Described by critics as the strangest true-crime story yet, Abducted in Plain Sight exhibits a convoluted plot in which, to put it simply, too much happens. Abducted in Plain Sight is the sort of tale that no one could ever write out for fiction, despite subscribing to every genre convention: a young female victim, male predator, and a series of twists and turns.
Going from strange to appalling, the 91-minute documentary tells a gripping story of a young girl, Jan Broberg, who was twice kidnapped by a trusted family friend in the ’70s. Although the film was initially released in 2017 under the title “Forever B”, this year has seen it gain international attention after being added to the Netflix documentary library.
Without giving too much away, viewers from far and wide have not held back from expressing their horror and disdain on Twitter, conveying disbelief and outrage towards all of those involved. However, the aim of the documentary is not to demonise Broberg’s family, but to open up a serious dialogue about child abuse. At least, that’s what director, producer and screenwriter Skye Borgman hopes to do; having spent over three years working on Abducted in Plain Sight, which was screened at various film festivals in 2017 and 2018, we spoke to her about the processes of creating such a documentary and her experiences working in the industry.
You’re a director and cinematographer- could you tell us about what drove you to this career?
When I was younger I initially was interested in theatre, and so I went and got an undergraduate in theatre. I loved the whole process of preparing and storytelling through lighting and movement, so that sort of translated to photography in a strange way; I loved the lighting elements of that.
I picked up a camera for the first time when I spent some time travelling, and with that, I loved bringing in the compositional elements. I eventually got to a point in my life where I thought ‘What can I do with my life that is sort of public story-telling which involves using a camera and travelling?’ Then I thought about making films, though I actually knew nothing about it at the time. So I returned to the States from abroad and applied to film schools! I then got my masters degree from University of Southern California and really fell in love with cinematography.
What is it you enjoy so much about creating films?
I think it’s the ability to tell a visual story, and finding ways to take a story from being on a written page or in your head and finding ways to get that story across through images and demonstrate ways in which the visuals can support without taking over the story. Having substance over style, but still having the graphic characteristics to it that elevate it into something more, and into something incredible.
Gender representation and gender equality has been a hot topic recently, when discussing the film industry. As a female director, have you ever been treated unfairly or had a strange experience in your field because of your gender?
It’s interesting because I’m of two minds on this matter- I create a lot of my own work and so I have the ability to hire the crews, so I’m creating the work environment, with my husband. We have a production company called Top Knot Films, so through that we hire people who we believe are right, which ends up being a nice and diverse crew, and people who I know I would work well with.
And in a sense, I feel like I sometimes live in a bubble of my own because I have control over the people I bring on and the environment we’re in. But in terms of gender disparity and inequality, they really come in play when I’ve gone to seek a job, or an interview for a job. Especially as a director of photography, because I think that the prejudices some people might have regarding that position, is that as a woman, you’re not strong enough. I’ve had people ask me ‘Are you sure you’ll be able to handle that camera?’ and I’m thinking, of course I’m going to be able to!
Even though there are obvious prejudices such as these, it’s getting the job itself that has been the main obstacle for me. I feel like I’ve got to fight a little bit harder to get those jobs. Since the #MeToo movement and the large A-list stars speaking out on inclusion – like Frances McDormand when she talked about it at the Oscars, Reese Witherspoon when she made a few statements, and Nicole Kidman who said that she had the power to ask for more female and diversity around – they’re starting to use that power. So I feel like the tides are turning, but then every time I feel like progress is being made, I end up on a set where I’m the only woman or everybody’s white and I think ‘Maybe things aren’t changing?’… So things might be changing but, truthfully, it’s going to take a long time before we actually get there.
Do you prefer to create films or documentaries?
I love documentaries, they’re my number one love for sure! But there’s still so much of me that also loves the creativity behind lighting something and approaching something through a completely scripted and fictionalised perspective, and creating that as a movie. A lot of the time with documentaries you’re made to find the beauty in a given circumstance and with fiction you seem to create it for yourself. However, documentaries are changing! Especially with the cinematic elements that we’re bringing to them now in terms of dramatisation, so there’s a lot of freedom to experiment stylistically. It’s a very exciting time to be a documentary filmmaker.
What is your favourite subject matter to explore, and why?
I like subjects about women. I feel like it’s important to me to talk about women in various different ways with both our successes and our failures, defeating injustices and conquering odds and things like that. I do love true crime, but there’s so much going around about murders, which I’m not a huge fan of. That’s because I don’t feel like they’re quite as complex as some of these other cases that I find. I really like exploring the human condition and coming to an understanding as to why we do some of the things that we do. A big part of the true crime audience is women, and as women we have to think about danger more than men do, we’re structured to think about protecting ourselves and I think these documentaries truly highlight these issues and how we can approach them.
There have been a wave of crime documentaries coming out recently (ones about Madeleine McCann, Ted Bundy, Michael Jackson, etc.) and people have had a lot to say on it. Why do you think crime as a genre is having such a moment in pop culture?
That’s a very good question. I think crime has been popular for a long time, but we’ve stepped up the game with documentaries in the ways in which we approach them. People are also fascinated with finding out more about these stories and trying to figure out exactly why and how something could happen.
What project has been your most rewarding?
