New York Film Academy students welcomed representatives from Brave New Films—Laurie Jones and Tommie Bayliss—after a screening of their documentary, Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA. The event was moderated by NYFA Documentary Chair Barbara Multer-Wellin.
Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA featured stories from people who have been impacted by gun violence, such as the woman who had been attacked by her estranged husband, the family of a young boy accidentally shot at a friends house, and a woman whose fiancé had committed suicide a few months before their wedding. Bayliss spoke to the difficulty of compassionately interviewing people involved, saying, “I think you have to be a skilled director to put people in a place where they’re comfortable.”
When asked about the lack of a segment specifically about school shootings, Jones said, “the media covers mass shootings, but domestic violence and suicide are not [covered] — other short films are available on our website.” Bayliss added that, “you can’t get it all…you grab what you can. It’s a filmmaker’s dilemma.”
Jones and Bayliss concluded the talk with a positive message. “We kind of think our voices don’t matter, but they do.”