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The television industry calls this type of documentary “human interest” or “social issues” programming. There is a certain type of story, a certain feel to this sort of film. Though is every film not about a social issue and of human interest?
At their best, social issues or human interest films tend to take one or more stories as the narrative strand which illustrate, show, unpick, peel away, and get to the core realities of an issue or problem or situation. We watch them for the stories, being drawn into the issues through our empathy with the human characters. We watch people living the issue or problem at the human level, the micro, while a number of strands or characters gently layer our understanding to the macro, the societal or issue level. On occasions such films may come up with surprising twists and perspectives that the academic, the statistical, the accepted wisdom has not predicted. Real people are like that, unpredictable; films that follow their lives are the same.
For filmmakers such films are an endless challenge ranging from a constant need to gain access to film, and a need for a genuine, if not elemental trust with your characters.
Watch low quality 150kbps / Watch high quality 512kbps
Praxis has long enjoyed making Social Issue or Human Interest films. “She’s Done Her Bird” is one of our all time favourites. A 50 minute documentary, shot on 16 mm film over a year, following three women prisoners in the UK during the 6 months before their release and the 6 months after.
According to the statistics, one in every three women prisoners returns to jail. Two out of three see the error of their ways, reform and never return. The issue being explored was whether prison helped rehabilitate or was a school for crime. The human interest was the fate of the three featured characters.
Things were far from that simple, as it turned out. Prison was actually a safe haven for our three women, and many of those we met. There they had the support of other women, and were free from being preyed upon and manipulated by men. Once outside one prisoner broke down and went on the run from her parole. Another returned to drink, drugs and prostitution to feed her own and her boyfriend’s habit. While the third lived rough and became pregnant in order to gain a council home.
The film provoked somewhat different reactions. You win some, you lose some!
“One of the most moving and insightful films about prisons that we have seen”.
(The Guardian.)
“Perhaps the worst prison film in recent years.”
(The Times.)
Enjoy some other clips from our work in This Praxis Broadcast Showcase, and a little background information about each film.
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