Questions for ... Emmy-winning Documentary Filmmaker Anne Aghion '82
 Filmmaker Anne Aghion has won an Emmy Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship for her most recent documentaries about the Rwandan genocide and reconciliation ( In Rwanda we say... The family that does not speak dies and Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda? )
After college, she was a researcher and administrator in the Paris bureau of The New York Times , and worked on the business side of the International Herald Tribune, before moving into a career in film and television.
She talked about making films, her inspiration, and her college years in a recent interview for the Barnard website.
You've already made two films about the Rwandan genocide and reconciliation and now you are working on a third. As a filmmaker, what do you most want to say about Rwanda?
What's extraordinary about Rwanda is that everyone you meet has gone through hell. Every time I shook someone's hand I wondered what they'd gone through. There was no end to the pain and loss. But that's what kept me going, trying to understand what kept them going. The people, especially the women, have a dignity and a level of articulation for their emotions that is extraordinary--a matter of fact-ness about what they went through and are going through which never ceases to impress me.
What inspired your interest in filmmaking?
I grew up in Paris and spent my adolescence going to movies. Paris was the film capital of the world at that time (the 1970s). I'd cut classes and go see films. It was a safe place to be as a young person -- cinema was a dream place that took you places you wouldn't go in real life. Films are very emotional. You connect emotionally.
You majored in Arabic language and literature at Barnard and decided against film school. What was your thinking then?
I knew I wanted to study something I couldn't learn alone. I could study history or art or other areas on my own. I knew I couldn't learn Arabic alone. When I graduated, it opened a door for me to go to Cairo, where I spent two years.
How did you know you wanted to be a filmmaker?
When it came time to decide what I was going to do, film wasn't it. It stayed in the back of my mind but I didn't pursue it. I realize that I've been preparing all along for what I'm doing now. There was nothing romantic for me; making films was simply part of who I was.
When you look back at your Barnard years, what stands out that helped make you the woman you are today?
Mostly, I was working hard in my classes! [But] part of my bread and butter in my professional life is figuring out how to adapt to a new environment. Barnard was one of my first real experiences where I had to learn how to adapt to a new cultural environment. At the time, I didn't realize what it meant to be at Barnard. When I graduated, I realized I was part of something special. I've never been one who easily belonged but now I recognize that because of the experience and community, I was ... a 'Barnard woman.'
What subject will you explore in your next film?
The human experience of being a scientist in Antarctica -- why people make the choice to do research that will take them there and what it takes in terms of motivation. If I do it right, it'll be an inspirational film. There's a parallel between the scientific quest and the artistic quest -- what they dream of and how the reality measures up.
What recent films, documentary or otherwise, have most deeply affected you?
The White Diamond by Werner Herzog, The New World by Terrence Malick. These films and others, like Solaris by Andrei Tarkowski, are helping me formulate a vision for my own work.
Any advice for aspiring filmmakers ?
Take the time to think through what [you] want to do, how to find [your] voice and the place [you] want to have in the world. The hardest thing in making films is not the film but deciding which films to do. The kinds of film I'm making now I couldn't have made when I was 25. So it's okay to be patient. It's a big responsibility.
-Jo Kadlecek
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