Meet the DocuWeek Filmmakers: Irene Taylor Brodsky—'Hear and Now'

Over the next couple of weeks, we at IDA will be introducing our community to the filmmakers whose work will be represented in the DocuWeek^TM Theatrical Documentary Showcase, August 17-23. 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 Irene Taylor Brodsky, director/producer of Hear and Now.

Synopsis: Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky tells the story of her deaf parents, Paul and Sally Taylor, and their decision at the age of 65 to undergo risky cochlear implant surgery--a procedure that could give them the ability to hear. An intimate memoir, the film follows their complicated journey from a comfortable world of silence to a new and profoundly challenging world of sound.

IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?

Irene Taylor Brodsky: As a still photographer. I grew up with a darkroom and always thought I'd roam the world with a camera one day. As it turned out, my first book of photographs led to a documentary on the same topic--the lives of deaf children living in the Himalayas. After that, I was hooked.

IDA: What inspired you to make Hear and Now?

ITB: After being deaf for 65 years, my parents always told me they "didn't have time to learn to hear." So, it never occurred to me that they would actually try out cochlear implants. When they told me--20 years after the device was first invented--that they wanted to give sound a go, I knew it would be an epic experiment. I made the film to figure out their intentions as much as to document them.

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

ITB: Making a film about one's own family brings all kinds of complications. For starters, as a family member, I wasn't allowed into the operating room when my parents' got their surgeries, so I knew I'd have to involve at least one other person to help me shoot the film. I had no money, so I asked a friend, Crofton Diack, to help me. Having her work with me ended up helping in other ways too; my parents talked to her (as an outsider) in ways they wouldn't think to talk to me. So throughout the film, you have a combination of very intimate conversations (between parents and their daughter) as well as more universal--in a way a subject might talk to any other filmmaker. I think that helped us tell their life story better.

Editing was a huge challenge. Hear and Now was my first feature-length film, and I had to teach myself Final Cut Pro to cut it. When I initially entertained the idea of hiring an outside editor, no one could understand my parents' voices well enough. I was afraid too much nuance would get lost in the process and, besides, I didn't want to hover over an editor for months to translate. I also had no money, so cutting it myself just made the most sense. But, after years of working with class act editors as a producer/director, I was terribly nervous to go it alone. Fortunately, I've learned some good instincts along the way--like knowing when to ask for help. Eve Epstein, a veteran radio documentary producer, reminded me to write (and speak) more intimately. Jeffrey Tuchman, another doc director who has taught me much of what I know, helped me with the storytelling. And Geof Bartz at HBO offered unparalleled assistance with the final edit of the film. He really helped me step outside of my skin as Paul and Sally's daughter, and remember to be a judicious and discerning filmmaker. He helped me cut the film down substantially.

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

ITB: I had no idea how the surgeries would change my parents' lives and, especially, their relationship. I was scared that hearing finally, after all this time, might upset a very delicate equilibrium they had already achieved in their lives--with their love, surviving and thriving as deaf people in a world that can hear, and as fantastic parents. In the heat of the production--say, two months into shooting--the whole family was thinking their decision to hear may have been a mistake. Everything seemed to be on a downward turn. But eventually, time helped both the filmmaking perspective and my parents. We all became more used to their new-found experience. We learned to expect less of the technology and, instead, rely more on the foundation of their long lives. I think that's why the film ends up being a love story more than a film about two people who get cochlear implants.

IDA: As you've screened Hear and Now--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?

ITB: I always knew my parents were kind and special people, but obviously I underestimated it. Audiences seem to love my parents--not so much for the risk they took to hear, but simply for who they are as a couple. I have appreciated that, and I am glad the film could bring such positive attention to them. They really deserve it.

People are less interested in the implants than you might expect. Audiences have helped me understand that the film is much more universal than that. It's a film about family, and love, and also the willingness to be vulnerable.

IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?
ITB: I always hate this question!

Even though I was bred on and idolize the films of the classic vérité forefathers of documentary (Pennebaker, the Maysles brothers, et al.), I don't make my films as purely as that. I don't mind hearing from the filmmaker, or being reminded that she's there with me in the whole storytelling experience. I love the filmmakers who make me think about their relationship to the subject matter. Because, really, at the end of the day, the films we make don't just leave us with a story; they leave us with relationships, too. More recently, I loved Herzog's Grizzly Man; not only did he choose a compelling character to spend an hour and a half with, but the amount of himself he put in to the film was the perfect dose. His words were sparing and poignant--and, I would argue, completely necessary.

Hear and Now will be screening at the ArcLight Hollywood.

To view the entire DocuWeek^TM program, visit: http://www.documentary.org/programs/docuweek_07.php

To download and view the DocuWeek^TM schedule at the ArcLight Hollywood, visit: http://www.documentary.org/programs/DW/2007/DocuWeek-2007_A-H.pdf

To purchase tickets to DocuWeek^TM at the ArcLight Hollywood, visit: http://www.arclightcinemas.com/