Claire’s short films have been shown at festivals and galleries in Croatia, Germany and the US, as well as in the UK. Her biggest project to date is Open Heart, a documentary following a Palestinian family as they attempt to arrange an essential heart operation for their infant son. It will premiere in the UK later this year.
What do you do all day?
I get up after 9am and go into my old college, which is doubling as my studio in the temporary absence of Final Cut Pro on my computer. Check my emails, make notes of any upcoming film festival deadlines and then do any number of pretty mundane things! I might be working on a pitch for work, or editing something, importing footage, burning DVDs of older work for festivals etc, compiling budgets or making applications for funding. Sometimes I’ll be filming of course, but that’s only about 10-20 percent of what I do.
What are you doing today?
Importing some footage from the band Ghost’s visit to Timsbury Primary school in Bath, which is just so cute! The lead singer Simon Pettigrew is an old mate from University and he asked me to follow them around and record their hijinx on tour! (Please buy their album!) I’m also emailing Current TV asking them to pay me…
What’s the best thing about your job?
Meeting people and hearing or seeing their stories. And people saying thanks as well. I made a film in Palestine called Open Heart, which has its UK premiere at Sheffield Docfest this November. When I showed it at a charity convention for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund in LA so many of the Palestinians came up to me afterwards and just said thanks, that it means a lot to them.
And the worst thing?
It’s unreliable and competitive. You are constantly wondering whether you can pay the rent next month. People don’t pay on time. It’s hard to get work. I sometimes resort to the dole.
How did you get into it?
I studied Fine Art at Oxford University and Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Art. Neither were particularly helpful to what I do now in terms of training or contacts. I started off making experimental short films, but found that, ironically, experimental filmmaking seemed to hold more constraints than ‘conventional’ forms, and so I began to gravitate towards documentary and fiction after becoming increasingly disillusioned with art. Documentary filmmaking, and filmmaking in general, is something pretty instinctive I think. I’ve started to get work the hard way – through working for free and then getting recommendations, and showing at festivals like Rotterdam. The Palestine film was commissioned by an American charity my brother had worked for as a nurse, so I guess that was pretty lucky.
Who or what inspires you in your work?
People. Real stories. Other filmmakers like Kim Longinotto, Herzog, The Maysles, Miranda July, Stephen Dwoskin, Jayne Parker, Kieslowski… too many to mention. I love film.
What do you consider your biggest achievement in your career so far?
I’m in preproduction for a short feature length documentary in Palestine again as a result of Open Heart… that’s exciting. And then being included in the Rotterdam festival last January, and Sheffield Docfest next November – both are pretty amazing festivals. Oh yeah, I also got locked up in a police cell in York for 13 hours whilst on tour with Ghosts – that doesn’t happen every day (unless you’re a Ghost). And I met Albert Maysles in New York and we had a nice little chat about filmmaking.
Where do you go from here? What career plans do you have for the future?
I want to finish my feature script (doesn’t everyone?) and just carry on making better films.
What qualities – personal, professional, whatever – does a good filmmaker need?
You have to be sensitive. You can’t just plough on in with a kind of media snobbery – you need to be able to win people over, and sit back and let them do their thing, tell their story. This is just for documentary I guess… although most importantly, and this applies to documentary and fiction, you have to have a story to tell.
Any advice for someone trying to make a living out of making films?
Hmmm. Don’t do it my way? I don’t know. Everyone has their own route. Some people find it working for the BBC, others find that going on the dole and just getting their head down eventually works. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A cat.