FAKE NEWS FAIRYTALE
I was drawn to this story when I read an article in Wired Magazine about some teenagers in a small town called Veles, who had been writing fake news in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It seemed like a story that offered a small insight into the surreal mix of dishonesty, demagoguery, and internet madness that characterised the 2016 U.S. presidential election. I also felt that the subject matter presented an opportunity to play with the idea of what makes stories believable -- a theme so intrinsic to storytelling.
While it wasn’t hard to find people in Veles writing fake news, many of them didn’t want to appear in a film. They were worried about losing the money they’d made from their articles and felt much of the news coverage about Macedonian fake news had been moralistic and judgmental. When I realised that there was a high chance that most of the fake news writers would want to remain anonymous, I started exploring creative devices for telling the story.
Fairytales are fake stories that capture our imagination and draw us in, regardless of their ‘truth’. Much like in this crazy story about the bizarre world of fake news in American politics, characters in fairytales are often simple and two-dimensional. There are misguided money-seekers trying to make a quick buck, and villains spewing vitriol and lies (Donald Trump?). So I had the idea to craft the documentary as a fairytale. I also felt this format allowed me to explore some of the more interesting questions around fakeness and lies in storytelling. I used masks of famous political figures like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama as a tongue-in-cheek, visual reminder of the absurdity of the subject matter.
The film tells the true story of one fake news writer, who is played by an actor in the film. The majority of the film — ‘Sashko’s story’ — is shot on a VHS camera, which we saw as a playful way of questioning what makes footage appear authentic to an audience. In addition to the VHS, we used Super 8mm film, and a DVX 200 to break with the main style of the film occasionally and build uncertainty around the film’s authorship. Because each format is so distinct, we were challenged to be intentional about what we were filming throughout the duration of the shoot.
Post-production, which we had to approach with extreme precision, was a true highlight of working on this film. I loved working on a highly constructed edit, together with an incredibly layered score and detailed sound design to bring to life the world of the story. I’m profoundly grateful to the many wonderful collaborators that I had the pleasure of working with on this bold and bizarre film.
Full credits list:
Directed by - Kate Stonehill
Produced by - Kate Stonehill & James Campbell Smith
Written by Hristijan Mitrov & Kate Stonehill
Narrated by - Hristijan Mitrov
Cinematography by Ronnie McQuillan & Kate Stonehill
Editor Conor Meechan
Composer Pablo Scopinaro
Sound Designer Odinn Ingibergsson
Sound Recordist Alex Collin
Online Editor and Colourist - Hugh Howlett
Production Manager - Alexandra McArdle
Field Producer - Samir Ljuma
Assistant Field Producer - Andrej Gjorgjievski
Associate Producer - Sashko Potter Micevski
Graphics - Shirin Ebrahimi
Translators -
Kristina Nikolovska
Andrej Gjorgjievski
Samir Ljuma
Cast
Sashko - Aleksandar Georgiev
Sashko’s Friends
Ajdarevic Deniz
Antonio Taskovski
Marin Naumovski
Stefan Nikolovski
