Renee Bergen - Film Maker

Renee Bergan is a co-producer, co-director, director of photography and editor of the upcoming documentary “Poto Mitan.” Her talent and activism is inspiring and hers is simply a refreshing voice in the world of filmmaking. She has developed and made several documentaries that relate to issues such as domestic violence, the underside of the garment industry, and the plight of Afghan women. In 2003, she created Renegade Pictures, Inc. with the “sole goal of educating, inspiring and advocating change through her films.”



Jennifer Lauren recently interviewed Renee about her work and about “Poto Mitan”, a powerful film that sheds light on the global economy through telling the stories of five women in Haiti.
Questions:


1. According to your bio on www.potomitan.net, you studied film in Paris and later at the University of California in Santa Barbara, with a mission to utilize the medium as film as a means of advocating for greater social justice. Can you speak more about how you came to turn to filmmaking as an alternative to “rallies and other forms of protest”?
I guess from an early age I knew that I wanted to make a difference. I remember when I was 5 I stated I wanted to be the first woman president! (I’ve since then decided against that!) But that shows I had some drive and political, even gender awareness at a young age. I was always drawn to imagery, still photography as well as moving…but was not attracted to Hollywood and it’s lack of substance. Simultaneously, I’ve always felt an innate sense that I needed to do something to help make an affect in this world—but didn’t want that to be purely from my ego. I wanted (and still do) to help others. When I got older and was starting to think about what I wanted to do with my life, I knew it had to fall under the arts, but it also had to jive with my desire to help the world be a better place. So, using film as a medium to help others tell their stories and/or influence people to take action seemed a perfect mesh with my dreams/goals.

Also, did the academic environment in Paris and Santa Barbara provide a stimulating foundation for that goal to merge film and social justice? How did your studies inform your later work?
My political awareness started when I was a senior in high school but it was at UCSB that my activism fostered and developed. Being there during the first gulf war, I was heavily involved in the anti-war movement. I was also part of the hunger strike which made an ethnic/gender class an undergrad requirement. There were countless other groups I was involved with from ant-sweatshop, to feminist orgs (I was the 2nd editor in chief for Herstory and on the Women’s Commission), to countless more. I think these years made it clear to me that being an activist was not a temporary thing but now a part of my life…and whatever I could incorporate it in my work, again in order to make this world a better place..all the better. I think it was at this time that the power of media really hit me too. I decided I needed to be on the positive, truthful side of that medium.


2. Your prior work, such as the short documentary “Persistent Discretion” about domestic violence, and the fictional short “Girl in the Window”, about Afghan women, and certainly the in=progress documentary “Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy” illuminate upon the struggles women face internationally. Can you pinpoint when you realized you wanted to work toward greater social justice and on supporting the plight of women or the disenfranchised?
If I could have minored in women’s studies, I would have, but at that time UCSB only offered double majors. I was not ready to commit that scholastically or financially (fees tripled when I was at UCSB). My mother grew up in the era where women were told to be quiet, look pretty, not disagree. My generation was very different… I think my earlier note about being the first woman president again points out my sense of gender equality at a young age. At that time I never felt like there was nothing I could not do because of my gender. On the contrary, I was a very determined girl and believed I could do anything I set my mind to. I learned this was not really the case as I got older. We are 50% of the population in this country…it never made sense to me why we should be treated any differently. I am a woman and I am affected by this so I wanted to change it. As the Revolutionary Assoc. of Afghan women states: “”No woman is free, until all women are free.”

I must note tho, that in cases of my work in other countries, I make sure not to export my Western feminism on these other womens’ agendas. On the contrary, I am there to learn from them.

3. It is not very often that filmmakers complete both narrative and documentary works, yet you have done both. Can you speak a little about your experiences in both and the strengths and difficulties with both?

I’m mostly a documentary filmmaker but I’m not opposed to working in the narrative format if the film has meaning/substance. To be frank, it’s been a long time since I’ve worked on a narrative film, but I’ve seen a rise in documentary filmmaking in the last 8 years, part of that I think is due to documentaries taking on a more narrative approach with their arc or “storyline”. This works well with main stream audiences and allows documentaries to be have a wider reach, I believe.

4. Can you expand on how you came to create Renegade Pictures, your film company, and its mission?
After graduating in the early 90’s, I worked a variety of industry jobs, some being down in Hollywood. I was kind of aghast at the fact that I got a degree to yell out “Rolling! Cut!” (tho I know you gotta start somewhere!). I realized quickly that if I continued down the Hollywood line, I’d have to make a decision about whether I would pursue editing or cinematography…I liked both and wanted to do both. Also, I knew Hollywood was not for me, so this helped me to realize that if I really wanted to be a documentary filmmaker, I had to just do it myself. I found a great project via an article in the LA times that started me on my way…it was about a Thai sweatshop in LA. Sadly I never finished this film (a variety of reasons and a lesson about how determined documentary filmmakers need to be), but this got me on my way. I worked independently for years, as a self employed filmmaker among other part time jobs. It was after I completed my first major film, Sadaa E Zan, that I went official and realized I could do this full time as a career. As far as my mission goes, I think it was explained above…my goal with filmmaking is to inform, educate, inspire and provoke action, most of all.

