LOCAL FILMMAKERS Arun Fryer, Drew Hutchinson, and Richard Neufeld have released their latest short #occupyvancity2, an ongoing doc series chronicling the Occupy Vancouver movement.

As a huge fan of the series, I asked the crew about the process of crafting the film.

Q. What were the main challenges of putting together occupyvancity2?

One of our biggest obstacles was crafting the story. We didn’t have as many interviews or speeches compared to our first film covering the rally, and we had no pre-conceived notions of how or what to say about the Art Gallery occupation. We knew we wanted to show the sights and sounds of the daily existence at tent city, ideally capturing the spirit of the scene without edifying it. Although we may have sympathized with the people working and living there, we tried to approach the film through the eyes of filmmakers and not as occupiers, if that makes sense.

Q. What did it feel like to go back over all the footage of the tent city?

Looking over the footage reminds me of how empty it feels now at the Art Gallery. Something seems to be missing. I’m glad we were able to help document the brief time it was there, and hopefully the film will resonate with an audience. Maybe we’ll even help inspire another gathering, or at least continue the discourse the movement has started.

Q. How did you decide where to end this chapter? (just as the camp was asked to be removed?)

We ended it in the same way most people know about the ending of Occupy Vancouver. The majority of people have no idea what happened after Tent City, and frankly neither do we.

Q. What’s next for your film work with Occupy Vancouver?

Our plan is continue with a 3rd film and carry on with the series. We’re not entirely sure what it will be about, but that is part of the excitement when dealing with something so nebulous like the Occupy movement. We’d like to interview the people running the various media outlets like the Occupy Vancouver website, facebook and twitter feeds, and also explore what other filmmakers, artists and musicians are doing with the narrative of the Occupy story.

You can watch the previous episode on their Vimeo channel OccupyVancity