Page 41 - The Hollywood Reporter (January 2020)

AROUND THE WORLD WITH NOMINATED DOCS

The other four contenders in the category take viewers to Syria, North Macedonia,
China and even Ohio while exploring global issues By Katie Campione

fine-tuning the narration until the
very last day of mixing.

What are your hopes for the future
of the film and for Brazil?
I hope the film will raise people’s
awareness about the frailty of
democracy. Many other coun-
AMERICAN FACTORY THE CAVE
tries around the world should be Produced by the Obamas, American Factory checks For The Cave, director Feras Fayyad returns to his
declaring a state of emergency, or in on the General Motors plant that directors Julia native Syria, this time to document a team of female

a kind of state of alert. Political Reichert and Steven Bognar explored in their 2009 doctors working in an underground hospital.
parties are willing to destroy short The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, which Fayyad was previously nominated for his 2017 film,
was also nominated for an Academy Award. the Syrian war documentary Last Men in Aleppo.
democracy to be able to win or
to stay in power. And that is
happening in Brazil and the U.S.
and in many other places. It’s
catastrophic not just for human
rights, but also for the climate.
And it might be too late if we
wait to protect the rule of law and
democracy, acquired through so
many centuries of hard work. It’s FOR SAMA HONEYLAND
alarming what is happening in For Sama documents the Syrian war from a personal Shot with a skeleton crew over three years,
Brazil; we’re really at the edge of perspective. Directors Waad al-Kateab and Honeyland intimately follows one of the last female
becoming an authoritarian gov- Edward Watts drew from more than 500 hours of wild beekeepers in Europe as her livelihood is
ernment. Or past that edge. footage recorded by al-Kateab, starting as a student threatened by a wayfaring family that joins her tiny
in Aleppo through the birth of her first daughter. Macedonian village deep in the Balkans.

Interview edited for length
and clarity.

A C A D E M Y A WA R D N O M I N E E
®

B E S T D O C U M E N TA R Y

S H O R T S U B J E C T

BOUND BY LOVE, NOT BY BORDERS

“It may be the most
unnerving 40 minutes
of your year.”

T H E D A I L Y B E A S T