In Conversation with Hanna Torrefranca
Hanna Torrefranca developed her passion for filmmaking during high-school in Tel Aviv. She then pursued a BA in Cinema Studies and Documentary filmmaking at NYU, where she developed a strong interest in communicating stories through documentaries. Since then, she worked on several projects at PBS (the Public Broadcasting Station in the US) including 'The Central Park Five', the documentary that inspired Ava DuVernay's Netflix series 'When They See Us'. Hanna then worked at Vice, while starting to create her own documentaries during her free time, growing her desire and love of working in a team of talented and creative minds. Hanna is currently pursuing an MA in International Affairs and Human Rights with a focus of media at the New School of New York.
You grew up with many different cultural inputs. How did your background impact your points of view?
I love this question! Yes, I come from a family that survived the Holocaust and is very proud of its Jewish Heritage. I moved a bunch between Italy and Israel when I was a kid; I was born in Jerusalem, then we moved to Rome, then I moved back to Tel Aviv, and at the age of 18 I moved by myself to New York. I used to hate having to change friends and move places, but mom used to always tell me, 'When you grow up you’ll realise that this is actually a strength'.
I didn’t understand this until I started working in the documentary field. Moving from place to place makes you want to be more open to understand everyone’s point of view and the complex reality of the world. You learn that there are so many different stories and people with different backgrounds in this world, and if you have a complex background yourself, it's easier to understand other people’s complex backgrounds. It makes you not really want to see things in black or white. I think coming from a mixed, weird, messy background helps me feel less of a weirdo and more part of the world, and it helps me see the bigger picture and not necessarily believe only one side of a story. A story can have so many different sides and points of view.
What is your relationship with New York, and what role did the city have on your passions and inspirations?
The beautiful thing about New York is that it is kind of ego shattering. At first you think that you are so special, and then you see that there are millions of people like you, sometimes way more special and interesting than you. So, at the beginning you feel discouraged and then at the same time it gives you freedom, because no one is going to judge what you wear, what you say, or what you do. You have the freedom to be an authentic version of yourself. Compared to Tel Aviv or Rome which are small towns, New York is a big city, and no one really cares. It’s hard to make your voice heard at the beginning, but then if you get used to the fact that you are one in a million, it's actually nice. It’s such a rich tapestry and there are so many people that are different from you. I learned a lot about who I am through other people’s different experiences.
It’s tough though, and I actually decided that I wanted to come back home before Covid. I had a very fast paced life – I would work on set for 17–18 hours a day sometimes. I would go home, sleep for 3-4 hours to then go back on set. It was insane. I would have to answer emails every five minutes otherwise the producers would get mad at me. It was a pace that did not allow me to have a life. What I love about my Italian background is that it taught me to have a balance between career and relaxation. New York has helped me so much in becoming confident in who I am when starting from zero, and that's the best experience that you can have.
Hanna Torrefranca
Tell us a bit about the power of teamwork in the film and documentary industry based on your experiences!
When you go to film school people teach you that the set is a kingdom, the director is the ruler, and there is a whole hierarchical scale that goes around them for people to basically serve their vision. I 100% agree with that, but I think documentaries and film are a more collaborative art.
Having to move from place to place, I have always looked for a community and a sense of belonging. In fact, I think the aspect I love most about the film industry and documentary filmmaking is the teamwork on set. You know you need the DOP, the DOP needs the light and sound person, all these people need the director’s vision, the director needs on-camera subjects to collaborate with, and all of this can come together to tell the story. Documentaries are non-fiction; you are telling real stories of real people. You go beyond the set community and enter other people’s stories and their own communities. If you do it in a way that is ethical and respectful, it can become a really beautiful ecosystem that relies on one another.
I also think it's interesting to play with tapping into both your individual self and your creative art self, and connecting with everyone else around you. It makes you feel part of something bigger. Film always had that aspect. I know that I can’t do my job well if I don’t have my collaborators.
At NYU they teach you to be a one-person band; you have to do everything yourself, that’s what the industry wants. But I found that the best projects were the more collaborative ones. I was living in a house in Bushwick Brooklyn and my housemates were all creatives. For example, one roommate is an amazing camerawoman, I’m a good producer and editor, and another roommate is a painter and a sculptor. We ended up doing a film about my roommate's sculptures and paintings that my other roommate filmed and I directed and edited. We had another friend who was a musician who helped with the score. None of it could have come together if we didn’t all bring in our individual talents to the project.
Based on your understanding, what advice would you share with someone who aspires to work in the documentary and filmmaking industry?
I finished NYU and thought, 'I am never going to make it!’. We all spend so much time planning our life down to the last detail, but when things actually happen by chance, I find that those are the opportunities that gave me the most encouragement. And to be honest, it really helps when you know someone inside. For example, at Vice I was never on the official team, but I was more of a freelancer. One day a production assistant – who was the assistant of everyone – bailed on a production that she was supposed to film. She called me last minute and I was available to jump in, and that is how I started to know the producers.
A helpful thing to know is that if you are in the film industry and in the art world you often have to become your own employer and that gives you the opportunity to branch out. I worked for Vice, but I also worked for so many others in one year. I used to edit commercials for these Hassidic Jews in Midtown who had jewellery stores. You start with anything possible and then you get to know someone who knows someone, and don’t take no for an answer. I know it is a very cliché thing to say, but I have had so many producers telling me 'Hanna thank you for your CV, but we are not looking right now', and then after the seventh email, the Vice producer called to say that they had something for me.
