Christy Garland has directed award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary features and fiction shorts. Her credits include “Cheer Up,” “The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song,” and “Doormat.”
“What Walaa Wants” will premiere at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival on May 1.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
CG: Walaa is a charismatic, strong-willed 16-year-old who lives in Balata Refugee Camp in the Palestinian Territories. She was raised by her aunt and sisters while her mother, Latifa, served eight years in prison for conspiring to bring a bomb into a nearby settlement.
The story begins soon after Latifa is released from prison, when Walaa announces she wants to be a policewoman on the Palestinian Security Forces. She faces opposition from her family. But Walaa persists, applies and, to her surprise, gets in.
Walaa’s background in Balata Camp has exposed her to trauma, poverty, midnight raids by the IDF, and a culture of martyrdom. It is perfectly normal for family and friends of all ages and for all reasons, and sometimes no reason at all, to end up in prison. Walaa is a fighter who has learned to follow her own rules and look after herself.
The atmosphere of discipline at the police academy triggers Walaa’s defensive behavior, which threatens to get her kicked out. After several reprimands and nearly losing the support of her peers, she is told by an officer that she is cared for, and really good at something.
For the first time, she has a real reason to have hope in her own future, and she begins to let down her guard and channel her energy in a positive direction. She works hard, supports her peers, and begins to understand what it means to be a proud Palestinian.
But even if she manages to earn that uniform, returning home to Balata Camp will severely test her ability to stay on that positive path.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
CG: I was in the West Bank researching the possibility of another film. Walaa immediately caught my attention when I encountered her in Balata Camp — a significant place in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the first and second intifadas originated. She was strong, clever, very charismatic, but clearly frustrated on some profound level, and unusually rebellious among her well-behaved peers. I was curious to know what she was going to do with all that energy.
When I found out she wanted to be a police officer, a somewhat complicated goal when you’re from Balata Camp, I knew there was a story there.
Very often, depictions of women in troubled regions focus on their victimhood and their oppressors. Walaa and her mother are many things, but they certainly aren’t victims, and the fact that Walaa was determined to control her own fate, with a very specific goal, gave the film a compelling story to focus on within the larger, complicated political context.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
CG: As an unfolding story shot without interviews or voiceover, and rooted as intimately as possible in Walaa’s point of view, this film puts us in a position where we experience the pressures of Walaa’s world through her eyes. We get to experience Walaa’s “normal” and understand her and her family to whatever extent possible.
My hope is that it helps people see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a fresh and deeply personal perspective, however narrow the scope, and contributes something to the larger conversation.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
CG: The West Bank, as well as Gaza, is one of the most sensitive places to bring a camera, because of an extremely complicated conflict spanning generations. I knew that the film would not escape being scrutinized from all directions and for several reasons: the presence of Walaa’s mother, Latifa; the depiction of Israel’s military presence in the West Bank; controversy among Palestinians regarding the Palestinian Authority and the Security Forces; Balata Camp with its atmosphere of resistance against the Israeli occupation; and the celebration of martyrdom and violence.
Walaa’s environment, and the forces that act upon her story, are multi-layered. It was a challenge to make sure all of those elements were represented, and not in any way biased, however complicated they are.
Early on I realized that the only clarity this film could bring was a privileged view into Walaa’s world, faithfully and honestly from her point of view, while acknowledging, in an organic way, the larger forces that surrounded her.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
CG: It began with a grant from the Canada Arts Council, which funded the gathering of all the most important early material. Once I had enough material delineating the characters and the story, I was very lucky to have, from a very early stage, the involvement of Anne Köhncke, a producer at Final Cut for Real in Denmark. She brought support from the Danish Film Institute, Danida in Denmark, and the Tribeca Gucci Documentary Fund, while we spent years pitching the project at various forums in Sheffield, IDFA, and Hot Docs. I was still shooting during this period.
After that, Canadian producer Matt Code and the National Film Board of Canada came on board and most recently the OMDC Film Fund in Canada.
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Hot Docs?
CG: Hot Docs is a very dear festival to me; it premiered my earlier films and has such a loyal, warm, enthusiastic audience. I’m very happy to be returning with “What Walaa Wants.”
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
CG: I was told by someone that the way to succeed in documentary is to make films about famous people. I love those films, but I’m very passionate about showing the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, and doing what I can to facilitate empathy even in the most unlikely places.
The best advice I’ve had, from various sources, is follow your own instincts and don’t compare yourself to other filmmakers or their films.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
CG: The only thing you have that no one else has is your individual life experience and how that shapes your way of seeing the world. Create original films by being as true to that as possible.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
CG: There are so many, but Agnès Varda’s films, and particularly the wisdom and humanity of her recent ones, remind me that I should keep making films until I run out of steam. She certainly hasn’t yet!
W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. Many women — and some men — in the industry are speaking publicly about their experiences being assaulted and harassed. What are your thoughts on the #TimesUp movement and the push for equality in the film business?
CG: I think the last while has been tumultuous and disturbing, and it has thrown me back into the years I worked in film production as an A.D., working on sets while I tried to get started as a filmmaker. In my mind the problematic assumptions of what was joked about as “cinematic immunity” — the notion that a film’s production needs allow it to impose on the public however necessary — also applied to [how sexual harassment was treated]. It was extremely commonplace on set. We all have our stories.
Obviously the movement is long past due and I hope it continues to build toward a reality soon where everyone, from all backgrounds, has equal opportunity — and neither men nor women need to navigate their way around sexual harassment, condescension, and unfair barriers in order to find the same opportunities to tell their own stories alongside everyone else.
