When It Rains, It Pours

I know I’ve only just written, and I’m sorry to take over your RSS feeds, but I humbly and last-minutely seek your advice… I’ll do my best to keep it concise this time.

Just when I thought things were beginning to wrap up, my subjects started dropping bombshells, Sumit in particular. Over the course of several days, I’ve been filming him repeatedly cheating on the weeklong exam they’ve been taking. (Many of the boys have cheated to some extent, but Sumit has been the only one who’s been open to me filming it.) Then, on Tuesday morning, he got into a fist fight with an older student over an allegedly stolen bag. I missed the fight—the whole thing went down in a split second—but he was unbelievably kind in letting me film his meeting with the principal. I’ve got all the footage I’d ever need if I wanted to paint him as your stereotypical teenage rebel, but here’s the problem: he’s so much more than that. I can see through the thick walls he’s built around himself; we’ve shared tender moments off camera, and I sometimes find him sitting in rooms by himself, staring out of windows and thinking. A two-dimensional portrayal would be an incredible disservice to him. Every time I try to film any indication of these inner workings, though, he’s quick to leave the frame and withdraws from me further, bumping up his “tough guy” image another notch. To echo Elisa’s thoughts, how much can you really ask someone to show a side of himself he wants to keep hidden?

My mantra this summer has been to let things play out on their own, to resist controlling and interfering, but time is running out. With Hindu holiday season is in full swing, I only have six days left to shoot, barring strikes and bus accidents (or another 6 AM solar eclipse… I still can’t believe the government declared a full-day public holiday for that). My search for a conclusion continues, and using the final scene to add something unexpected to the audience’s knowledge of his character could be very productive. I’ve got my big translation sesh with the interpreter tomorrow, which I hope will bear some fruit, and there’s always the hope that subtle moments will reveal themselves in the coming months. Blind hope in exiting footage aside, is there anything I can do in the coming days to bring out another side to Sumit? I’m afraid I already know the answer to this (and not an answer I like), but I’m still hoping your combined wisdom can provide me with some much-needed insight.

Calling for Back Up!

After a 40-min convo with an American prof with extensive research experience in VN, I am now sufficiently worried that my miniDVs might not make their way out of the country. He warned me about the hassles of Vietnamese censorship with the example that a previous collection of his audiotapes (10 hrs of recorded interviews) was totally rejected because a segment of his material included farmers going off on rants abt 'f'ing Americans' in the ol' war days and their effects on cropping methods. Anything tiptoe-ing towards the realm of the political would trigger alarm. He advised that I should make digital file copies of all my footage.

Basically I think he's right. When I leave VN, airport security/immigration will require that I have a certificate of permission fr a local official in order for me to depart with the tapes. I could cross my fingers and hope no one notices the tapes during the scanning. Or I could send off my tapes to be reviewed by the local Foreign Affairs Office to get the right paperwork, risking their disapproval if they deem anything 'sensitive.' I don't think I have anything that would raise eyebrows but who knows. My researcher contact thinks, "better safe than sorry." That means I should make backups but I'm not sure how to proceed. All I have is my camera pack and my MacBook (with no external hard drive, no blank DVDs, etc). I hear that I can take my tapes to a place that does wedding videos and just pay to have them convert the material to digital files and then I can mix the discs in with random entertainment CDs and DVDs, which no one is likely to notice. Will that work? If I somehow lose my original tapes, will I be able to work with the digital files upon return? How does that affect the image/sound quality? I'm basically clueless abt this technical talk.

The other option is to send the tapes back early with my bf, who leaves town in two days. Because he is a 'backpacking' Westerner the airport officials will probably pay less attention. The only problem with that is that I am not done recording (abt 5 more hours to go) and would like to have the footage to review in order to draft my script for the next week and a half left of work here. I'm not sure this is the best option.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation; if anyone has suggestions/clarifications, I'd appreciate it. Also, how come no one else seems to have encountered this bureaucratic mess? Surely I'm not the only one shooting under the watchful eye of a touchy political regime?

