Metro Profile – Oct 2017

A profile story has been published in the September- October 2017 issue of Metro. Here are the introductory paragraphs. To read the full story click here or on link at the bottom.

“World vision
Film-maker Pietra Brettkelly travels the globe, surmounting financial and other obstacles to make her documentaries. She tells Metro about refusing to compromise, her new film – and why she wants to hang out with the Pope.

Pietra Brettkelly in Afghanistan filming A Flickering Truth. Photo/ Jacob Bryant.

Hers is not a nine-to-five job. She doesn’t want that kind of life. She wants a life that is unpredictable and adventurous and has a sense of discovery attached to it the whole time. That is the life Pietra Brettkelly has always wanted.
Typically, her documentaries take years to make. For the last one, A Flickering Truth, she travelled to Afghanistan seven times during the two years and seven months of filming.

On these trips, she made it clear to drivers not to go near Taliban country. Once, she and her crew drove through a Taliban town, unaware until they got there. They headed up through the mountains and their van broke down and the driver turned around and said, “Put your burka on and stay in the car.” She thought to herself, “Okay, we could all be kidnapped; some of us are foreigners and it would be a great ransom for the Taliban.” She’s happy to put herself at risk, but not the others. It was dark by the time they were back on the road and hours before they got to the next town. No lights anywhere. They encountered roadblocks and saw drones. She was scared, but she never worries she is going to die. Sometimes she thinks if it did happen, what an extraordinary life she’s had. It’s exactly the life she wanted.”

Read the full profile Pietra Brettkelly on her new film and why she wants to hang out with the Pope
by Aimie Cronin / 30 November, 2017