Premiering at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival is XY Chelsea, a documentary set in the aftermath of the release from prison of Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army soldier and intelligence analyst convicted of violating the Espionage Act in 2013, after leaking classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks. Manning’s information revealed illegal practices—such as torture and abuse of detainees and the unreported deaths of over 15,000 civilians—engaged by the U.S. military.
Blackfilm.com had the opportunity to speak with director Tim Travers Hawkins about the making of the film.
Chelsea got into trouble because of her leaks to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Can you talk about what is the status of things now with her? She was pardoned in the Obama administration. But now the Trump administration is actually been making certain threats towards Chelsea regarding that pardon. Not the fact that she was fully exonerated. But the fact that she was pardoned. Can you give any updates on that? What is your opinion?
Tim Travers Hawkins: Chelsea’s fight right now. The reason she is in prison is because she does not recognize the validity of the grand jury process. She believes that the grand jury process is being abused by the government. And she is making a stand on principles of transparency against this situation. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that she is hiding anything. Because everything came out during the court marshall. If you look at the document that the government unsealed. It is all stuff that we already knew. There is nothing new and there is nothing particularly groundbreaking. So we can see here how this is an attempt to get Julian to this country primarily. But it is not – from Chelsea’s point of view she is not connected to Julian. She is not connected to WikiLeaks. This is just a tool that she used at the time. 
That is why the film is very definitely centered on her experience of it. I think regarding the Trump administration. There are a lot of people who are worried. In a lot of different contexts. There is absolutely no reason why Chelsea should not also be concerned about this administration. Because it is showing itself to be criminal, corrupt, to have no scruples. I think double jeopardy should protect her from being tried again for the same things. But that is a very complicated legal issue that I can’t speak to directly. But her lawyers certainly could. So fundamentally her being back in prison, is her choice to make a stand against something that is wrong again.
There have been a lot of updates on Julian Assange. Especially since the Mueller report came out and certain things have come out about Roger Stone. There are allegations of collusion with Russia affecting our election. Does Chelsea have any opinion on that? She did leak that certain classified footage to Julian Assange. What are your thoughts on the updates with Julian Assange?
Tim Travers Hawkins: I think in the film we very deliberately frame it around Chelsea’s experiences. She was not really that aware of Julian Assange as a figure. Certainly he wasn’t who he is now. I think what happens often is that in the media narratives and the way we see these stories. Things get stuck together that don’t really have the kind of causality of or direct connection that you think they have. I have to say all that stuff is a whole other issue. It’s not related to events in the film. Personally I don’t have much to say on that.
Are you going to put any additional updates regarding Julian in the film? Is this going to be the final cut that you have that is airing on Showtime?
Tim Travers Hawkins: We don’t have any plans to update. Of course the recent events are undeniably linked. It’s not because they have a relationship. It’s because the US government is trying to throw everything they can at this situation. And try to leverage some kind of position through her.
Has Chelsea seen the film? What are her thoughts on the representation that you did of her in the movie?
Tim Travers Hawkins: Yeah. She saw various cuts. The final one she saw she told me that, “I really love it”. I feel like…I don’t want to speak for her. I feel like she really appreciated work that we’ve done to try to and create a very honest character portrait. And the work that we have done to try and avoid some of the clichés or tease apart the way the story had been put together before and present it in a fresh way. That was really about her perspective and her point of view.
What do you want the audience to take away from the movie? Is your ultimate goal to – of course the audience will become more compassionate towards Chelsea while they follow her on her journey. Do you want to present the story as a full exoneration of Chelsea?
Tim Travers Hawkins: I think exoneration is quite a loaded term in some ways. But I think it is clear what my position is… I think that what she did was the right thing. But what I’d like people to take away really is that whether you agree with that. We can all hopefully agree that we do need brave individuals willing to stand up and speak truth to power. And she is certainly that and she has made a lot of sacrifices for those principles. But at the same time these individuals are so important. We really need to support them. Because on your own standing up to these things you are going to get crushed.
What do you think Chelsea would say- if she was saying that she was being a patriot. But then someone like Donald Trump or others may call the act that she did was treasonous? How do you think she would respond to that type of criticism?
Tim Travers Hawkins: I don’t want to put words into her mouth. But I think you have to look at the different waiting that we have here. What we are talking about in her disclosures is an illegal war where hundreds of thousands of people were killed. I think there is a simplicity to that- that we should really focus on. There is all this loaded talk about patriotism and treason. No, it’s about an illegal war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. I just think there is a simplicity to disclosing the act of information. That sometimes it is not a case of just adding to things. But adding to the story. Adding to the information that is out there. But actually stripping it back. So that we can see the core principals there.
XY Chelsea will air this year on Showtime.
Loading…