5 Broken Cameras won the Public Broadcaster IDFA Audience Award, consisting of a cash prize of € 5,000, and also received the Special Jury Award at IDFA 2011. 5 Broken Cameras, by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi, was made with the support of the Jan Vrijman Fund and was one of IDFA's Summer School 2010 projects.
Early in 2010, the Jan Vrijman Fund supported this exceptional directing duo with a production contribution of 15,000 Euros. The contributions from the Fond aim to promote the creation of high-quality, urgent films by talented filmmakers from developing countries and to help build local film industries. Director Guy Davidi believes more films should be made by local makers. ‘Most films about the conflict in the Middle East are made by film crews from elsewhere; there are hardly any films made by the Palestinians themselves. This is what makes this film unique: it gives an impression of everyday life, of the demonstrations and struggles, filmed very close up.’ According to Davidi, there is still plenty to learn: ‘It is much more interesting to have a main character who is involved in real life there. Western filmmakers don’t understand the conflict. We hardly understand it ourselves.’ Furthermore, Davidi points out that this time, the Palestinians are portrayed not as victims but as incredibly brave resistance figures. ‘This is something we seldom see.’
When it was selected by the JVF, the film consisted only of five hundred hours of video material. Burnat had been filming events in his village, Bil’in, over a six-year period, starting shortly after the Israelis closed the border on the West Bank of the Jordan. When, in 2006, his fourth son (Gibreel) was born, Burnat bought a film camera: just to make home movies. ‘But when people heard I had a camera, they called me to film activities in the village. I became the village cameraman.’ Gradually, he also started filming the protests against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and the struggle against the Israeli soldiers. Over the years, five of his cameras were destroyed, either by Israeli gunfire or other violence. At the same time, he continued to film the life of his youngest son, who we see in the film grow up into a campaigning toddler.
Director Davidi helped make the film. He first visited the village in 2005, as a peace campaigner. ‘There is a small but strong solidarity group made up of Israelis, who are also against the barrier.’ Together with Burnat, he helped bring structure to the filmed material. They created a script, and decided to use the broken cameras as the unifying thread. ‘I was his extra eye’, Davidi says. ‘It was a very complex process, making the selection, so it was good to have someone taking a fresh look from outside.’
In the summer of 2010, both directors were invited to take part in IDFAcademy’s Summer School, with their expenses paid by the Jan Vrijman Fund. And so Burnat and Davidi arrived in Amsterdam, carrying several hard discs containing hundreds of hours of visual material. With help from Dutch editor Menno Boerema, they spent a week working on a rough cut of the film. Boerema was very impressed by the material: ‘In 5 Broken Cameras, Emad manages to give a very human face to the big events happening in the Palestine village of Bil’in during the past five years. He reveals himself to be a humble observer of daily life, never judgemental but always honest; he observes daily life and tells us how bigger events effect us.’
A year later, in August 2011, the final result was submitted to IDFA. IDFA chief Ally Derks quickly decided that this exceptional depiction of a place deserved to take part in the Feature-Length Competition, in which it was awarded the Special Jury Award, as well as winning the festival’s audience award.