5. Filmmakers often struggle to fund their projects, and Ken Burns famously said that a filmmaker’s style “in the end, just becomes a description of how one solves the problems of production.” (From The Art of the Documentary, by Megan Cunningham). Please explain the funding process for the new film “Poto Mitan” and some of the challenges that have arisen, financially or otherwise.
This was a completely grass roots film. We raised over $50,000 from donations and fundraisers alone. We received only one grant from the University for $4,000 when Mark was still a student. We did receive a $10,000 matching grant but that was from a personal friend of mine. We applied for over 20 film grants and received none. So we got creative about targeting audiences who would benefit from the film…Ultimately I think we were lucky in that we had a lot of people that believed in us, some who gave substantial donations. Also, we could not have made this film without the support of the Center for Black Studies Research and the Santa Barbara Community.

For me this project was particularly hard, financially. When I was living in Santa Barbara, I was able to supplement a lot of my work on the film with other film work. But I moved to NY in the middle of the project, where I no longer had connections. The film could only afford to pay me for some of my time, so I worked some on deferment. This has been a real hardship for me this past year…not easy at all.
As far as the budget dictating the style, we knew from the outset that we had to be frugal all along the way. We were a very small crew, mostly me and Mark and occasionally a third person when we were in Haiti. Luckily with the current digital age, one can make a film for a lot cheaper than they could before. And in the end we just steamed ahead, knowing that we’d eventually make our money back. I think compared to other films, we did pretty good with how little we ended up dishing out.

6. The co-producers, consultants and Advisory Board for “Poto Mitan” having interesting and diverse backgrounds. How has the collaborative process been for this film and what has your role been in the making of this film?
Some of the advisory board member were obviously more active then others. Ultimately they were a wonderful support system. At times when we weren’t sure about the dirction the film was going or about our process, their support carried us through those difficult times (what I call the “rough cut blues”) and helped us to see that the film we were making was an important story to be told. Again, without their support, it would have been difficult to continue. I think it’s really important to have these outside support systems, particularly when you are such a small team. You can get too close and lost in your film, having those outside eyes occasionally helps bring you out of that downward spiral and refresh your perspective and attitude.

7. “Poto Mitan” takes on such an important and often overlooked subject, that is the role of women in the socio-economy and furthermore, the roots of Haiti’s perilous condition, and how the international economy has played a role in that. As viewers, we learn of the lives of these five courageous women along with an intimate history of Haiti-personal and national histories that need to be heard by the broader world.

What drew you and your fellow collaborators to this much-needed project, and has it been an educational process for you all as well to work with the women of the Committee to Defend Working Women’s Rights and Women in Action?

Mark probably already mentioned this to you, but it was the women in the film who created this project. Mark was working on his PHD dissertation down in Haiti for several years. His focus was on two female NGO’s (non-governmental organizations). One group was particularly astute to the power of media and told him: “That’s great you want to write about us but we know no one will read it….if you really want people to know our story then you need to make a movie about us!”. Mark, dedicated, dutifully complied. He returned to UCSB and through the film studies dept., he found me. So really, without the women, this film would not exist…we have them to thank for it. I also want to note that we kept them involved along the process, showing them works in process, so they could lend their opinion of the direction of the film. So it’s not like they had the idea and we took it and ran, it was collaborative all along the way.
For me it’s been an extremely educational process. Mark has spent year in Haiti, he’s an expert in the field. I came to the project with minor understanding of the country. These women, like the women in many under-developed countries I meet, are amazing, strong, resilient beings, women that I’m honored to know.

8. The website for the film speaks about the image of Haiti in the media, the structural causes for the poverty and division in the nation, and how doings of the international economy-such as when the World Trade Organization lifted quotas on Chinese textiles, greatly effected the Americas. How important was it to you to offer the viewer a broader as well as historical context for what is going on today in Haiti and beyond?
We certainly could not assume that most viewers had an understanding about the political, historical or cultural understanding of Haiti. To understand this perspective was to understand the women’s situation better as well as our role, as global citizens, and our affects on peoples of other countries.


9. I love that the subjects of the film-Solange, Frisline, Therese, Marquise and Helene-as poto mitan, or central pillars, are such strong examples of how to be a successful activist, with organization and deep conviction. Haiti itself has a strong history of activism. Can you speak about these five compelling, inspiring activists and what you think is the role of the activist, in Haiti or anywhere?
I think Mark can answer this question better than I—but I’ll try. The role of the activist is to consider the community or the future before one self. The activist puts their time and often lives on the line, in order to make their world a better place. They will sacrifice themselves, their time to make this happen. It is a difficult an arduous task, but one that some feel compelled to do.

