Four days spent with filmmakers was a potent reminder of
the power of storytelling, writes Kim Webby

I attended Doc Edge Industry, which supports documentary filmmakers, followed by the Big Screen Symposium, a talk fest for everyone in the screen industry.  

Despite really tough economic times, the passion and energy of the storytellers survives.

It made me realise why we need storytellers more than ever.  

As we all know, the world feels a bit shaky right now with economic uncertainty, wars, and increased division when we really need to pull together to get out of the mess that we are in.

Stories, in my view, not only inform, educate and entertain, are a powerful force for unity. The simple act of hearing someone tell their story creates an emotional and intellectual bond that is real and strong.

An article in Psychology Today, reported a small study in which a woman was asked to tell a story while undergoing an MRI scan.  

As she spoke various parts of her brain lit up including the frontal cortex, which deals with logic and reason, and another part of the brain that deals with emotion.

They then played her story to a group of people who also underwent MRI scans while they listened.

The same parts of their brains lit up in response to the story, in the same manner as they had for the storyteller. Her story elicited the same thought processes and emotions in the listeners, a process called neuro-coupling or mirroring.

This doesn’t mean that we will always agree with the speaker or the story. Their bias is not necessarily our bias or belief.  

But when we hear an authentic story from the heart we can still be moved by it. We may not agree, but I believe the experience can open our minds and hearts to other perspectives and build empathy and understanding.

This power, though, comes with responsibility. What a furore at Glastonbury when punk bank Bob Vylan chanted, “Death, death to the IDF (Israeli Defence Force”.

Having been moved to tears watching devastating scenes in Gaza and in the occupied territories as Palestinian men, women and children are killed, bombed, starved and forcibly removed from their homes, it would be easy to raise an arm in solidarity with the Bob Vylan chant.  

But to what purpose? It doesn’t bring the war any closer to an end, it just stokes the fires of hatred.

Israeli teenagers are conscripted to the army at age 18, men for 32 months and women for two years. No doubt some go willingly, others do not.  

Amnesty International’s website has the story of 18-year-old Itamar Greenburg, who refused to fight.  He’s just been released from 197 days in custody, but he regards it as a small price to pay to avoid killing Palestinian children.  

He has my utmost respect, less so Bob Vylan.  

Itamar Greenburg’s story unites, rather than divides.  

Meantime I wish and pray for peace for Palestine every day.