‘Corner Store” director Katherine Bruens knows her new documentary deals with the hot button issue of our age – the white-hot Israeli-Palestinian debate.
Her film, however, “isn’t very hot button,” Bruens says.
The movie follows a kindly grocery store owner named Yousef patiently waiting for his family to leave the West Bank and resettle with him in America.
“It’s challenging for us to make sure we’re packaging this as a human interest story rather than a social issue documentary,” she tells WWTW.
“Corner Store” begins its film festival run this month in Colorado at the Starz Denver Film Festival. But early audiences have taken their ideological views regarding the film’s core issue with them into the theater.
“The die hard Israeli-Palestinian activists come at us. This isn’t doing anything for them, expanding their knowledge,” she says. “It’s not for their audience. It‘s for people who don’t know what it’s like to be an immigrant or what’s its like to live on the West Bank.”
“You can’t please everyone,” she adds.
She is using organizations involved with the Palestinian cause to help promote the movie. The film’s “Corner Campaign” enlists groups like The Arab Film Festival, The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) and The Jewish Voice for Peace for marketing means.
“We wanted the film just to tell the story, but it can be utilized in certain manners,” she says. “They’re willing to mobilize their mailing lists to promote the film.”
“Corner Store” isn’t “Due Date” or “The Social Network,” but the movie has transformed quiet Yousef into a local celebrity in his San Francisco neighborhood.
“It was awkward at first, but now he’s very receptive,” she says. “He’s able to wear his pride on his sleeve a little better.”
Bruens says making “Corner Store” taught her about the art of documentary filmmaking, but in ways she finds hard to express.
“There’s a fine line between sticking to your original idea and being wise enough to the story to adjust,” she says. “There’s no quantifiable way to talk about it. It just has to be gained through experience. I can’t say I know that line. It’ something that takes years and years of doing it … you could easily go off course in any number of directions.”
Note: Those who would like to learn more about the making of the film or read Bruens’ thoughts from her days shooting in the West Bank can visit the film’s blog.
(Photo: Humble shop owner Yousef is the star of a new documentary called “Corner Store” which details his long-awaited reunion with his family.)
Related posts:
- WWTW Interview: ‘Corner Store’ director Katherine Bruens – Part I
- WWTW Interview: ‘Best Worst Movie’ director Michael P. Stephenson – Pt. 1
- WWTW Interview: ‘Official Rejection’ director Paul Osborne
- WWTW Interview: ‘Con Artist’ director Michael Sladek
- WWTW Interview: ‘Best Worst Movie’ director Michael P. Stephenson – Pt. 2
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