10. You had previously done a film called “Fashion Slaves” about the garment industry. With “Poto Mitan”, we learn a great deal about how industrialization in 1980s Haiti meant a shift from the “family-run factory owner producing local foodstuffs to the foreign-owned export-processing zone.” Solange, for example, organizes and leads a union in her factory that produces shirts for Fruit of the Loom until in 2006 her and her co-workers were laid off, yet she remains active in her community. What is your view of the factory system and labor unions given your prior experience with both films’ relation to this issue?
The factory system is usually based on a triangle with a few at the top (executives) reaping most of the profit while the majority (labor) is at the bottom making pennies….and in between is the manufacturers, the middlemen. I think this is a pretty, forgive my French, fucked up system. It’s never made sense to me why companies can’t take just a hair less profit to give their workers a living wage…or if necessary (which I don’t’ think it is) pass this cost onto the consumer. Instead they prefer to have modern day slaves or indentured servants. Workers are afraid and wont’ leave their jobs because it’s possibly the only descent income in their area. Despite how bad the working conditions are…they’ll stay because they have no choice. With the profits the top execs are making, it should not be this way…they should pay their workers a living wage and have them work in safe and descent environments.

11. Helene in particular is described as a “true leader, inspiring others-especially women-to speak out and become involved.” Among her works, she organized a public health training program and after a friend almost died from her husband’s beatings, Helene created a campaign against violence upon women and founded Women in Action. Can you speak about the impact of women’s leadership in Haiti and beyond, and perhaps speak also to the political climate in the United States?
As the title Poto Mitan (which means center post, and is a metaphorical representation of how women are the center post or back bone of the culture) insinuates, women are the heart of Haiti’s culture. Yet in part of their world they are treated as dirt. These are strong, vibrant and resilient women (as were the women in Afghanistan) that won’t take this kind of injustice and they stand up and fight for themselves (not all of course, but many). The women leaders help those that are afraid or not sure what to do…they educate, support them. Both in Haiti and Afghanistan, these women are some of the strongest women I’ve met…so much so, I ask myself if I would have been like them had I been born in their countries. It really is us that should be learning from them.


12. In the clips from “Poto Mitan” on the website, we hear from the five subjects about the depth of the economic turmoil and violence in Haiti. Due to a dramatic price change of essential items, we learn that “you can’t buy anything” and that it is “destroying the country”. When there are literally 50,000 people behind you eyeing your job, it is hard to speak up for worker’s rights. We learn in the clips from Helene (????) that “us women, we carry everything” and that the problems affecting Haiti are “problems that attack women, who don’t have a man to help them out, and it’s all our burden”. It is hard hitting to hear from them directly how deeply they have been affected by the world’s economy.

Is part of the mission of “Poto Mitan” to awaken the international community to the depth of these issues?

Yes indeed, one of the main goals of the film is to show the effects of globalization or our legislative policies in the North on those in the South…people we never think that are affected by our actions. But this is a small world now and actions cross borders. Another purpose is to see the similarities between other countries crisis’ and our own. What is happening in Haiti that is similar in our own backyard? What can we as citizens do about that?

13. With the success of the Grameen Foundation and the attention Muhammad Yunus has received for his groundbreaking microfinance program, and other studies that underline the important and perilously undervalued role of women in the workforce and the economy, this is certainly the time for such an intimate view of that dynamic, which we see in “Poto Mitan”. Paul Collier’s “The Bottom Billion” and books like “Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World” by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart really call for a change in how the often called “First World” deals with the “Third World”, or how the G-8 deals with failing states and the world’s poorest nations. Has any of these works or studies inspired or influenced your work on “Poto Mitan”?

14. Are you still in touch with the five amazing women in “Poto Mitan”? Please share with us the next step for the film and your experience working on this timely project.

Mark is more in touch with them than I….being that he returns to Haiti several times a year. I look forward to seeing them when I’m not behind a camera and just hanging out!
We are currently entering the film in film festivals, working on creating the DVD, and looking for a distributor so we can get the film out there. This will take another 1-2 months. Ultimately, if we can get the funding, we’d love to bring some of the women to the US for a screening/speaking tour, where we have the hopes of creating a dialogue between the women and students, labor, women’s and faith based organizations.

Jennifer Lauren is a writer and researcher from New York City. She represents the NGO Globe Aware at the United Nations, and has worked with organizations such as Open Society Institute on research projects related to human rights and international law. She has worked as a grant writer for the development of several local and international projects. She can be reached at lauren.jenn@gmail.com