What's an artist s'posed to do?

OK, I'm sufficiently stuck to warrant another posting. This time, an outright appeal for feedback.

After the bureaucratic hassle, I found out I could have been working the whole time on the streets. All I really needed permission for was shooting in a specified area, the Citadel (and Imperial Palace) -- coincidentally, modeled after Beijing's Forbidden City. Still waiting to hear about that paperwork although I should get approval soon.



Since my last news, I've broken the seal and started shooting several sites around the city that have caught my attention. One is a few intriguing and highly spiritual spots where shrines have been nestled into what seem to be huge banyan trees. I don't know what I'll do with the footage yet but I am starting to collect a series of images where man-made and "natural" things come together in funky ways. These shots will be part of the largely tripod-based "landscape" footage of Hue.

Then I have reconnected with an acquaintance from my former long stay in VN, a cousin's cousin about my age. She's a Hue native and has great contacts. She introduced me to a friend of hers who used to write poetry but has now stopped since she got married and her husband objected to such activity. She owns a gallery and has important artist and poet connections. She's been gracious enough to introduce me to a few. So, the plan is to make a video about the dialogue among (about 5) select contemporary Hue poets and artists and myself (and later on, my own poetry, perhaps).

[So memory and militarization, especially the later, have largely fallen to the wayside in my thinking. Mostly, overtly or even not-so-overtly political commentary will be problematic. Some authorities will review my footage before I leave. Also, I want to potentially screen for a VN audience here in my future trips back. So, I have to avoid political statements. But hopefully I can still dig deeper past the veneer that Hue is VN's capital of culture, art, and poetry. Or exploit it.]

The problem is, I don't know how to think about the way I'd like to shoot the people. Interviews will be boring. I was thinking of having people take me to the spots around Hue that inspire them and talk about those places. Or, of having two of the poets ride with me on a lil boat down the Perfume River while they give commentary on various aspects of the land, culture, and poetry here. Also, I hope to get some artists at work in their studios. I think I'll do handheld shots for most of the footage with people but then I can't yet envision how that will fit in with the tripod shots of landscapes that so far have appealed to me. Also, I'm not sure how to make shooting these artists/poets interesting. They seem to think I should direct their interactions / get-togethers but I am not that comfortable with heavy-handed prompting... But I don't see how else they would have imperative to bring up these things which are so woven into the fabric of their everyday lives.

Lots to decide!