Sonja Henrici
I Am Breathing is one of the most powerful and moving documentaries of 2013 so far and it has been whipping up a storm on the festival circuit.
We caught up with producer Sonja Henrici ahead of the film playing at the start of Edinburgh Film Festival.
- I Am Breathing is your new documentary so can you tell me a little bit about it?
I Am Breathing is a film that has been made in collaboration with Neil Platt, the main protagonist, who is facing a terrible disease called Motor Neurone Disease. He was only thirty three at the time of diagnosis and he is just trying to leave a little legacy behind for his young son and his family.
What is almost like a home movie becomes something that is incredibly and extraordinary because it is full of humour and black humour and yet really facing up to what it means to be dying really.
It is incredibly moving and we have had some incredible responses. The film has been playing at lots of festivals since November; we launched it in Amsterdam.
On paper it is a very difficult film because people know it is about someone facing death and yet we have managed to make a film that we are all very proud of and really draws people in.
- Where did this movie start for you? And how did you hear about the story of Neil Platt?
I work with both Emma Davie and Morag McKinnon at Edinburgh College of Art, as the Documentary Institute is based here. It really started with Morag being approached as she was a friend of Neil’s from university; in fact Neill went to the Edinburgh College of Art as an architect student.
Neil was starting to blog saying that we needed to raise more awareness about this disease because it is totally under-funded - it is under-funded because people die so quickly so there is no big interest from the pharmaceutical companies to invest money in this disease.
So he basically asked if anyone would be interested in making a film with him. Morag put a call out and talked to Emma, but she didn’t really want to get involved.
They thought that they would make a little film but then they got a bit of funding and then I came on board. I just thought that this was going to be something and I just wanted to make it as big as it could be; the footage from the start was just so incredibly moving.
I think they had pretty much finished filming by the time that I came on board. They did have to get on and film it because he died quite quickly.
- This is a very up close and personal documentary about Neil's struggle with Motor Neurone Disease and while he did kick off the whole film idea how open was he to having the camera there to capture these moments?
Completely. He invited the camera in, it wouldn’t have worked otherwise. Emma is the documentary filmmaker in the co-directing team and she had big ethical questions about it.
What Louise, his wife, says about this process is that that privacy had gone a long time ago because this disease is so invasive and you have so many helpers around all of the time.
So for him it was really healing to have a little confession box almost and a space where he could convey his thoughts to people and his family.
The most private moment was filmed by the family, on his request, at the end when the camera drops; the filmmakers were not there. Neil insisted that this would be filmed, in fact when the camera drops he says ‘don’t forget the camera, pick it up’.
When we first reviewed the footage we knew that that was such an unbelievable moment. He made a joke out of this particular point but in the film it was impossible to make a joke after this scene - but right until the end he was really trying to make it palatable for people.
- What did you think of all of this footage when you saw it for the first time?
It really hit me when I realised who physical some of the footage it where you really almost embody Neil; that is where the film’s power comes from as you really do get under his skin.
Then there is the contrast between his limp body and the bright spirit that he had. It is unbearable in a way and yet remarkable.
There is some amazing footage of Louise as well but there is some even better stuff that just didn’t make it in as we did just focus quite narrowly on Neil.
- Can you talk a bit about the editing process and all of the footage that had to be cut down to make a narrative and story that flowed?
Really we were editing and financing at the same time. Because the main footage was shot we were trying to get financing for that so we would have to provide ten or twenty minute samples.
Emma and Morag were editing sometimes on there own and going away for a week here and there to really get under the skin.
But we also had amazing Danish co-production partners and Danish consultant called Janus Jansen, he was involved in the film The Act of Killing, and he was the one who really got the directors to look at this particular footage that I was talking about earlier - they knew that they had to build up towards this moment in the film.
So we were editing on and off for the better part of two years and then there was a concentrated period at the end; we finished in the early part of 2012.
- Did you leave anything on the cutting room floor that you wish you could have included?
Personally no, I don’t think so. There is scope to release a few more bits and pieces, which we will do later on. What we took out was interviews with the scientists that diagnosed Neil and I think that it is stronger by having virtually no scientific explanation; apart from the minimal.
We are doing a big outreach campaign and we want to do a bit more of updated filming on the science part and release that as little films on the DVD.
- How have you found the response to the film so far?
It has been incredible really. We knew that it was going to be a tough film and we had had some test audience responses that had been good - but until you get to the world premiere and in front of a live audience you never know how it will be.
But it was sold out and the feedback that we got was just extraordinary. There was a really palpable atmosphere created and by the end.
- The movie is going to be screened at the Open City Docs Festival in London so what do you hope people will take away from it when they see the film?
What we are trying to do a big outreach programme to coincide with Global Awareness day is 21st June for the disease.
So we just want to share this film and continue Neil’s campaign. It was never meant to be a campaign - Neil was very much trying to do that - we were trying to make a very good film that is also personal.
But we want to make something that would be respected as a film and not just for its campaign; I think we have managed to do that and I am very proud of the. We are getting good reviews but we are also impacting on those who really care to promote awareness.
- You have talked about the funding for this film a couple of times and we are always hearing about how difficult it is to get any sort of film funded and off the ground in this country. So how difficult a process are you facing at the moment?
It is always difficult, for sure. The initial funding that really helped was the Welcome Trust Fund as they did give a substantial amount.
That gave us a bit of extra time to develop the edit and the film itself. We had a great partner in Denmark and they were able to get Danish financing - this meant that we were able us a Danish editor that was hugely sought after, which as fantastic.
So each piece of financing meant that it heightened the status of the film and made it better. It is always a struggle but in this case we had an extremely… I think that people always reacted terribly well to Neil.
Even in a three minute trailer people were really moved but could see that there was a humorous element. So Neil made it a little bit easier for us, but I can’t say it was that easy (laughs).
- You have produced a whole host of documentaries so what is it about this genre of film that you really enjoy?
I think it is just one of the most innovative types of filmmaking. Future My Love, Pablo’s Winter and I Am Breathing are all extremely different - I am proud of that fact as well.
We don’t have a mode of making a documentary it sort of demands what kind of style is imposed; the theme of the story of the character tells you that. Reality can be stranger than fiction and I just love the variety of what you get.
We learn something with each film that is profound and enlightening and entertaining, I love it. I would also be involved with fiction but I would say that documentary is my passion.
- Finally what is next for you?
I am working on a few films. We are developing other ideas for training initiatives through the Documentary Institute.
But I am also producing two new films; one is with Amy Hardy called The Singing Hospice and also deals with the dying and our approach to dying. We are just pulling that together financially at the moment and that should be finished at the end of next year.
Another completely different film is a film with David Miller and is based in the cycling world. So they are two completely different subjects.
Read our I Am Breathing Review