Director Vibeke Lokkeberg and producer Terje Kristiansen’s powerful documentary, Tears of Gaza, which opens in theaters on September 21st, shows the terrifying impact of war on a civilian population.  Through graphic footage of the 2008-2009 bombings of Gaza by the Israeli military and emotional testimony by the survivors, the filmmakers offer an unsettling, visceral and thought-provoking look at how ordinary families live and suffer when daily life, war and occupation are inescapably intertwined.

I sat down with Lokkeberg and Kristiansen to talk about their film which examines with disturbing immediacy the brutal consequences of war from the viewpoints of three children and allows the audience to connect with them in a very personal way.  They discussed why they made a deliberate choice to try to avoid any contextualization, how they were able to shoot extraordinary footage in the middle of a war zone, and why they believe documentary cinema is better suited to examining these issues than the traditional media. Hit the jump for more: