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“City of Ghosts,” a documentary capturing the rebels who risk their lives for the anti-ISIS movement R.B.S.S. – Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently – had a screening last week in New York, followed by a panel with director Matthew Heineman, producer Alex Gibney, and one of the subjects of the film known by his first name, Aziz.
The film is a harrowing experience depicting the constant danger that the Syrian city Raqqa faces daily from ISIS using real cellphone footage, as well as about the men behind R.B.S.S. who fight diligently every day, risking their own lives, to get information from Raqqa out to the rest of the world. Aziz is a former student turned spokesperson for the group. Below, we have some highlights from the panel.
Moderator: How did you find out about RBSS and decide to make this your next film?
Matthew Heineman: I was traveling for Cartel Land, and ISIS was becoming front page news, and I was reading obsessively about what was happening, trying to see if there’s a film to be made. And then came across this article in the New Yorker about RBSS and right when I read it I knew this was a way into the story and I reached out to the guys through CPJ and literally a week later I started filming. This happened quite quickly, and I was initially intellectually fascinated by this war of ideas, this war of propanda, this war of information between these two groups. But eventually the tone became much more than that for me.
Moderator: Aziz, did you have any reservations about participating in the film? Were you concerned at all about safety?
Aziz: Yes, first when Matt reached out to us by Community to Protect Journalists, that was the first thing we were thinking about. And then when we got that offer, we called the organizer that we were tired, we need to sleep (audience laughter). And they said, no you need to come. So we went because this office was like two, three minutes walking from our hotel and then we met Matthew. We were thinking that he was going to be like 50 years old, old movie director. And then yeah, we thought that he had just started to do films, and then we watched his last movie, Cartel Land, and we said ah, wow, he looks professional. And then we knew together that doing this movie would help us get our message out and to educate people about what’s going on in Syria and Raqqa specifically, so that was the main reason why we decided to establish RBSS. We knew that through doing this documentary would increase the risk level but starting RBSS itself was a risky thing. The first day when we started we decided to risk our lives. Getting our message out was more important that our safety so all of us agreed to be a part of the movie and none of us said no, we don’t want to be a part.
Moderator: Aziz, what was it like to have someone following you around with a camera? Did that take a little getting used to?
Aziz: I’ve done mini short documentaries, so I was used to having cameras but it was difficult with some of my colleagues. They weren’t used to having cameras with everything that they were doing so the first three, four days speaking three, four words…looking at the camera all the time. Sometimes it was cool, people saying should we take a selfie with you? Are you famous? But it took time for most of the guys to get used to having Matt around.
Moderator: How did you experience doing [Cartel Land] inform your experience doing this film?
Matthew: Cartel Land was much more physically dangerous experience. Being in shoot outs, and meth labs, and torture chambers, and stuff…was not necessarily enjoyable. This was a much different experience because for the most part we were in safe houses…with a lot of smoke…as someone who doesn’t smoke, I inhaled a lot of cigarettes. And so as a filmmaker it was difficult to find the drama…for the most part, people were behind computers and cellphones, so that was hard. And I never saw ISIS. I never saw guns, never saw dead bodies. But there was always an omnipresent feel of ISIS. Whether it be the death threats, or seeing them through this third wall. So it was a much different experience. But whatever fear that I felt, making the film, pales in comparison to what these guys live with every single day. And especially their family members and friends who are still in Raqqa. The geopolitical situation in Raqqa is very bad and different today than when we finished the film.
