Cameraperson

Synopsis: A boxing match in Brooklyn; life in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina; the daily routine of a Nigerian midwife; an intimate family moment at home: these scenes and others are woven into Cameraperson, a tapestry of footage collected over the twenty-five-year career of documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. Through a series of episodic juxtapositions, Johnson explores the relationships between image makers and their subjects, the tension between the objectivity and intervention of the camera, and the complex interaction of unfiltered reality and crafted narrative. A hybrid work that combines documentary, autobiography, and ethical inquiry, Cameraperson is both a moving glimpse into one filmmaker's personal journey and a thoughtful examination of what it means to train a camera on the world.
Genre: Documentary
Director(s): Kirsten Johnson
Production: Fork Films
  23 wins & 37 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Metacritic:
86
Rotten Tomatoes:
99%
NOT RATED
Year:
2016
102 min
$101,074
Website
152 Views


Okay, I'll get it.

You see?

Yeah, it's pretty.

Look at that yellow flower.

- There's amazing wildflowers here.

- Mm-hmm.

- Can you see?

- Mm-hmm.

Sheep don't know what to think yet.

Dobra.

I'll come with you a little.

Lay on the floor, grab both legs.

Grab both legs.

Shane Mosley was out there.

- Hey, what's happening? How are you?

- How you doing?

- Getting close to everybody today.

- Oh, I see. Okay.

- Nothing wrong with being close.

- That's what I always say.

- Keeps everybody warm.

- Exactly.

- Go get this kid.

- I will.

Lot of jabs. Lot of catching.

He's gonna try to floor you.

Hit him in the damn shoulders. Got it?

All right, baby. Go ahead. Go ahead.

How did that delivery go?

Was it easy, that one?

- Which one?

- The one you just did.

- The baby?

- Yeah, was it an easy delivery?

Yes, she is very easy,

although she's gonna be our fourth.

This is our fourth delivery.

- Fourth delivery.

- Mmm, fourth.

It was so easy and she delivered quickly.

She was just coming in.

How many more babies

do you think you're going to get today?

It depends.

They can come very little, and they

can come as many as you think of.

How many midwifes are there here today?

Today we are three in number.

Okay, go get 'em.

Next.

My theory is that Americans exist

to the degree they're being filmed,

or believe themselves to be filmed.

- Yeah, that

- This is the natural condition.

You see how Americanized I am now.

Careful.

She sees everything around her

and she's totally blind.

That's the image of the philosopher

who falls in the well, you say?

- Yes.

- While looking at the star.

Uh, uh, uh, uh!

I didn't see the headlines.

I sort of saw .

Watch out!

Yup, and these.

- And what else?

- You gonna bring them.

Hi, y'all. Cup in my mouth.

With a cup in your mouth, huh?

You know, these guys weren't real smart.

Can you take us through these items

and tell us what they are?

Mm-hmm.

All these items are the clothing

taken from James Byrd's body.

Uh, there's not a whole lot

of evidentiary value to these items.

Uh, but it's always important that things

like this be admitted into the courtroom.

One of the things that we did in

this trial was make up these booklets...

with 13 pictures to establish

specific evidentiary points.

Could you describe a couple

of key pictures in there

you felt really made your case?

There's .

There's one picture

it's about the third one in it

that, uh, shows all of the extensive

dragging marks on the body.

And one look at that picture

and you realize

how painful it must have been

and how much torture was involved.

Then there are several pictures

over in the back

where the elbows are ground in

way past the bone.

And when you look at these photographs

and you realize that for

a large portion of this dragging,

James Byrd was alive,

that he was using his elbows, uh,

to keep his head and shoulders

away from the pavement dirt,

that he was twisting his hips

back and forth

and using his, uh, heels

to try to keep his head from

coming in contact with that pavement.

And you see the degree of flesh

that's torn away during that process,

you begin to get mad.

Uh, hearing somebody talk about it

and actually looking at it

is different.

We gave each juror

a copy of this booklet,

and that eliminated the need

of showing the pictures on a screen

or showing 'em in a courtroom.

That, uh, creates, uh,

a whole lot of extra emotion.

We had all the emotion we needed

in this case without adding to it.

I need a little. Yeah, it's good.

- Beautiful.

- Yeah?

Yeah.

- It's okay now?

- It's beautiful. Yes, thank you.

Diversion.

Wait, wait. Yeah.

Keep the door closed.

Mamasho.

Thanks, sweetie.

I want to keep that off

so I can see you guys.

- Duh.

- Nice.

Felix, are you putting

the camera lens on too?

Thanks, guys.

You guys are so good at

putting things away.

Yeah, that's the microphone.

Don't be scared.

I so high.

- I can see the whole Kabul.

- This is great.

Whoa! Najib, hold on!

Whoo!

Cover this eye. Cover your hurt eye.

And look out and tell me what you can see.

Describe everything that you see.

Um...

And now cover the other eye

and tell me what you see.

Mmm.

Nothing.

In this side,

I can feel a little bit of light.

And when I'm moving my Oh, sorry.

It's okay. English or Dari is great.

Tell me in Dari.

You just look at me,

even though we're not filming everything.

What, um .

What are the expenses you have

to take care of your son right now?

Um, my expenses right now are.

Pampers, wipes, clothes, shoes, food...

which is by being a single parent

is not easy and it's not impossible.

It's possible because I've been

doing it by myself for 19 months.

But at the same time, I just feel like...

with another child,

and what I'm trying to do right now,

it's not I don't feel like I can do it.

I work as a cashier. I just started there.

Just working till I get out of school.

That's all. So.

Tell me about school.

I'm studying to become a paramedic,

so, yeah.

I'm just trying to pursue my dream

so I can have better for my son.

Like I was telling you out in the lobby,

I feel like a bad person because I let it

happen a second time, you know. So.

I don't really think I can do

a second child by myself.

That's why I just feel like a bad person.

A bad female.

Because I let it happen a second time.

And I told myself not to do it,

but it happened anyways.

Okay. The only rule I'm gonna give you

is you may not say,

"I'm not a good person" anymore.

'Cause that is not the case.

Unintended pregnancy

is an unintended pregnancy.

That's all it is. That's all it is.

- So... no more, okay?

- Okay.

Okay? I'm not kidding.

Yeah, me too.

And you're making

everybody cry, number one.

And it's also happened to all of us.

We've all had unintended pregnancies.

If this clinic wasn't here,

what would you do?

Just start the sentence with,

"If this clinic wasn't here..."

If this clinic wasn't here,

I'd probably do an adoption,

but, as crazy as it sounds,

I said in my head, I said,

"Well, I would rather an abortion

than to give him

give the baby up to a family

I don't know."

Because if I want to hold it,

then that's love.

And I don't want to, you know

I know.

I'm so sorry.

You caught me.

I didn't mean to.

I was just trying to film the ground.

I was over here looking at the lighting.

The lighting's good now, Kirsten.

- Come here, honey.

- Is it okay if I film you?

Mom?

It would have been our furniture in here.

There was a swing that used to be

right there, that we had.

You can see the hook from the swing.

Yeah.

Ah, this is fun.

Little breeze come through here?

Huh.

I wonder if this .

Uh, the fireplace is confusing me

so I won't say .

Somehow I have a feeling that

when you came in the front door,

there was something here

that was a fireplace.

- Uh-huh.

- I don't know where it is.

Like this stove here.

That little stove. Was that here?

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Doris Baizley

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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