An astonishing Palestinian film, ‘5 Broken Cameras,’ will open the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSSFK 2013), here on June 7. Astonishing, for the film on the strife-torn area was made by Palestinian and Israeli film-makers. It also created history, being the first Palestinian documentary to be nominated for the Oscars. ‘’The camera was my friend and my weapon. Whatever happened in my village was directly related to me and I thought it was my responsibility to keep filming,’’ said Palestinian farmer-turned film-maker Emad Bornat, about the making of the film, in an e-mail interview with ‘Express.’
The resistance in Emad’s native village Bil’in (West of Ramallah) was against the construction of a separation barrier that would go right through their farmlands, taking away the means to livelihood. The protests mounted marked by violent attacks, daily arrests of protestors, destruction and threats to Emad’s family. Emad’s brother Riyad was the first to be arrested by Israeli soldiers. “I myself was arrested twice. I spent 75 days in jail and under house-arrest in bad conditions. I suffered and my sons suffered during the making of the film,” he recalled. Emad Bornat, told Express how he persevered with documenting the struggle of the farmers even as one camera after another got smashed by the Israeli Army. “My film is not the first about the Wall and Palestine. But most of the other films were made by people outside Palestine. They have not lived the experience and they will never know how it is to live under occupation. They have never put their life in a risky situation. My film was made from my personal perspective, as the struggle directly related to my land, my village,” said Emad. Interestingly, when Emad bought his first camera, he had no intention of shooting a struggle; instead the idea was to capture every little step that his fourth son Jibreel took. ‘’I followed my son Jibreel with the camera since he was born. It is also a personal story because my family members are all part of the film,’’ said Emad.
However, Jibreel’s birth in February 2005 also marked the birth of the resistance. Emad could not keep away from documenting the struggle, even though he had no intention of making a film. He was the only cameraman in the village and he had the access that others didn’t have. His footage was often used as evidence, his footage often contributed to others films. But this also meant risk of losing the weapon. Emad’s first camera was shot and broken by soldiers soon after his brother’s arrest. The same fate followed his second and third cameras. The fourth was lost in an accident, when his truck crashed into the separation wall and fifth was again shot and broken while filming a protest demonstration. With 5 broken cameras, Emad approached Israeli film-maker Guy Davidi who had come to Bil’in as a media activist and sympathiser. “I trusted Guy because he is an Israeli activist and he had come to join the protest. My goal was to screen the film for Israeli people rather than make a Palestine-Israel Collaboration,’’ said Emad.