Ive sat down with a lot of people over the years, but Ive always been able to look them in the eye. This is not the case at Hot Docs with Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the crusading Ghanaian journalist who is the subject of Ryan Mullinss Chameleon. He arrives with his face behind a curtained hat, the better to protect his identity from those in his country who wish him harm. And as Mullinss new documentary demonstrates, hes making a lot of enemies.
How did the two of you wind up working together?
RYAN MULLINS I made my first short film in Ghana, and I was looking for a reason to go back. A mutual acquaintance of ours sent me an article in the Atlantic about him. I had her broker that first meeting, and she was able to vouch for me and make that happen.
ANAS AREMEYAW ANAS I had to think about it carefully, because the idea was one of educating the young ones that, if theres going to be any change, it has to come from us. We cannot expect any institution but us to come and make that change. And chronicling how the change is made for people to see was very important. So any exercise that would help in this process was welcome.
How do you make a documentary about someone who cant let his face be shown onscreen?
MULLINS That was difficult, and it was something my producer and I wrestled with. Because obviously we had such a charismatic character at our fingertips, but so much of what were used to [in cinema] is connecting through the eyes, through the face. I had to relearn how to make a documentary in order to do this. One thing was to surround ourselves with his team, people who could kind of give us a [collective] face and lead us through that. But I also think Anas is charismatic enough that he could carry the weight of the film on his own shoulders. Just the way that he emotes: he uses his hands. So a lot of that was just [finding] angles that would sell the emotion without actually seeing him.
Anas, were you concerned about letting a film crew into your operation?
ANAS You have to really think about it, because youre allowing a new person into your system. How is that person going to feel [about you]? How comfortable is it for someone to follow you? But after careful deliberation, we realized that it can really help, so we allowed him in.
Ryan Mullins on the logistics of shooting an undercover journalist in Ghana:
Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Mullins on what they hope their collaboration will achieve:
See our review of Chameleon here.