It’s Junk Dreams, for sure. I mean, I’m incredibly proud of Abducted in Plain Sight because it was such a huge endeavour, but Junk Dreams is a very personal movie to me, it was a tale about my father’s impractical Chinese junk boat that he loved. The film is about our trip to Alaska together (and my uncle Charlie) and it’s something that I’ll always cherish. My father passed away in 2015 and I think of it as a tribute to how great he was, and a way I can keep his legacy alive while moving forward.
Now, your most recent documentary Abducted in Plain Sight has done especially well, winning you multiple awards, and has become quite the phenomenon. How does it feel to get that sort of critical response?
I always hoped that it would get some kind of good reaction, at least! But the whole thing has been a little bit surreal; I mean, I’ve worked on so many projects over the last 20 years and each one has gotten varying degrees of recognition, and this one certainly has gotten the most of any and I’m incredibly proud and humbled by that.
Along the way people did tell me that it was going to get a lot of love and a crazy reaction, but I felt that way about other projects before and nothing had happened at this kind of level. It’s funny because on one hand nothing’s changed all that much, but they also kind of have! I just really want to keep moving forward and doing good work and making an impact on people.
How on earth did you discover Jan Broberg and her story?
It was her book that introduced us to her story. We just thought that it was so crazy! But in the book, they had left the two sexual affairs out with the parents and we didn’t know that initially. Upon getting to know Jan, she informed us about the sexual affair with her mother but had not told us about her dad.
But once she told us about her mom, everything started to make sense regarding Robert Berchtold and how he manipulated the entire family: by making them fall in love with him. It’s funny, because the whole thing ended up being a lot more investigative than we had anticipated. I never thought that we would be in contact with the FBI and looking through court transcripts- then through this we found out more about the story ourselves and that was a very, very interesting process.
When interviewing the family, what are the ethics involved when asking the victims to relive their trauma? Or was it more a way of healing for the people in question?
The entire family are very committed to talking about it. I remember one of our first interviews for the documentary was with Karen, the middle sister, and at the end of the interview I said to her, “Would you rather have never spoken about this and have it all go away?” and she sort of stopped for a second and goes, “No, you have to talk about it! You just have to, because it brought us a lot closer as a family”.
Through the documentary and even the book, they’re taking the reins with this tragic experience, sharing it on their own terms and to hopefully shed light on some serious issues that can resonate with other people. However, what gets challenging too is when they got on to social media and were faced with so many hateful things directed at them. Also, Bob (Jan’s father) passed away last November, so he hasn’t been around to see any of it, which makes it all so much harder on the rest of the family. They have to see these memes and all the horrible things that people are saying about him, which is sad because he is so freshly gone from their lives.
It’s been very liberating and easier for the family to talk about this topic, especially Mary-Anne, who has been such a trooper through all of this because it has all been a lot. I really respect the Broberg’s for talking. To say the least.
What was your personal reaction to everything, as a director?
When you’re a documentary filmmaker there is a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and it’s always a heavy weight to carry, because there’s a commitment I have to the truth and there’s also a commitment I have to protecting the family. They trusted me to tell their story, and for the most part I think they feel that we told it in a truthful and respectful way without skewing anything. For me, it’s been more about trying to reroute the conversation; our main objective with this film was to always open up the brutal topic of child abuse and the difficult journey to recovery.
Even when we were screening this at festivals before Netflix commissioned it, people would approach us from the audience and tell us about abuse that they themselves had suffered but had never told anyone about before. But they told us! Probably because they felt compelled, inspired or at least not alone anymore, and could therefore talk about it. So I feel that even with all of the backlash that’s happening on social media, we’ve been able to navigate the conversation and explore different facets of the conversation. I don’t know if we’ve been able to change anybody’s mind who have come forward in such hateful ways, but I’m hopeful that we can at least open their ears a little bit, encourage them to not be so quick to judge and to fully listen to what’s out there without shutting it off.
Was there anything particularly shocking that you felt couldn’t be added into the documentary or had to omit?
Not necessarily, but at one point we did interview a couple of experts. Like we went to a forensic psychologist and an expert in kidnapping, and so they provided us with amazing insight into why these people do what they do and more specifically, the logistics behind kidnapping somebody, and so on. But we changed our mind because we wanted people that were a part of the genuine story, not external characters commenting on the matter making it educational. We just felt like it would have been stronger without them, and with just the family.
I also would have liked to go down the LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) because their entire lives were shaped by this religion, but every time we tried to delve deeper into the topic it just made things more complicated. I feel like this new and American faith is what kept the family together as a salvation and that is a huge, powerful thing that this faith did for them. Yet with that, it also opened the door to a predator and to the carnage that then followed. However, I didn’t want to give people the impression that this sort of thing only happens in an LDS community and to demonise the religion in any way. The whole subject was just too delicate to add in.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve taken from years of making documentaries?
Question everything. There are certainly a couple of moments where I had read something in the documents or had gotten something in an interview, that I thought was true. There were so many instances where I had to go back and really check the facts, so my main lesson is to really just question everything and put the work into it, truly investigate things and trust your gut. But yes, truly question everything.
This interview has been condensed, and edited for clarity. Images courtesy of Skye Borgman.
Abducted in Plain Sight is available for streaming on Netflix.