S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman , one of the films in this year's GI Film Festival highlights the importance of interpreters during the war in Afghanistan. We'll talk with the filmmakers. This is Midday Edition , connecting our communities through conversation. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. The GI Film Festival kicked off Monday at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. It's a showcase of movies for by and about military veterans. One film interpreters wanted looks at the important role interpreters played in the war in Afghanistan. It follows two Afghan brothers , Saifullah and Ishmael , who served with the U.S. Army back in 2009 , and their struggle for safety under the Taliban's rule. Here's a snippet from that trailer.
S2: The Taliban is now effectively in control , including in the capital , Kabul.
S3: Thousands of Afghans are eligible for visas because they had worked for the U.S. , were left behind.
S4: Getting out of the country to safety here in the state has been a long and difficult process.
S5: I never thought when I went to Afghanistan that I would be telling the story of an Afghan , but war gives you a perspective about people.
S6: My name is Saifullah. I work for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.
S7: This is the first chance I have to speak out to tell all the untold stories.
S5: There's a bond with interpreters and soldiers.
S6: The interpreters were like the eyes for the US military in Afghanistan.
S5: It's the death sentence to work with the US as an interpreter.
S6: Then Sergeant Wood , all the times said. Kill those ears and eyes. Cut that , and then there will be nothing.
S7: I never assume that when I go out on a mission , I will come back alive. We need. Several interpreters were shot and killed. Innocent people. They were killing them like chickens.
S6: My life was in a great danger , and I wanted to come to the United States to live a free life.
S1: Robert Hamm directed , edited and produced the film. He joins me now. Robert , welcome. Hi.
S5: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it very much. Yeah.
S1: So glad to have you here. Also with us , Amber Cournoyer. She's an advisory committee member for the GI Film Fest. Amber , welcome to you , too.
S8: Thank you. So glad to be here.
S1: Glad to have you. So , Robert , you have a very personal connection to this film.
S5: We couldn't have fought these wars without the interpreters that were by our side translating every mission , all the things that we were doing along the way. And Skyfall and Ishmael were the interpreters that partnered with my public affairs office when I was in Afghanistan , and I became very close friends with both of them. Um , so much so that they reached out to me years later when I was back in America , and they had failed to receive their special immigrant visas that would get them access to America. Uh , they reached out wanting help. And that's kind of the beginning in the middle of the film that is interpreters wanted.
S1: Well , thank you for your service in that. And you were a combat filmmaker.
S5: Uh , that when I went to the recruiter originally and I wanted to be on the front lines , I actually didn't even know that they had this job. I thought everything was like infantry. It was very I didn't understand what it was. And when they showed me the videos and the things that I could do , um , I said , oh , that's what I want. That's what I want to do. And the military trained me and prepared me to do this job , to go to the frontlines. Um , I spent every day in that deployment along with , you know , a lot of other soldiers like Amber as well , who went to the frontlines to tell these stories to to film video and , and photos and then put together stories that we could share with the folks back home. And that's what that's what we did. And it wasn't , you know , my experience is just like many of the thousands and thousands and thousands of soldiers that went to deploy in these wars since 911. It's violent. It's horrible. Uh , and it's also , uh , memories that we share with a sisterhood and a brotherhood of of people that experience all this together.
S1:
S5: My original intent for this film was to be a very short , scripted version of kind of like , you know , like The Covenant , uh , that I didn't end up making. That was the goal , because when I was at USC , it was supposed to be my thesis film , and it kind of evolved into a documentary because we weren't able to finish it , finish the short film , and it evolved while it was actually happening. I mean , I was at school and I get this Facebook message from people and Ishmael saying , we're in a lot of we're we're really in need of help because all the bases are shutting down. This is when we started to shut down the bases and they didn't have a job , and they had helped the Americans for so long. They kind of had a target on there. I mean , they did have a target on their on their back , literally. Uh , they had to go into hiding. They were trying to run from the Taliban. And if you know anything about what the Taliban and al Qaeda and the different sets of groups that that were in , that what they do to interpreters , it's what we talk about in the film is violent retaliation to them and their family. And so and Ishmael were desperate to get to America. They deserved to get to America. Of course , I had no idea what to do. I was just going to school and trying to transition out of the military and figure out what to do. So it actually was a very burdensome time , uh , for me , because it took years for us to petition Congress people in order to get an Ishmael to America. Uh , which you see that process in the film as well. And , um , it was kept me up at night. It it haunted me because what was it felt for me like what was the point of what we did there if we can't even rescue the people that had the most on the line ? So it was not an easy film to put together. But to be quite honest , and especially I hope this is reflected in the film when you watch it , that it's nothing compared to the life that Sipho and Ishmael have lived , the difficulty of growing up under war between Afghanistan and the Russians , and then oppression under the Taliban. Regime and then the invasion of America with the hope that we would change that country. And 20 years later , we were unable to do that. And so hopefully that's a reflection in the film that honors their story. Yeah.
S9: Yeah. Well , you know , tell me.
S1: More about the role Afghan interpreters played during the war.
