American Cinematographer - April 2012 - 78

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Sundance Standouts
In a scene from 5 Broken Cameras, young Palestinian Gibreel Burnat overlooks an Israeli settlement built on Bil’in’s farmland. The award-winning documentary was shot and co-directed by his father, Emad.

supported the family. Because he was the only resident with a video camera, he was soon called upon to document festivals and other events in the village. When the villagers learned that Israel would be constructing a barrier through their township and appropriating the agricultural land for a high-rise settlement, they began staging nonviolent demonstrations once a week. Burnat filmed the protests, as well as the clearing of the land. He also filmed a gas canister rocketing toward his camera, and kept filming as the camera fizzled. This is one of five battered cameras he lays out at the beginning of the film, saying, “Every camera has a story.” An Israeli cameraman gave Burnat his second camera, a Sony DCR-PC110. Foreign journalists were ubiquitous after Bil’in’s protests attracted international attention, but Burnat was the only cameraman living in the village full time. Soon his footage was appearing on Reuters, Al-Jazeera, Israeli and Palestinian television, and on YouTube. (It was also used in military courts and in some independent documentaries.) Davidi, an Israeli documentarian, was among the filmmakers who visited Bil’in. He was shooting a documentary about out-of-work villagers who took construction jobs in the new settlement,
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“You don’t just have to find the shot; you also have to let go of your own security.”

had climbed a crane to stop the uprooting of olive trees. The settler strides towards Burnat, orders him to stop filming, and then punches the camera. Burnat subsequently purchased a Sony DSR-PDX10P. By then, Israeli soldiers were conducting night raids on Bil’in and arresting children, so he needed a camera with good nighttime capabilities. Eventually, the soldiers arrive at Burnat’s house, and when he answers the door with the camera rolling, he is told he’s in a “closed miliAmerican Cinematographer

5 Broken Cameras photos and frame grabs courtesy of Burnat Films Palestine/Guy DVD Films/Alegria Productions.

and he used some of Burnat’s footage in another project, Interrupted Streams, which addresses Israeli control over local water sources. An Israeli settler smashed Burnat’s second camera during a fracas involving one of Burnat’s friends, who

tary area” and cannot film. He responds, “I am a journalist, and I am allowed to film in my house.” They arrest him on charges of throwing stones and assaulting a soldier — charges that were later dropped for lack of evidence. When Burnat returns to the demonstrations, a soldier fires a rubber bullet at him at fairly close range, “maybe 30 meters.” It lodges in the camera, which saves his life. “I still don’t know why he shot directly at my face — those rubber bullets can kill you,” says Burnat. “They’re plastic on the outside but iron inside. Many people have been killed by them.” Burnat would often wear a fluorescent vest labeled “Press.” It helped him obtain some freedom of movement, but it was no guarantee of safety. Davidi explains, “No one is safe in these situations. More and more activists are using cameras, and that creates a lot of confusion for the army. If you’re holding a camera, you probably won’t be the first one targeted. The first will be the activists, then the cameramen not [wearing press vests], then sometimes people who wear press clothes and have press cards.” For his part, Davidi eschewed a press vest. “I cannot come in my press clothing, film, then go back to the village and drink tea with the people. Already I

American Cinematographer - April 2012

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