Alyssa Fedele is a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist. She produced and edited the short documentary film “The Ride of Their Lives,” which premiered at Sundance. From 2015 to 2017, Fedele was resident at SFFILM’s FilmHouse. Her work has screened at Sundance, IDFA, and Aspen Shorts Festival, and has appeared on National Geographic, PBS, and Amazon.

“The Rescue List” will premiere at the 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival on April 7. The film is co-directed by Zachary Fink.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

AF: “The Rescue List” is an immersive documentary that intimately follows the lives of two rescued children living in a rehabilitation shelter in Ghana as social workers help them recover from a childhood spent enslaved to fishermen on Lake Volta — the largest man-made lake on Earth. But their story takes an unexpected turn when their rescuer embarks on another rescue mission and asks the children for help.

“The Rescue List” charts the unfolding drama of the rescue operation alongside a moving portrait of the boys’ recoveries as they prepare to return to their families. By doing so, the film tells a touching story of friendship and courage — a story that transcends the trope of victimhood, and illustrates what it means to love and to survive.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

AF: My co-director Zachary Fink and I were drawn to this story when we heard about the heroic work the rescue team was doing to liberate and reunite trafficked children with their families, but we were also drawn to the story because it was something we had not known about.

As we began our research, we realized that human trafficking and modern slavery affects the lives of more than 45 million people worldwide and is one of the most urgent human rights issues facing modern society — but also one of the least understood.

We wanted to find a unique way to bring this story into the spotlight, to humanize the issue, and to connect audiences emotionally to the survivors in our film.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

AF: We hope this film humanizes the issue of human trafficking and modern slavery, and that audiences gain a new appreciation for the human cost, and complexities of this issue. By experiencing life-changing moments in our character’s lives, we hope that audiences leave the theater pondering their words and actions, and that [the characters’] stories resonate and reverberate in their minds.

Ultimately we hope this connection motivates audiences to action: to learn, share, volunteer, or donate to human rights organizations dedicated to combating human trafficking and modern slavery.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

AF: One of our biggest challenges in making this film was bridging the language barrier. There are seven distinct languages spoken in our film, and we did not have live translation as we were filming, so we never knew what people were saying until after we shot a scene — when we could huddle up for a general summary from our fixer. It wasn’t until we had transcriptions made from our raw footage that we knew exactly what people said.

We had to be very patient and intuitive, and trust that we had the coverage we needed to cut a scene. Zachary did an excellent job shooting in these conditions, ensuring we had great coverage despite not knowing what was being said.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

AF: We are very grateful to have made this film with the support of grants, donations, volunteers, and a lot of dedication and love. SFFILM Makers, an incredible San Francisco Bay Area Filmmaking organization, came on board early with a residency at FilmHouse, which provided a wonderful and supportive community of filmmakers with whom we could collaborate and commiserate, and I can’t say enough about how transformative this has been, and how grateful we are to SFFILM.

After that, we were fortunate to receive support from the Pacific Pioneer Fund and SFFILM’s Documentary Film Fund. These grants, along with private donations, and our own funds and time invested, enabled us to make the film.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Full Frame?

AF: We are honored and humbled to play at Full Frame. Zachary and I made this film independently, with the support of donors and grants, and we didn’t know where it would go or who would respond to it. Playing at a festival like Full Frame means our film is resonating with the documentary film community, and we’re very excited to share the story with audiences at the Festival.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

AF: Zachary and I have been really fortunate to have some wonderful mentors along the way of becoming filmmakers, and making this film.

Our early mentor, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, taught us the beauty and power of observational filmmaking: that by embedding in the community where you work, you can create truly intimate moving films without the need for voice-over narration or interviews editorializing the story.

Our executive producer, Steve James, taught us the importance of showing up, and being present. “If you’re there, things happen,” he says. It’s true. From Steve we’ve also learned the importance of close-ups on faces. When you’re shooting observationally, it can be difficult to get those long, meaningful close-ups for fear of missing the action somewhere else, but those shots enable the audience to connect emotionally to the participants in your film.

In terms of bad advice, I’d say that it’s really important to listen to your own intuition about your story and characters, and not get too caught up in other people’s ideas about what your film should be, as that can lead you astray from your own strengths as a filmmaker and the strengths of your story.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

AF: I think that one of the most important things when making a film is to surround yourself with an experienced and trustworthy team, and filmmaking community who believes in you and supports you.

Filmmaking can be a long and challenging process, and it’s the people around you who will encourage you, help you, and spur you on through the ups and downs.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

AF: I adore Ana Lily Amirpour’s film, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.” I’ve been fascinated with vampire stories since I was a child, and I love the empowered female character in this film, the modern noir vampire spaghetti Western aesthetic, and the killer soundtrack.

In the documentary category, I was moved and transfixed by Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson.” Her kindness and empathy emanates from every frame, and I will never cease to be inspired by the creativity and ingenuity of making a film from outtakes. It’s a patient film that waits as long as needed for each revelation to quietly wash over you. That is the power of cinema.

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?

AF: I am overjoyed to see how many of Full Frame’s films are women-directed, and I’m humbled to be among that group. The #TimesUp movement has catalyzed so much change already, and I’m emboldened and inspired by the power in the movement. As media makers, we have the power to create stories that represent the change we wish to see in the world, and I hope this movement enables all of us to create work that models that change.

In addition to the call for women to be equally represented in the workplace, I think pay parity is of utmost importance. Until women are economically empowered in the way men are, we will live unequal lives. Iceland’s legislation to require companies to prove pay equality is one I think our government should also enact.