During the discussion after the viewing of Newtown, Kim shared with us a moment in which Mr. Wheeler, while they were in the car, said out of nowhere to her if she would like to film him going to see his son’s grave. I appreciated the careful concern that Kim had for her subjects in terms of how she allowed them to have the agency in what she wants them to film. Kim mentioned how she captured great footage of the gravesite, but that a couple months later Mrs. Wheeler didn’t want that footage to be in the film; therefore, Kim had to scrap it. She referred to this moment as the “bus stops here,” meaning that the footages that one captures of their subjects must meet the ethical standards so as to do justice to them. This made me think about my group’s documentary and the potential bus stop that we may not cross because of the scenes we’re going to film of children. Will their parents be okay with it? If some parents give us permission to film their child in the art classes at the Banana Art Factory and some don’t, but during filming we happen to capture their child, how do we navigate that? Kim was able to build trust with her subjects because she immersed herself with the families and therefore had opportunities to film disturbing, traumatic, and difficult shots; however, with the time we have to produce our documentary it’s not enough to build a strong relationship and trust, especially with parents of the children.
