Long conversation with Lydia yesterday about ethical storytelling. Her documentary will feature real migrant writers. Whose voices get amplified? Who represents the community? Who has authority to speak?
Same questions haunt my fiction about immigrant experience. Can I write characters from backgrounds adjacent to mine? Russian character writing Ukrainian experience feels different from Russian writing Russian. But where’s the line? Eastern European isn’t monolithic category.
Lydia deals with this in documentary differently. She can let subjects speak for themselves. But editing still shapes narrative. Which quotes make final cut? Whose story dominates? Director’s choices matter even in non-fiction.
We discussed representation politics extensively. Not just cultural accuracy but power dynamics. Who benefits from story being told? Does documentary serve subjects or filmmaker’s career? Fiction lets me hide behind “it’s just a story” but documentary faces ethical questions more directly.
She’s committed to collaborative approach. Interview subjects will see rough cuts, provide feedback, have some control over their representation. Unusual for documentary but necessary given power dynamics involved.
No easy answers emerged from conversation. But asking these questions matters. Both of us navigate position of insider-outsider. Enough connection to write authentically, enough distance to potentially exploit.
The discussion clarified something about my novels though. I avoid certain narratives because I’m not sure I have right to tell them. Maybe that restraint is appropriate.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
