The filmmaker on her documentary Open Heart, about a Palestinian boy's fight to have life-saving surgery.

After graduating from The Royal College of Art, Claire Fowler decided to use film in a way that raised awareness of social issues. Portrait As, her 2006 tribute to disabled filmmaker Stephen Dwoskin, was shown around the world before she ventured to Israel for Open Heart. This short documentary reveals the injustice suffered by a Palestinian boy forced to navigate Israeli checkpoints in order to have life-saving surgery. It is showing at the Human Rights Watch Festival in London on 18th and 19th March.

Do you consider yourself an activist as much as a filmmaker?
I definitely put myself in the filmmaker category. When I was making this film I really wanted to be observing what was happening rather than actively influencing what was happening. For example, in the checkpoint scene, I was there with a camera guy, the nurse, the mother and the baby, and I really didn’t want to interact at all, but that was really, really difficult because we weren’t sure what was going to happen. I guess as an activist you would put yourself in that position where you actively try to influence the course of events, but I saw my job as just trying to keep a hold of the camera and stay out of the way as much as I possibly could.

Your producer is Steve Sosebee, the head of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. How much of an influence did he have on the message you were trying to get across?
I definitely believe in what the charity are doing and what they stand for. The reason they got in touch with me is because my brother had worked with them in the past and my whole family are involved in medicine, so the charity is something I really believe in. Steve asked me to make a film about the work of the charity and his idea was just for me to come in and film events, some horrible idea of a corporate film with a voiceover. I actually said, ‘Well, if I’m going to make a film for you, I’ve got to do it my own way.’ Again, I just wanted to observe what happened. I hadn’t actually witnessed the problems the Palestinians had in getting medical care although I had an idea about it. It’s something I really needed to see for myself.

Why did you choose to centre the film on just one baby boy, Jamal?
We bandied about ideas with the doctors in Palestine and then I spoke to doctors in the UK who had been out there doing charity work. Then one of the doctors, a Palestinian who is a consultant, was telling me about families and giving me pictures of different children and their cases. We were going to follow maybe two or three, but when we went to see Jamal, who lives near Nablus, it was such a hassle getting there and so difficult getting back that the whole thing just became so absorbing. So many different things happened in relation to this one child - like the electricity going out during his operation and not being able to get through the checkpoints - that we just naturally kept the focus on him.

Was there a lot of red tape to cut through in terms of getting filming permits?
We were off the radar. I think to get press visas to go to Israel is pretty hard, but the way I got around it is… I was a recent graduate from art school so I had all my student art cards. Whenever someone asked me what I was doing with the camera, I just said, ‘I’m an artist. I’m making a piece of art.’ They didn’t like it, but none of the Israeli soldiers ever asked me for a filming permit either. I don’t think they would know what they were looking for to be honest. We did have charity permits that allowed us to get to parts of the West Bank that normal tourists wouldn’t be able to go to.

And aside from the authorities, how did people generally react to you filming on the streets?
I think they’re quite used to cameras on the West Bank and places like Jerusalem and Ramallah. Actually, in Jerusalem, in the hospital, people were mildly amused and a little bit curious, but at the same time, they’re very generous people. I think it’s because they see anybody with a camera who is willing to spend time with the Palestinian people as beneficial to their cause. They want people from the outside world to see the conditions in the hospital, the conditions of their daily life, they’re really eager. There’s a scene which didn’t make it to the final film, but it was a nice scene at a checkpoint into Nablus. There were so many men crowded in this metal cage trying to get through the checkpoint and when we pulled the camera out, they started cheering. It was heartening for them, and for us as well.

Were there any situations when you felt you were in danger?
Yeah. We were really nervous at times. I was with a male camera guy and a male nurse - I definitely wouldn’t want to be alone with the camera in those kinds of situations. I felt like I had a bit of back-up, but the three of us didn’t really know what to expect when we got to the checkpoints with the Palestinians… Steve [Sosebee] left us to our own devices because he was hoping that we would just see something that we wanted to capture and he wouldn’t be there to narrate it for us, which is exactly what I didn’t want. But yeah, the checkpoint scene where the mother and the baby are trying to get through? That took us about three hours to get through that checkpoint. The Israeli soldiers kept trying to separate me from everybody else and take our cell phones and put me in a private room and put the other guys in other rooms. That was really horrible, we were just looking at each other not knowing what to do, but we just kept arguing, refusing to comply in the most polite way possible. Just asking to see someone’s superior is the best way to go about it.

Rather than banging on about your rights, I think the best weapon you have is just to act really stupid

Do you think being a woman helped - the soldiers perhaps inclined to take a softer stance?
I think it probably helps. My camera guy is also very slight and looks very young so I guess we just looked like two college kids. I’ve been back to the West Bank three or four times since then and I think naiveté, or even if you’re not naïve, just an air of it is really useful. Rather than banging on about your rights, I think the best weapon you have is just to act really stupid.

In reality can a film really change or anything, or are you just preaching to the choir?
Steve, when he asked me to do this film, he didn’t want it as a promotion for PCRF. He just wanted me to show what was needed in Palestine in terms of healthcare. For me, because we had so little time - two weeks - I needed to hinge it off something. The work of the PCRF and the fact that he’s an American and he set it up, gave me an angle. What I thought I was doing with that film, by putting an American guy at the centre of it as well as the Palestinians, was trying to reach as many people as possible. I don’t think you can really change anything directly, but you can make them think. Steve has even used it at big fundraising rallies to give an overview of what his work is…

Also, my father, and he might not forgive me for saying this, but he’s not particularly left-wing, but when he saw the film, he actually began to think about Palestinians as people, not just activists or terrorists. These are people who are neglected in the media and I just wanted them to be seen.

Do you have plans for a feature film?
I just got back from Palestine. I was there for about a month in October and over Christmas filming a portrait of a tiny, tiny village on the border of the West Bank and Israel. It’s completely surrounded by settlements and checkpoints, trappings of occupation, and the future path of the [security] wall is completely routed around this village so it’ll be completely isolated. I’m trying to make this portrait as long as I possibly can, but if I can’t get any more funds it will only be 40 minutes long. If I can get more money, I’d like to make it a short feature. I don’t want to pigeon myself as a Palestinian filmmaker, but once you go out there and see the situation, you feel almost like you have a responsibility to go back.

Stella Papamichael | Published 19 March 08