41 HAPPENING Rory Peck Awards
Matthew Cassel’s film The Missing looked at the places bereft of hope, where people had been forced to leave their families and loved ones to look for a better life elsewhere. Despite the billions of dollars flying around the media industry, support for this kind of documentary is sometimes hard to scrape together. Cassel got part- funding from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Working in the Middle East for most of his career, he also helped launch Al Jazeera’s digital platform, AJ+. “I wanted to go to the communities that these people are leaving, which is difficult because a lot of these them are in very far flung places that are expensive to reach. Media institutions don’t necessarily have the financial resources they used to have, to pay independent journalist to cover things like this. “The migration crisis is one of the most important issues of our time, especially because it is connected to so many other issues, be it climate change, conflict, global inequality. These are huge themes that we must tackle to address this crisis.” Cassel noted that there were perks to working as an independent filmmaker. Unattached to a broadcaster or production company, he has some freedom that a journalist working on staff at a broadcaster doesn’t have. “I think everyone who works for these news organisation, whether they admit it or not, is engaging in some form of self censorship,” said Cassel. “And that’s why I love being independent. I want to do the story in the way I want to do it. And if the BBC isn’t going to take it, maybe Al Jazeera will or a network in the US. But on the flip side, as independent journalists, we can get screwed and no one is going to support us.”
equipment, from travel arrangements to sound advice. Fixers are not paid enough and are often the lynchpin of the entire film. “Without the fixers in each country, international journalism would not happen,” said Cassel. “They face all the risks. We fly in and if some group or the state comes after us, we get out. The fixers are staying. They often don’t get credit and they certainly don’t get compensated enough. I can’t stand when clients tell me I have to pay a fixer $100 or less a day.” “In the case of our film in Nicaragua,” says Vázquez. “Our fixer Miguel was also on camera taking us around places. He had been in jail many times already, because of protesting. That was one of the decisions we had to make early on. He said, ′I want to be on camera,′ but if he was on camera then the authorities could come after him and his wife. And he just took the risk. He’s a hero. He’s still there.” Paraguay: Poisoned Fields filmmaker Martin Boudot explained how getting to a fixer can shut down a production that those in power might find disagreeable. “The Chinese authorities are very smart. When I was there they were putting pressure on the fixers, threatening to put them into prison. Without them we cannot work. It’s that simple. The police went to my fixer at the time and said if you continue to work with them, you’re going to be in jail. That’s very efficient. They have to be protected. “If I was Sony, in a PR situation, I would try to talk more about these guys, because they use Sony products, even if it’s a smart phone. They really are at risk, but no one talks about them.” “And we shouldn’t call them ‘fixers’,“ added Cassel, firmly. “We should just call them ‘producers’.“
Rodrigo Vázquez shared his own experience concerning the increasing reluctance of commissioners to stick their necks out for journalists. “When I started doing this job, working for Channel 4, the commissioning editor would support us when we did stories about Kashmir or Palestine, and when the Indian or the Israeli embassies sued us and accused us of lying we would win every time because the executive stood behind us with the proof. “I don’t think that’s the case today. They are risk averse. People are fleeing the broadcasters for all these other multiple platforms. The broadcasters are in this mad race to attract an audience and reinforce people’s prejudices, rather than discover the truth. And sometimes discovering the truth may go against interests that these channels shouldn’t be representing, but do.” FIXING GLOBAL JOURNALISM Cooperation with people you can trust is essential for getting these sometimes very volatile stories told. The role of the fixer is vital. A fixer is the filmmaker’s resource on the ground in unfamiliar territory, who can provide everything from contacts to WITHOUT THE FIXERS, INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISMWOULD NOT HAPPEN
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