exactly what their name states—watching cops. They long to keep power balanced between the law and the law-abiding citizens. Safety and truth are their first priorities. These people are the real vigilantes of the street.
The film sheds light on crucial issues of our society and culture while featuring three prominent cop-watchers, Kevin Moore, David Whitt and the infamous Ramsey Orta. Copwatch gives us a behind-the-scenes view into Ramsey Orta (the man who filmed the horrific death of Eric Garner), and the journey of his court case.
The doc ultimately shows that when it comes to the police, it’s not always “us versus them”, as seen in one of the most impactful scenes in the doc. In the scene, the Copwatchers find themselves in a conversation with two policemen near Mike Brown’s memorial site. They all end up talking for quite some time about how to bridge the divide between civilians and the law, specifically in Ferguson, MO. The scene shines light in a seemingly dark place, and that is the heart of Copwatch.
I had the chance to speak with director Camilla Hall recently, while she was in New York at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and she shined light on the documentary, her history, and the future of Copwatch.
DANIELLE BECKMANN, The Artswire Weekly: As a journalist-turned-filmmaker from the UK, how did you come into this world of We Copwatch and want to make this documentary?
CAMILLA HALL, Director of COPWATCH: I was a foreign correspondent for, I guess around, six, six and a half years, so I was based in the Middle East for five years and then I was actually based in New York at a newspaper. Basically, I was working in finance in New York, on Wall Street, but it definitely wasn't where my heart lay, and I guess I wanted to get back more into the political news that I had been interested in. Then a friend of mine was actually making a documentary at the time, and they were heading out to the Middle East, and so I basically joined them as a producer, and that was called Freedom for the Wolf. And basically as I was researching for Freedom for the Wolf, I came across the story of Kevin Moore in Baltimore and I started to notice also that in the case of Ramsey, he had been arrested shortly after filming this viral video. So, basically I just started to see this kind of pattern and then I just thought, you know, these people are actually interesting, there seems to be something in here that needs to be told. Also I think coming from the UK, the level of police shootings here in the US was something that was quite striking and different to an outsider, and it seemed like a story that needed to be told, essentially.
DB: How long did the filming process from start to finish of the doc take?
CH: Actually, it was relatively quick for a documentary, because interestingly, the other film that I'm working on just wrapped after three years in the making. So this one was made only in about a year and half, and part of why I was able to do that is because I had my editor Grace basically sitting in the office working through footage, while I was out shooting. The story moved so fast, that we were just shooting back and forth between these cities and LA for the duration of the year.
DB: That was very apparent, and I was quite impressed with how current and fast-paced the doc was. I was also so glad that you harnessed Ramsey Orta’s story, because it seemed like no one else was going to tell it.
CH: That was definitely the thing that struck me the most, I didn't understand why no one was telling Ramsey’s story. It seemed, to me, so fascinating. Even in our doc we don’t give it full justice. It’s very nuanced and complex, and we could only go into certain elements of it. There was a window of time before he inevitably, well, not inevitably, but at least there was a chance that he would go to prison, and there was a window to which we could tell the story, and I just had to make sure that it was being told.
DB: A scene that stuck out in my mind was when the guys had civil, and even almost jovial, conversation with the two police officers near Mike Brown's memorial site. Were there any more encounters like that, or was that rare to find cops of that nature?
CH: I think it was really, really important to me to have the police point of view in the film, and I never wanted that to be an NYPD spokesman in an office. I wanted it to be something genuine, also really to empathize with people—this isn’t supposed to be a one-sided film. We need to understand that police officers do an incredibly hard job, and it was so important to me to get that moment. I think without that moment we almost wouldn't have a film. And actually, the story behind that scene is so intense in the sense that those officers only came after the crew had left. So there was just one person with them who had a camera, he was our second man, he just had a small camera, and honestly, editing the scene was so hard because he was so exhausted. He had been working so hard, he was shaking, and he had no stand for the camera, and he was trying to capture whatever he could from the moment, and obviously no sound guy either. So, it was because we were so stretched back with the team that that kind of moment was allowed to happen. And even just knowing his own circumstances at that time, he was dealing with some of his own intense personal things, and so the fact that he stayed out there, was a testament to his character.
DB: Wow. I feel like that’s when documentary magic happens.
CH: It’s after the 14th hour of being awake and working. And I think that during that period I had to hire a 3rd camera person, because we were having to stay up all night, and I definitely couldn't demand that from my team.
DB: What is next for We Copwatch?
CH: For “We Copwatch,” I can’t speak on behalf of them, because they have their own plans. I certainly hope this film gets them the resources that they need to keep doing what they're doing.
DB: What’s next for you?
CH: For me, Freedom for the Wolf is my other film and that’s a political documentary of the rise of political democracy. We basically look at freedom that’s been taken away it’s filmed in Tunisia, Japan, US, Hong Kong, among other locations, big film thats going to be premiering very soon. And that film I worked as a producer on. So those two will be taking up a lot of time. The premieres in Europe. And I do have a number of a new projects that I am developing at the moment, which I’m sure I’ll get to talk about a lot at the festival.
DB: Camilla, thank you. I’m definitely going to continue to follow your work. Thank you for telling such an important story.
CH: Thank you, I really appreciate that. I’m glad you guys are covering docs this year. Thanks so much.
Freedom For The Wolf as described by IMDb: This film is about the world’s most radical idea-freedom-and how it is transforming the world. It is about how people all over the globe-from Tunisian rappers to Indian comedians, from America’s #BlackLivesMatter activists to Hong Kong’s students- are joining the struggle for freedom.
DANIELLE'S VERDICT: MUST SEE