Meet the DocuWeeks Filmmakers: Marina Goldovskaya--'A Bitter Taste of Freedom'

Over the next month, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the filmmakers whose work is represented in the DocuWeeks^TM Theatrical Documentary Showcase, which runs from August 12 through September 1 in New York City and August 19 through September 8 in Los Angeles. We asked the filmmakers to share the stories behind their films--the inspirations, the challenges and obstacles, the goals and objectives, the reactions to their films so far.

So, to continue this series of conversations, here is Marina Goldovskaya, director/writer of A Bitter Taste of Freedom.

Synopsis: In her fearless quest to uncover the wrongdoings of Russian authorities, Anna Politkovskaya inspired awe in some and fear in others. An investigate journalist for Moscow's liberal Novaya Gazeta, she was often the only spokesperson for innocent victims. At age 48 she was assassinated for simply doing her job. Filmed over a period of 20 years, A Bitter Taste of Freedom tells an incredible story of a woman who consciously gave her life for her convictions.

IDA:  How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?

Marina Goldovskaya: I graduated from the Department of Cinematography of the Moscow State Film School, which was founded by Sergey Eisenstein. I started my professional career as a newsreel cinematographer at Central Television in Moscow in 1964. It was an exciting time for Soviet Television: In 1968 our TV News Unit had been transformed into a big Unit called "Ekran"("Screen"); it produced not only news programs, but also films--both documentaries and narratives. Within years, this studio grew into the biggest in the USSR. It gathered a wonderful team of  filmmakers who came from all the Soviet republics. Ekran also had the best and most modern equipment, mostly French and German, which allowed me to use the most advanced methods of filmmaking, such as the observational method, which was the Russian analogue of Direct Cinema and Cinema Vérité.

I started as an assistant cameraperson, but within five years I became one of the leading cinematographers working for the News programs and films in the Documentary Film Unit. I also was the first and the only woman to shoot, direct and write my own documentaries.

During my 25-year tenure at Central Television (1964-1989), I  made 150 TV programs and 25 documentaries as director/cinematographer. Many of my films received top awards at festivals.

Concurrent with my filmmaking career, I pursued a career as a scholar. I wrote and defended two dissertations and published five books on documentary and the art of cinematography.

Starting at the age of 25, I also started teaching documentary and cinematography--first in the Moscow Film School, then in the Department of Journalism at Moscow State University.

In 1989 I left Central Television to become an independent filmmaker working for different Russian and mostly foreign studios and units ( American, French, German and Austrian).

In 1991 after teaching documentary at University of California at San Diego, Vassar College and Cal State Northridge, I joined the faculty as a tenured professor at the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at UCLA.

IDA: What inspired you to make A Bitter Taste of Freedom?

MG: In 1991 I made A Taste of Freedom, a documentary about the Politkovskaya family. This film was an attempt to show the changes happening in the Soviet Union via a Russian family. I chose as my protagonists the family of my former students, Sasha and Anna Politkovskaya. I felt that they were interesting people, very charismatic and very much involved in the events happening in our country. At the time, Sasha was a news reporter who traveled around the country, and was one of the best known TV journalists in the Soviet Union. His wife, Anna, was a housewife, raising their two children. Anna and I became friends while I was making this film. Our friendship continued after the film was finished.

After completing A Taste of Freedom, I felt I had to continue to film the changes happening in Russia. I felt that it was very important to document those changes and film people living their lives in the midst of these changes. The Politkovskaya family were some of the many people I followed over the years. Anna became one of my best friends and one of my most favorite characters. She was one of the most charismatic people I knew. And while I had been following her life with my camera, she was growing into one of the most prominent journalists and civil rights activists in Russia. So I captured not only the changes in Anna's personal life, but also the changes in Russia.

Her work was dangerous, and she knew she was risking her life. But her conscience didn't allow her to stop working.

When Anna was killed, I knew I had to make a film about her. I wanted people to know what kind of a person she was and what a great woman our country had lost. I knew I had the footage of Anna that nobody else had. Many journalists filmed her when she was alive, but nobody filmed her as a woman, mother and friend. I knew my footage was unique. And so I made the film A Bitter Taste of Freedom.

 It is a film about Anna, and it is a film about my country.

IDA: What were some of the challenges and obstacles in making this film, and how did you overcome them?

MG: There were many challenges. But challenges and obstacles in documentary follow the filmmaker from day one, and that's why it is such a joy to try to overcome them and try to fulfill the goals you set up, beginning from the very first stage of formulating the idea.

You set the goals, and then life starts to push you away from the first vision of the film. And usually on the way to reconciling the primary idea with the reality you face and film during the shooting  period, you try to keep the story straight, but allow life to stuff your primary idea with new events, details and of course, new ideas. The film grows, and you try not to force anything. Just allow it to grow, keep your eyes and heart open, and trust life. It is hard to explain, what you think, but it is an amazingly exciting and rewarding process. It is a truly creative process, when out of little things big things emerge, and the film starts to live its own life...

My main challenge was an enormous amount of material I had accumulated over the years. And many things that were very interesting did not belong in this film. It was a torture for me to get rid of this "unnecessary footage." My only consolation was that I hope that I'll still find a way to use this footage in another film I hope to make in the future.

IDA: How did your vision for the film change over the course of the pre-production, production and post-production processes?

MG: This was a unique film in my life: From the very beginning I knew what I wanted to make, and finally made exactly what I wanted to make. Of course I couldn't know from the beginning how the film will unfold; I couldn't foresee the film structure. The film, as it usually happens, was born in the editing process. But well before we began editing, I knew I would start the film from "the end," Anna's funeral, and then will tell the story of her life: her young years, her first exposure to the war, her growing involvement in human rights activism, etc. And parallel to her story I was pulling "the big story": the history of the rise and fall of democracy in Russia. My characters such as Michail Gorbachev, the architect of Russian perestroika; Karinna Moskalenko, the lawyer and family friend;, Ilya and Vera, Anna's kids; Raisa Mazepa, Anna's mother; and journalists Alla Bossart, Alexei Venediktov and Evgenia Albatz all gave me the opportunity to build this historical line, which was a very important element in this film.

IDA:  As you've screened A Bitter Taste of Freedom--whether on the festival circuit, or in screening rooms, or in living rooms--how have audiences reacted to the film? What has been most surprising or unexpected about their reactions?

MG: I showed the film to only a couple of friends, and their input was enormous. They helped me to make the story more comprehensive and emotional. I am extremely grateful to them: to my producer Malcolm Dixelius, to Roland Joffee, Cara Mertes, Robert Rosen, Vivian Umino, and of course, my husband, George Herzfeld, who saw all my cuts and patiently and passionately  gave me his critical comments.

IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?

MG: I love Dziga Vertov and Chris Marker, and I am a great fan of Ricky Leacock, the Maysles Brothers, DA Pennebaker, Bob Drew, Fred Weisman, Errol Morris and Alan Berliner.

A Bitter Taste of Freedom will be screening August 19 through 25 at the IFC Center in New York City, and August 26 through September 1 at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles.

For the complete DocuWeeks^TM 2011 program, click here.

To purchase tickets for A Bitter Taste of Freedom in New York, click here.

To purchase tickets for A Bitter Taste of Freedom in Los Angeles, click here.