S5: Yeah , I could I'll throw this one to Amber if you want to answer a little bit , I think I , you know , like many of us were out on the frontlines and we , you know , I don't even think I knew what language they spoke before I went to Afghanistan. Uh , you know , I was a naive mid 20s , ready to go and do what you do in war. And I thought it was like everybody in the Middle East spoke Arabic. Right. But there's like Pashto and Dari and there's many different dialects and all of this stuff. And we had no idea , you know , we don't know the culture , we don't know the language. And so there is literally no way to connect with the people without these men and women who are on the front lines with us. Amber , do you want to add to that ? Absolutely.
S8: And , and , and and just to kind of repeat what Robert is saying , you know , interpreters role and especially our job in Afghanistan , because I was a photojournalist , you know , Robert was a videographer. And so I , I took photos and I wrote and Robert took video and , and put together , um , the films that , that , you know , type of films that you're seeing today. But we couldn't interview , you know , anyone in the Afghan populace if we didn't have an interpreter by our side , we couldn't interpret the the messages that we were getting from the Taliban , that we were we were intercepting from the Taliban. That was , you know , enemy information. We we had no idea what the animal was saying , what the enemy was planning. When we interpreted messages. We had no idea. Without the interpreters , our lives , our lives truly depended on on these individuals. And we could not have at any level done what we did without them.
S5: And it let me add just one thing that , you know , it's not just the words that they're translating right word for word , right ? Amber , they're taking they're taking the culture as well. And they're basic and they're they're fusing they're diffusing frustrations that that are happening on between the Americans and between the Afghans. They're they're they're kind of like bridging the cultural gaps between the Westerners and the Afghans. And , uh , without them not only literally sharing with us the words that are being said in a different language , but also like sharing with us the cultural differences , like we're all I mean , I'll say , you know , when you go in not knowing the culture , you're always going to do things not according to their culture. And these Afghans were also walking us through like , don't say that. Don't do this. We need to be more respectful of a culture that is is , you know , significantly more ancient than the American culture. Right ? Right.
S1: And then , of course , if you don't have them , you run the risk of misinterpreting what's actually happening. Exactly.
S5: Exactly. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S5: We all have our own vision of what that means for where we sit. And what I saw when I was in the service is that there were Republicans and Democrats and conservatives and liberals and independents and weirdos and people that came from all different backgrounds , all different areas of this great country , uh , from Puerto Rico to Maine to the inner city of Chicago to Texas. And I'm from Los Angeles. And we we talked about all these things. We talked about politics. We talked about everything , like like everybody does. But but at the end of the day , we were all willing to put it all on the line for each other because we were wearing the same uniform with the same flag. And that's what it means to be a veteran. And we partnered with these amazing people from these countries who wanted that same thing for their country , and they became brothers and sisters to us , and we would have died for them as well , and they would have died for us. And they did. I hope people can walk away seeing that we're all human , that war is horrible and the only benefit that I gained from it personally , I mean , I guess from , you know , you gain perspective and grit and all the other things , but I also , you know , have my struggles with mental health and PTSD and all the rest of it. But the relationships that I , I gained with people like Amber , the relationships I gained with people like CFL and Ishmael , they're lifelong. And I want to bring that perspective back to this country from those wars and say , look at what we tried to do over there. And. That's the destruction of what war can do , and what love and friendship and bonding and loyalty and duty can do is hopefully unite a country that's very divided. We should look at people like Sipho and Ishmael and say , like they love this country. They love being here because of the opportunity and how different it is than the country that they had that they were forced to leave. So there you go. That's my lofty goal.
S1: And I'll give you the final word on this.
S8: Oh , goodness. Robert's got me all teared up over here. Um , you know , what do I hope that people take away from from this film ? You know , I again , I have to echo what what Robert is saying. You know this. We are we are at a very divisive time in our American history , you know , worldwide , you know , division is is just rampant. And it seems like everyone is at everybody else's throats. And violence is such a thing. But amidst our time at war , uh , you know , we we did make very important , impactful friendships with , with the people who , whose country we , we sought to to liberate , you know , and that liberation , in the end , it didn't happen. But in those years , there was so much good that did happen. Friendships were made. Children went to school , girls went to school. I hope people take the same from the film. I hope that that people take just the humanity away from the film. You know , whether you agree with what our military is doing or what our government is , is where our government is sending our troops. You know what ? What our troops go through is , is very real. And sometimes they they don't really know how they feel about something until after it's all over. And they come back and they realize , wow , I don't know how I feel about all that , you know ? And I hope that that people understand that we as soldiers , we as military service members , we as veterans , we are so much more than than just the military. You know , we were people that went to war and met other people at war , and we saw people do horrible things to each other. But then we also witnessed people doing amazing things for each other.
S9: Well , I thank you both.
S1: For your service , your sacrifice , and for putting these stories front and center. Interpreters wanted premieres 8 p.m. on Thursday , May 9th at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. I've been speaking with Robert Hamm , director of Interpreters Wanted. Robert , thank. You.
S5: You. Thank you very much.
S1: And Amber Cournoyer , advisory committee member for the GI Film Fest. Amber. Thank you.
S8: Thank you.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