A Successful Failure

Given that I was supposed to be arriving at my hostel in Venice around now, this post seems like slightly bitter irony since I had planned not to check email for the remainder of the week. But no, I arrived at the Paris-Orly airport this evening only to be informed that the airline myair.com for all effective purposes, no longer existed (this from a representative of alyzia, as myair has no representative, or counter for that matter) No flights had arrived from Venice to Paris since last Wednesday.

I had decided to leave the camera behind, given a certain ambiguity about my accommodation at "Bangkok House" ( a mixed dorm, I think--They never answered my emails and from our phone conversation, seemed to speak minimal English-- I was worried for Baby's safety.). I was nonetheless stoked to focus my efforts on sound, bringing along my entire bag of goodies. I planned to be wearing headphones throughout my sojourn.

And so I'm online again, debating whether to take this as a sign to stay in Paris, consigning myself to the dungeon of the Mitterand bibliotheque (the "pine trees" in the inaccessible garden are actually chained) or as an opportunity to try yet again another budget airline and different accommodation for a visit in mid-August.

And should I bring Baby along this time round?

GAIN?

Quick question--what is the status on gain? If I am shooting in HD and am in low light and there is nothing I can do to raise it, will 3db or 6db of gain ruin the picture? I've experimented with it and can tell it is a bit grainier but I don't think it ruins it, but if it is on a big screen will it look awful? Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks! I will post more soon, everything is going well, just semi-concerned about the low light thing since I've been shooting some concerts in bars, etc.

Thanks!

Reflections on "Race" and Returning Home

First of all, let me apologize for this lengthy diatribe, but I have a bit more time on my hands now.

Just returned (again) to Cambridge, to the news of the arrest of Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. If you haven’t heard yet, he was arrested in his own home by police who were responding to a 911 call of a break-in. After Gates showed ID proving that he lived there the Cambridge City police arrested him for disorderly conduct and said that he was shouting and resisting them. This story has caused people and the media to re-question the injunction shortly after Obama’s election of the ushering in of a new “post-racial” era, and rightfully so.
At the end of Obama’s press conference a few nights ago he was asked what he thought of this arrest, and stated that the Cambridge police “acted stupidly,” citing the long history in our country of the disproportionate arrests of Blacks and Latinos. The dialogue on blogs, radio, TV, etc has proliferated as people take sides with Skip Gates or the police (who were doing their job??!!).

No need for me to explain my own opinion on this matter as you all know me well enough to guess… but it does raise interesting questions that actually relate to the developments of my project(s) over the last 3 weeks.

“Race” in Kerala
My last night in Kerala, was a stark reminder of the “taking sides-ness” of human nature. Jamie, the Catholic foreman of the fishermen we had been filming with (after a bit too much rum) started lashing out against his Muslim co-fishermen; people who, mind you, he is normally friendly with, works with everyday, and was even holding hands with on the way to the bar. As soon as the Muslim members of his fishing team were out of earshot, he started telling Ben and I that they were bad people, that they kill people, and “all they want is money, money, money.” Needless to say we were a bit surprised by his vehemence, and a bit disappointed that our last night, meant to be a farewell, had turned into a match of hurling insults (primarily one way; from Jamie towards the Muslims). Of course none of this was recorded and so now I struggle with how to address this religious tension in my film. The concept of what we call “race” is intricately bound up with ethnic, religious, and caste issues in Kerala; a complex web that I have yet to even begin to understand.

