Over the next few 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 18-24. 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 Chris Sheridan, director/producer, with Patty Kim, of ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story.
 
Synopsis: Oscar-winning director Jane Campion executive-produced this chilling true story of a 13-year-old Japanese girl who was abducted by North Korean spies in 1977. The film follows her parents' moving 30-year battle to bring her home. Told in bold, signature true-crime style, using exclusive footage and exceptional access, the filmmakers weave an extraordinary story of espionage and love.

IDA: How did you get started in documentary filmmaking?

Chris Sheridan: We were both in the TV news business doing short two-to-five minute stories for NBC News, PBS, the CBC in Canada and MSNBC, since about 1993. We started doing longer-form docs when we both started working at the National Geographic Channel. Patty started there in 2002 and I started there in 2003. The first story I shot for them was on Germans who are fascinated with Native American culture to the extent that they dress up like them and try to live like they did 150 years ago. One of Patty's first doc series was on the pyramids of Egypt. All the docs we did were 30 to 50 minutes max, depending on what show we were doing them for. We always wanted to do our own doc, free of the constraints of TV. So, in 2004, we took off on our own to make ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story.

 
IDA: What inspired you to make ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story ?
 
CS: We were getting a little wary of doing stories that were being assigned to us. We feel life is too short and we wanted to get out there and do something that really moved us, that we felt passionate about. In 2002, we heard the story of the Japanese abductions by North Korean secret agents and we were totally shocked, but we were even more shocked when we learned that one of the victims was a 13-year-old girl. We started to look into the story and do a little research. But there was no opening and no outlet for us to do it at the time. So, in 2004, with some room on our credit cards and a little savings, we decided to take off and make our first feature-length doc. And here we are today.

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

CS: Well, the biggest one, of course, was the fact that neither of us speak Japanese very well. This is an important point considering that the entire film is shot in Japan ! Patty speaks some and understands some. But I am almost completely lost. So, that was a big deal. We wanted to make a film with no voiceover, and when we made that decision early on we thought to ourselves, "Is this the dumbest thing we could possibly do?" Here we were, not understanding Japanese, working in Japan and trying to make a film told only in Japanese. But we had incredible interpreters--our associate producer, Yuko Kawabe, to be more specific--who managed to walk in both worlds very well.

The other big problem at first was that Megumi's parents are really well known in Japan, so they are seen mostly as public figures and seen mostly in public at press conferences. Very few crews are allowed to show them in any other setting. We wanted that "other setting," though--the more private, personal side of their lives--and, at first, they didn't quite get it. We knew that the only way a Western audience would sympathize with them and relate to their story is if they allowed us to show them as real people whose lives were drastically changed the day Megumi disappeared. Over time, they understood what we meant, and I guess they gave in to our persistent requests because the result was unprecedented access to these two people's lives. There are some extraordinary scenes in the film that show these people for who they really are. Even Japanese journalists come up to us after the film and say, "We've never seen Megumi's parents shown like this before."

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

CS: I would say that our actual vision of how we wanted to tell the story never changed. What did change, if you will, is the arc of the story, since this story continues even to this day. There are new developments almost every week. So, for us, it was more of a question of, "When do we wrap production and start editing?" We had started shooting some stuff in July 2004 and made a trailer, but we weren't sure how long we were going to take trying to create a dramatic narrative, as is often the case when making a doc. But we got kind of lucky, I think, because in December 2004 there was a major development in the story. So major, in fact, that Patty and I were in New York at a festival at the time, heard about this new development, and raced back to DC, hopped on a plane and were in Tokyo two days later filming what we believed to be the climax of the film. We won't tell you what that is because it will be giving away the ending, and we wouldn't want to do that now, would we?
For us, though, the overall vision of the film was always very clear. We knew we didn't want this to be a historical or investigative work. We wanted it to be a simple story about an average, middle-class Japanese family sucked into this incredible vortex of historical tension, espionage and international politics as a result of Megumi's disappearance. As many people have said to us after seeing it, the story just gets more bizarre and complex as it unfolds. We agree, and that was our intention. But we never wanted to waver from the important story of this family and what they've been through over the past 30 years.

IDA: As you've screened ABDUCTION The Megumi Yokota Story --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?

CS: The reactions have been overwhelming. Even more overwhelming than we could have imagined. We never doubted that if we told this story in the right way, Westerners would connect on an emotional level with Megumi's family. But you never truly know that until you start screening it at festivals. We had tested it out on small focus groups before we went out into the world, but it wasn't until Slamdance called back in November 2005 that we knew we'd struck a chord. We won the Audience Award there, which was a great start, and then from there on we've had sold-out shows, offers from all over the world to show it and very emotional responses by e-mail and in our "guest book" that people sign after many of the screenings. In Australia, at the Sydney Film Festival, we had an incredibly emotional response from the audiences. People lined up to sign these two books we put out for the family, and what they wrote brought Patty and I to tears. It makes you realize that a horrible tragedy like this brings out some of the best in people.

IDA: What docs or docmakers have served as inspirations for you?

CS: I would say one of the films that impacted me a lot was Michael Moore's Roger and Me. I saw that way back in college and realized that docs don't have to look like those expert-driven, talking-head deals. If You Love This Planet, an Oscar-winning Canadian doc about nuclear war, scared the crap out of me when I was young. More recently, I absolutely loved Spellbound and One Day in September. Genghis Blues is a classic. There are many others, of course. I would say all of these influenced me in some way or another.

For Patty, The Battle of Algiers was influential even though it wasn't a doc. But it was shot like a doc and had that feeling. Anything by Robert Flaherty, the early documentarian, who is considered one of the fathers of the genre.

To view the entire Docuweek program, visit http://documentary.org/programs/index_06.php.
To download and view the Docuweek schedule, visit http://documentary.org/src/DW/DocuWeek_Schedule.pdf.
To purchase tickets to Docuweek, visit www.ArcLightcinemas.com.