Also, don’t feel too competitive with other people. At the beginning, I used to think everyone was doing a better job than me, and it took a long time for me to understand that I could do what I wanted to do just like everyone else. And that's also about self-love and self-confidence and believing in yourself, which is really important.
The Central Five Park - Filmmakers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon examine a 1989 case of five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman. After they had spent from six to 13 years in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime.
As your first experience in the industry, what was your role in “The Central Park Five” documentary?
I started as a production assistant. The industry is kind of like a food chain and you start at the bottom. I would make coffee and pick up the laundry of my boss, who was the main producer at PBS. Then, as the production started going further, I got to be a production coordinator, which is basically the assistant to the producer. I checked the schedule and made sure everything went as planned, I was in the editing room, I did the budget.. It was a lot of bureaucratic, boring paperwork. It got really exciting when they called me back for post-production, which is where I got to be second editor for the film. We got to see hours and hours of archival footage, such as interviews with New York’s mayor and the lawyers of the Central Park Five. It was my first experience in the industry, so it was really interesting to see it all happening. I went from being the girl who brings the coffee to actually getting to be in the editing room and seeing how the producers and director were deciding which choices to make and how to tell the story.
Can you briefly summarise the story?
It's a pretty crazy and quite complex story, and I am actually very glad it got picked up and made into a series. Five young African-American kids were arrested due to prejudice and were put to jail for 6–15 years. Only after many years when the case was resolved did they become exonerated, which means receiving money from the government as compensation because they were convicted for the wrong crime and lost so many years in prison. They were in their teens when they were arrested and now they are in their mid-thirties...
Were you happy with the documentary’s final product?
The thing with documentaries is that there are so many moral and ethical problems that come to mind for those directing or making it. Am I telling the story as it is? Is there such a thing as subjectivity or objectivity? Or are we giving enough voice to the people whose voices need to be heard in the story? So, it's really complicated. I think the final product came out well and I think it represented the story well. I am quite convinced that everybody came into the project knowing that the kids were not guilty, but as it happens in the US and in many other countries where racial prejudice and systematic racism oppress people of colour, it doesn’t matter whether they are guilty or innocent. The prison system just takes them and we get used to the fact that this is how these stories end, when it is actually really messed up.
You worked at Rikers Island Prison as a volunteer, and I wonder how this experience gave you insights when working on The Central Park Five documentary.
I volunteered for two years and a half at Rikers Island, which is this island between Brooklyn and Queens. It is actually supposed to shut down in 2020, but it’s not clear if it’s actually going to happen or not. Covid is postponing everything.
In the state of New York, you can be a criminal from the age of 16, so I would work with 16-18-year-olds. I would help them get their GED, which is like the equivalent of a high school diploma. It was a really intense experience and I learned so much from it. There were a lot of rules to be respected. We were a bunch of students from NYU, Columbia, and Princeton, so all really high-end universities, and we were trained to help these kids do their homework.
You grow up and they tell you that prison is for people who do bad things, and then you slowly understand that it's an economic structure that is sustained in order to keep people inside so other people can gain financially from it.
There is a documentary on Netflix called Thirteenth by the amazing Hollywood director Ava DuVernay, which we were asked to collaborate with when we were volunteering at Rikers. The documentary explains how the Thirteenth Amendment of the American Constitution keeps discriminating against people who are black or brown or from a minority background, because they are much more likely to be arrested and end up in prison.
The thing about Rikers that really struck me is that it’s not supposed to be a long-term prison; it’s just there for people that get arrested and are waiting for their trial to happen. Nonetheless, throughout the 2 years I was volunteering there, I really came to understand how the justice system just doesn't work for these young people. This experience helped me because I was able to understand the prison system more fully and understand that there is so much injustice happening with the prison complex industry in America. But not only in America; this happens everywhere.
Is there anything you want to add about the future, something you look forward to?
On a note of getting my MA, going back to school was a decision I made, but it doesn’t have to be for everyone. People feel as if they need school to get ahead in life, but I think we live in a moment where it's not necessary, if we know what we want to do. In my MA, I learned so much about globalization and how the world is connected, but that we have to be more aware of how it is connected; questioning things and looking at the origins of things is really important. I would say that for the future, I like that I am living one day at a time. It’s the first time in my life I've been able to do that. I used to have 6 months planned ahead and I knew exactly when I was going to go on vacation and what projects I was going to take, and now I don’t, which is actually really liberating. Allowing ourselves to rethink how we frame work and success is really important if we want to create a different world after Covid.
Hanna, thank you for sharing your stories, experiences and points of view with Cinegirl readers! The anecdotes about your very special academic and work experiences are an inspiration for rising students in your industry. You shed light on how having an open mind and a strong desire to learn about different cultures is so valuable. When collaborating on several projects you did more than just research the subjects, you entered into their world and tried to understand them as deeply as possible; whether by working at Rikers Island or by creating a documentary about your roommate’s art. This is very inspiring.
Click here to watch The Central Park Five trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AehmA3hTLmA
