This film was something new for you. How did making it compare to working as a producer of television news stories?
Obviously it was very different. My news stories are about armed conflict rather than emotional conflict, and honestly, that’s an angle I’m a lot more comfortable with. Part of the idea of doing this film was just stepping up to an intense emotional narrative, making myself stretch to do something I don’t necessarily know how to do well. I’m 58, which is an age at which you want to be trying to do something that makes you reach and stretch. Seeing the film on a big screen has been gratifying. I was worried Francesca’s photography might not have the same impact on a big screen, because her images are small and intimate, and when they’re shown in a gallery you have to lean in and peer at them. We were careful to treat her photographs as whole images, not to do fancy zooms or pans, and I think it worked.

Well, congratulations on the film and on winning the Best New York Documentary prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Thank you. It’s great to see the film get noticed. It’s a small film–no mammals are saved, there’s no big issue–and I really did it as a labor of love. I hope it will bring more people to Francesca’s work, and to Betty, George and Charlie’s too.