technology, the news, being away from home…it was like tapping into the zeitgeist and then being able to edit it together into a story. Were there any specific challenges you faced making a film in the midst of a pandemic? There were several. The first was that it might not have worked at all as everyone was working in isolation! Fortunately, all the filmmakers rose to the occasion and delivered amazing points of views and perspectives on such diverse subject matter despite all the restrictions everyone was under. As they were all working in isolation, this led to very different styles, so then when all these films came in, it was like pieces of a complex puzzle you’ve never seen. The challenge was determining how to bring them together and ensure the fragments made up a whole and that everyone was represented. But the support of the Festival Director of VMDIFF, Gráinne Humphreys, kept us focused and offered everyone a light at the end of the tunnel. The final challenge was that we were going to move through different documentary modes and needed to make that coherent – all while working remotely. The editor, Andy Wilson, did a great job made even more remarkable given that we have never met in person. That was a first.
How did you decide when the story was complete? Was there a specific point during the pandemic that helped you decide that the story was complete? I’m not sure the story is complete. This film feels like a snapshot of another time – the first wave of the pandemic starting to ease and the curve beginning to flatten. Watching it now, in this terrible third wave with vaccination so close and yet so far…there was so much we didn’t know, so many challenges ahead of us. The film ends on an upbeat note, people saying what they are looking forward to. But we’re not there yet, nearly a year later. The film may end, but the pandemic isn’t over.
katie mckenna
23
