Laura Waters Hinson
Documentary Filmmaker and Assistant Professor, American University
Exploring points of view as a documentary filmmaker
Laura Waters Hinson is an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
Her career began with “As We Forgive,” a documentary about two Rwandan women who face the men responsible for killing their families during the 1994 genocide in that country. It won the Student Academy Award for best documentary in 2008. Hinson has gone on to produce nearly 10 more films.
Hinson’s most recent work, “Street Reporter,” takes an intimate look at the journey of a homeless woman in Washington, D.C., pursuing a career in photojournalism. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the 2021 Indy Shorts International Film Festival, the largest shorts festival in the Midwest and an Academy Award qualifier.
Hinson is also an assistant professor of film and director of Community Voice Lab at American University in D.C.
By Tiffany Corr
I always wanted to be a storyteller, but I wanted to be a factual storyteller. However, I didn’t want to just report the news: I wanted to tell longer, more in-depth pieces that reflect a point of view. I wanted to watch and observe things over time, to see the complexities of people’s situations and how they change.
I realized that documentary filmmaking would get at a little more of the POV I was hoping to integrate into my work.
Back then, my limited understanding of journalism was that you come in, report the news, parachute in, and then parachute out. And now especially with the documentary film classes I teach, the questions are “Is this journalism?” or “Is my bias affecting the way I’m editing this person’s transcripts?” There are so many ethical questions to think about when you’re doing documentary film because it’s filtered through your lens as a filmmaker and an editor.
Questions Every Filmmaker Should Ask
In those days of the late ’90s, we were much less socially conscious. When I was in film school, representation simply wasn’t part of the conversation. The conversation back then was an emphasis on female filmmakers: Where are the female storytellers? Around 20 years ago, being a woman filmmaker felt like we were pushing boundaries, going to places where nobody else had really told their story. It felt very cutting edge.
The other conversation that was beginning around that time was on the lack of minority voices and stories. The idea at that time was that we wanted to go look at the stories that had not been told.
By the time I started teaching 15 years later, the question was, “Are you actually allowed to tell that story if you didn’t come from that community? Am I even allowed to tell that story?” As we have progressed, representation has evolved to ask these fundamental questions.
That’s a big shift. It’s a big question.
It’s something filmmakers have to grapple with at times, while journalists kind of get more of a pass. Sure, you’re reporting the news, you’re reporting a story, but nobody assumes that a print journalist is only going to cover their own community. They wouldn’t have a job!
For example, I’m not a Rwandan genocide survivor, but I’ve made two films about Rwandan genocide survivors. I instinctively had a sense of the sacredness of somebody’s story that they are essentially lending to me, to then go and tell the world about. That always felt very sacred, like a gift that I needed to steward well.
When I met with these Rwandan women who had experienced horrific grief and trauma, I felt the weight of their pain and I knew that this film needed to benefit them. The film raised awareness but also directed funding back to projects in Rwanda.
It is different with filmmaking, especially if you’re going to be critical of a story or a community. Filmmakers that are able to critique their own cultures are allowed to do that. It’s a very sensitive issue.
I’m trying to think back to where and how this all evolved in our culture: The rise of the personal narrative, social media, and this concept of one’s own truth being the highest truth.
Fifteen years ago, people weren’t very media savvy. Now everyone in the whole world is.
A lot of people said something to a filmmaker and then saw the way that they were edited and misrepresented. People don’t immediately trust that you’re going to use their image and words for good. The bar is much higher and you have to spend a lot of time building trust. But I think that’s good: It should be that way.
However, it’s a big question in filmmaking. To what extent can you tell another person’s story? And how do you do it ethically with integrity and bring your subject along to feel that they are being accurately represented?
That’s been my heartbeat over the years, to make sure that the film represents the spirit of the character. Even though I’m having to edit and cut a lot of their interview, does it maintain the spirit of what they were telling me?
The Essentials of Good Storytelling
The number one thing I emphasize to my students is that in order to rise above the clutter, you have to master the cinematic language of filmmaking. I try to tell stories of hope, of resilience, of bridge building, of things that are seemingly irreparable being healed. These are the stories I’m always been drawn to.
It used to be, “How many hours of footage did you have?” Now, I don’t even think about that anymore. It’s about, “Do I have what I need to tell the story accurately?” You have to set up the stakes at the beginning, and give it these things that are the foundation of cinema.
I try to tell stories of hope, of resilience, of bridge building, of things that are seemingly irreparable being healed. These are the stories I’m always been drawn to.
Documentary filmmakers don’t always apply that because they just think, “This is inherently interesting because it’s factual.” No no no! It’s got to be visual. There has to be compelling stakes.
You have to think like a filmmaker. That’s the tension between journalism and filmmaking. I was reading a New Yorker article and I realized that the best kind of long-format journalism is structured in much the same way as a great movie. It starts with the hook, the drama; it asks a compelling question, and that’s what gets you into the narrative. It’s not all neat and tidy.
We have so much more in common with one another than we think. Just looking at the news and the division in our society, it’s so discouraging. Stories and fact-based storytelling have a role to play in helping people build empathy and knit back together the fabric of society.