Reality Winner Reality Winner was a US Air Force vet and NSA worker whose leaking of an intelligence report about Russian interference within the 2016 election to The Intercept, which subsequently handed it over to the FBI in a bungled, source-disclosing try to confirm it wasn’t a hoax, in flip led to her arrest. The saga has been well-documented, to say the least: Just this yr, Tina Satter premiered her Sydney Sweeney-starring HBO movie Reality, tailored from the playwright’s IS THIS A ROOM: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription.
Now we’ve Sonia Kennebeck’s Reality Winner, itself an extension of the 25 New Faces alum’s 2021 doc United States vs. Reality Winner, which is mainly an earlier model launched particularly to convey consideration to the inhumane jail situations the whistleblower was dealing with on the time. So, it’s a little bit of a shock to be taught that in Winner’s first pre-trial listening to, Kennebeck (no stranger to the whistleblower’s plight, having directed 2016’s National Bird) was one among solely a handful of journalists that even bothered to indicate up. Though she then turned the one one the household trusted sufficient to stay round with a digicam for the surreal drama of the subsequent 5 years.
Just previous to the doc’s NYC debut (October eleventh at IFC Center) Filmmaker caught up with Kennebeck to be taught all about Reality Winner—and the method of bringing Reality again to a extra nuanced actuality for the large display.
Filmmaker: You started engaged on the movie mere weeks after Reality’s arrest. What drew you to the story so rapidly?
Kennebeck: When I first examine Reality’s arrest, I used to be immediately drawn to her story. The first NSA whistleblower the Trump administration arrested was a lady, and she or he had taken unimaginable dangers to inform the general public about Russian election interference? This was a historic case. I knew it instantly, and so did my producing companion Ines Hofmann Kanna. We have loads of experience within the space of nationwide safety, so we perceive how uncommon and vital these Espionage Act circumstances are, and the way harshly they’re prosecuted.
During the manufacturing of National Bird, my lead character, drone whistleblower Daniel Hale, was raided by the FBI and investigated for espionage. I helped him get an lawyer and adopted his case intently for years. It was heartbreaking. I might think about what Reality and her household have been going by and what they have been up towards—the total power of the United States authorities.
Filmmaker: How did you go about having access to the household? Were they cautious of the media? Did they court docket the press as a device for acquiring Reality’s launch?
Kennebeck: I met Reality’s mom, Billie Winner-Davis, on the first pre-trial listening to I attended in Augusta, Georgia. I used to be stunned how few journalists coated her case. I had anticipated digicam crews and reporters from nationwide media shops to be on the court docket. Instead, solely a handful of freelance journalists confirmed up. They did wonderful reporting work, however principally for smaller publications.
Billie was equally disturbed by the dearth of curiosity in her daughter’s prosecution. She noticed how badly Reality was handled in court docket and jail, however nobody was paying consideration. That was the rationale we determined to step in. We provided to bear witness, and Reality and her household gave us full entry to doc the occasions that unfolded.
What helped construct belief early on was the distinctive expertise our movie crew had with espionage circumstances. Prior to her NSA job, Reality served within the Air Force and labored with navy drones, so her household felt a powerful connection to National Bird. I’m additionally deeply invested in supply safety and educate workshops for filmmakers, which I consider additionally mattered for Reality’s household. After all, she was solely tracked down so rapidly by the FBI as a result of the journalists who obtained her categorised doc made some critical supply safety errors.
The approach Reality was handled was unprecedented for the disclosure of 1 single five-page doc. She was held in pre-trial detention for greater than a yr below inhumane situations. Her household tried to get media consideration to boost consciousness, however it was very troublesome at first. There was barely any press protection and most of it was damaging. At the minimal, her household needed honest reporting on her case. Beyond that, Billie simply tried to assist her daughter survive in jail. She moved to Augusta and lived alone in her daughter’s home till Reality was sentenced. The movie additionally captures Billie’s journey to advocate for her daughter, which she did successfully. But it took years to get to the purpose the place folks really acknowledged Reality’s title.
Filmmaker: What precisely was the method of acquiring the audio file from the FBI?
Kennebeck: I heard excerpts of the FBI recording of Reality’s interrogation at one of many pretrial hearings. That’s how I knew it existed. I drafted an preliminary Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that we submitted to the FBI asking for the discharge of that audio file together with different proof. Then we needed to be affected person for a lot of months. The FBI is extremely gradual in responding to any requests for data, the best questions can take years. It’s fairly outrageous.
Eventually we bought our first rejection, for causes we didn’t agree with, so we filed an attraction with the Department of Justice and succeeded. The DOJ ordered the FBI to launch the data to us, however the company refused to conform. They withheld the data illegally, so ultimately we determined to sue the FBI. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press represented our firm, Codebreaker Films, professional bono, and with the assistance of their wonderful attorneys we received the court docket case. The FBI was compelled to provide us the data, beginning with the interrogation file.
Filmmaker: Could you converse a bit in regards to the design and staging of the interviews? In the press notes you describe Reality’s as having “an almost theatrical setting, although outdoors and surrounded by natural sounds,” in sharp distinction to the claustrophobic environment surrounding the whistleblowers, particularly Edward Snowden, who’s himself rather more polished and practiced—i.e., “staged”—in entrance of the digicam than Reality is.
Kennebeck: What I like about cinema is how a lot you’ll be able to transport by the medium. It has so many layers—information and knowledge, scenes, photographs, testimonies. There is feeling and emotion. There are colours, sounds, music and sceneries you’ll be able to work with. And the whole lot can carry which means.
It was essential for me to movie Reality’s interview outdoors in nature to distinction it to her time in detention, the place she craved the outside. I nonetheless needed her to have the identical stunning setup for mild and sound to match the standard stage of the indoor interviews. The filming was extremely difficult as a result of we had a lot much less management over the atmosphere. It was over 100 levels outdoors; we had cicadas, barking canine, fighter jets and truck site visitors whereas we have been doing a really deep and emotional interview. But in the long run it was the appropriate alternative, as a result of the sounds and altering mild add to the expertise of seeing Reality free for the primary time.
In comparability, Edward Snowden’s interview is certainly claustrophobic. For me, it symbolizes the scenario he’s in: He’s nonetheless trapped in Russia and can’t return dwelling. He isn’t free, not even shut. We have been possible below surveillance throughout the filming and whereas we have been doing the interview. Our footage had loads of distortions and technical points that we had by no means seen earlier than. It was unusual. I assume that comes throughout within the interview. It does really feel extra polished and practiced, and shows a sure sense of management over the atmosphere and the phrases which are spoken. The constraints are apparent within the interview, and they need to be.
Filmmaker: What restrictions did Reality and her household place on filming? Did they weigh in on tough cuts all through manufacturing?
Kennebeck: My strategy to documentary filmmaking may be very journalistic. Most of my tales have totally different sides and views. Interview companions won’t agree with one another, and there’s usually pressure within the movie. For that cause, it’s unimaginable for me to provide (some) members editorial management. They don’t watch tough cuts and provides suggestions. I’m very simple about my particular directing fashion after I first converse to folks about making a movie. I clarify in element how I work and get knowledgeable consent. My expertise with that has been very optimistic. I’ve members who later say in interviews, “Sonia is a journalist and documented what she witnessed”—that I don’t simply painting one aspect of the story, that what you see in my movies is what actually occurred.
