INPUT / … / … / Do They Know What They’re getting Into?

Session Focus: A filmmaker’s responsibility for her/his subjects When making programmes, building trust with our interview subjects is a challenge, especially when they are everyday people. As directors and producers, we are responsible for the safety and well-being of our collaborators before, during and after the production. How can we make sure that we have their full consent? How do we explain the benefits and risks of ‘being on TV’? In this session, we will screen three programmes that are produced with the participation of people who may or may not be aware of the consequences of their on-screen words and actions. Zara Nazar Utha Ke Dekho enlists the participation of closeted gay men who confess about ‘cruising’ for sex in public spaces. Between Life and Death takes on the issue of mental health by pairing up people suffering from suicidal thoughts with terminally ill patients. Finally, in The Stranger, a woman re-enacts her painful experience dating a man who turned out to be purely fictional.