INTERVIEW with Nick Broomfield

Right around the time when Nick Broomfield’s non-fiction film”Battle for Haditha” was coming out, I was able to set up an interview with the famed filmmaker.  Nick was primarily known for his off-beat documentaries where he cast himself as a mostly bewildered fish-out-of-water witness than a hard-hitting documentarian like Alex Gibney or the agenda-happy Michael Moore.  Nick’s string of documentaries includes Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madame, “Biggie and Tupac” and “Kurt & Courtney”.  “Haditha” is something of a departure for the British Mr. Broomfield though some of the scenes in his Iraq War drama are shot quite documentary-style.  I met with the director and one of his film’s subjects, Elliot Ruiz, a non-professional actor who, himself, was an Iraq War vet.  We sat at a small table in the Film Forum offices.  I was also joined by friend, photographer David Godlis.  These photos are all his.