Last week, one of my colleagues phoned up to tell me about this amazing documentary she watched in her documentary film class at the American University in Cairo. She added that the director of the film, Ed Robbins, was giving a class and suggested I interview him.
The filmmaker s name didn t ring a bell, but I headed to my friend s class where his 1997 directed pilot of the well known BBC series Louis Theroux s “Weird Weekends was screened, and had no idea what to expect.
“Weird Weekends followed the British presenter to a radical far right community called Almost Heaven in the state of Idaho two years after the infamous Oklahoma bombings. The film doesn t shy from highlighting the disturbing beliefs of the town’s residents, yet it never attempt to either judge them or force a certain opinion on the audience.
Because of their amusing quirkiness, even the most vicious of the townsfolk appear to have at least one likable trait that makes you realize that good and evil are only separated by a thin line; that individuals who are reckoned to be wicked or depraved aren t the one-dimensional villains that stuff the traditional media and film, but are complex human beings with motivations not always palpable or simple to understand.
After “Weekends I was intrigued to learn more about the director. Robbins was gracious enough to lend me more of his work so that I’d have a better, more comprehensive outlook. I was surprised to uncover a talent for gripping, eclectic and highly poignant filmmaking. In fact, the film mentioned by my colleague, Vasila s Heart, ranks among the most hopeful and heartwarming documentaries I ve seen in recent history.
Born in a medium size town outsize New York City, Robbins majored in art in college before he was eventually drawn to film and documentaries after a trip to India that lasted a year a half where he worked for the USAID. Robbins, a self-taught filmmaker, spent plenty of time working with farmers and exploring the country.
At this point in his career, Robbins was making many educational films for different organizations. Back then, I got more to the point where I was not going to do educational films just to stir money, he recalled. I was just going to focus on documentaries, even if I had to work for free.
After he returned back from India, he worked for the eminent former CBS broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite on a project about the rise of Christian right at a time when their political presence was starting to widespread in the early 90s.
In the mid 90s, Robbins worked on a one-hour special piece for Michael Moore s acclaimed TV series “TV Nation.
He s Brilliant, Robbins answered when asked him about his impression of the world s most famous documentary filmmaker. He had the energy of 10 men, and he used to work till 1 or 3 in the morning, because he s so dedicated to it – and it was fine for me. But I think if you do that for year, it gets harder for everyone, he laughed.
Robbins also mentioned that he wasn t surprised by Moore s choice to make a film about the American healthcare system as this topic had always been on his mind, even back then.
He met Louis Theroux on “TV Nation , and went on to direct the pilot of what would become a launch-pad for the career of one of England s most popular presenters.
His experience with the BBC was memorable. The executive producer [of the show] was tremendous, he commented. I think the training in Britain is much better than the training in America for documentaries.
Robbins believes that the comparison between the British and American media is slightly harsh. He admitted though that shooting a film about art or culture or even foreign affairs would be awfully difficult in America compared to Britain where the documentary subjects are broader in range and easier to gather the budget for.
Robbins continued to film an average of 10 documentaries a year; a number crucial for him to pay his mortgage and make a decent living.
In subsequent years, he made a number of films about doctors and contributed to National Geographic s series about the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders.
Among his most important works is a film about the rise of Christianity in Nigeria and the clashes with the Muslims in the North during the late 90s that led to the murder of more than 2,000 citizens on both sides.
Robbins states that it s hard for him to pick a certain favorite of his works. Nevertheless, he believes that his recent documentaries are the closest to his heart.
He talks extensively about Vasila s Heart; where the filmmaker ceased to act as a mere observer and became entangled with his subject.
The 2004 film tells the story of 11-years old Vasila Hossaini, a beautiful, blissful and spirited afghan girl who, despite the extreme poverty and deprivation her family is enduring after the fall of Taliban, is full of radiant joy and optimism.
Robbins, and his co-director Stacia Teele, discovered that Vasila had a heart defect impossible to be operated on in Afghanistan at the time. The documentary was broadcast on the famous ABC news show Nightline on March 5, 2005. Millions of Americans fell in love with Vasila and raised the $35,000 needed for her trip and the surgery.
The second part of the documentary, entitled Vasila s Journey, charted the little girl s trip to the US and the success of her operation.
In America, their only vision of Afghanistan is a place of crazed, fundamentalist mujahadeen; men abusing women; and drug and war lords, Robbins said. So here we show this father kissing his daughter and being very loving to his children and gentle.
I asked him if was proud of saving this young girl’s life, but he tried to undermine his accomplishment. When you do a documentary, you steal other people s misery to make a film. Eventually, he confessed that he feels gratified. It s a little payback; it s a little bit of a feeling like ok, I haven t just taken something, but I ve given them something back.
Along with Vasila, Robbins other recent favorite film is Reinventing the Taliban, an utterly disturbing examination of the rise of Taliban and Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan.
Robbins, and his Pakistani co-director Sharmeen Obaid, were invited by the leaders of the fundamentalist political parties after Obaid was able to persuade them to discuss their beliefs and justify their policies that force women to wear a face cover, forbids them from buying their groceries from stores managed by men or leave the confinement of their homes, in addition to banning music, dance and any sorts of art and entertainment.
Robbins never disclosed his American identity during the shooting as he pretended to be a Canadian from Moroccan descent. Along with Sharmeen he illustrated how the Taliban followers – who regard Osama Bin laden as an idol – broke into the parliament by winning over millions of people they provide with services and numerous other rewards and benefits, and how they infiltrated the army that, with more momentum, time and power, might succeed in overthrowing Musharf s secular Islamic government someday.
Taliban is one of Robbins most political films. The extremists of Pakistan and Almost Heaven may seem different on the surface but, in essence, both follow the same violent methods and stand for similar philosophies. Unlike Vasila, there s almost no light at the end of Taliban s tunnel and that s perhaps why Robbins is going back again to Afghanistan; a country he s immensely fond of.
There are hundreds of films released every year around the world. Very few of these leave a significant mark on their viewers and hardly any succeed to make a real difference. He ll probably hate to admit it, but Robbins did make a difference and made the world realize not only what film could do, but what it should too.