“Race” in Flint
While in MI over the past two weeks, I spoke to friends and family about the Genesee Land Bank, and heard a variety of responses to it. The Genesee County Land Bank, which is a proposal to shrink the city of Flint and raze several wards. Flint is in the process of electing a new Mayor and the Land Bank issue is hotly debated. However, most people I’ve spoken to about this have said that nothing is happening on the ground and its all just talk at the moment. I am really interested in following this story, but I would prefer to find a good subject “on the ground” to follow and film with over the next several years as things develop there. So far, I’ve found many people to talk to about this, but no one who actually lives in the wards likely to be scheduled for demolition. Not sure how to pursue this at this point?
A good friend of mine who grew up in Flint, but left decades ago said that his childhood friends had quite racist comments to the proposal of razing parts of town. Saying things like: “Good riddens” and “who needs those neighborhoods.” My friend found this shocking and racially motivated but also recalled a violent and troublesome childhood in racially segregated wards.

One thing traveling is always good for is a little perspective. Although I find it (probably too) easy to get worked up over racist or sexist comments/treatment abroad, returning to the States has been a bit of a wake-up call in the sense that what we consider ourselves to be is oftentimes a thin patina for more deeply rooted prejudices. If Skip Gates can get arrested in his own home in one of the countries “most liberal” towns, what’s happening in Flint needs attention as its unemployment rates nears 30% and new politicians vie for controlled change, and what happens in Kerala needs to be balanced by a little well-informed perspective as well.

Growing Pains

While Sarah’s been chasing childhood across Southeast Asia, I’ve been chasing children in the same subcontinent. After a week-long translation fest, I’m beginning to see how all these puzzle pieces will fit together to make a film, which now resembles more of a sandwich than a braid. The first half of the film will focus on the kindergarten worlds of Sarita, Rabinda, and Neha (the former two pictured above); the second half will center on two teenaged friends, Shyam and Sumit. When I started to follow these three little girls, I expected a real life Alice in Wonderland, but I’ve found that beneath their angelic smiles, these girls can be just as cruel as they are kind; even the dynamics of nap time can be surprisingly complex. My goal is to flesh out the friend-triangle, capturing them working and playing with one another, against one another, and under the guidance of a guru. Though there may be one or two scenes that include a teacher (a meditation lesson and an outdoor game resembling “duck duck goose”), this section had been shot primarily Peanuts-style—from the perspective of the five-year olds with the teacher “waaa-waaa-waaa”ing somewhere overhead.

Like Adam, there are so many times, especially during personal interactions, that I wish I had a hidden camera rolling, as so much seems to reveal itself only after the camera’s off. During a recent English lesson, for example, one of the boys asked me the American sign for “S-?-E.” He fingerspelled it over and over, but I insisted that “?” wasn’t part of the Latin alphabet. He whipped out his notebook and wrote something resembling: “S )( E”. Again, I told him I didn’t understand the second letter. He tried again, this time producing a legible “SXE.” I informed the exasperated boy that “sxe” was not an English word. With unfailing tenacity, he slammed his notebook shut and boldly fingerspelled, in front of the entire waiting class, “F-U-C-K”. Well! It had never occurred to me that in the deaf community of suburban Nepal (where arranged marriages are still common and dating is not), these guys are every bit as adolescent as their American counterparts. Though the teenaged boys are more calculated in front of the camera than the first-grade girls, I’ve retrospectively found key scenes rife with allusions to pubescent thoughts of girls, male dominance, and competition. The footage culminates in a 400m race between two close friends, Shyam and Sumit, whose desire to win overwhelms their desire to support each other: Shyam wants to win the heart of a girl by winning the race but doesn’t even cross the finish line, and the more confident, competetive Sumit runs his heart out (literally) to bring home the silver. In my most serendipitious moment (and I’ve been relying heavily on serendipity), linking our two cultures and incorporating an unexpected bit of pop culture, Shyam picks up a Nepali newspaper and calls over a few friends to report the death of Michael Jackson. I, of course, had no clue what they were talking about at the time, and didn’t find out myself for another week!

The golden thread is, very broadly, the “emotionality” of childhood and puberty within this deaf community. The peanut butter gluing together these two halves—the critical tent pole—is the school’s only deaf teacher, Sharmila, who will lead us from an outdoor game in the courtyard (an intentional departure from the first grade classroom) to the fifth grade classroom, after which point, the focus will shift primarily to Shyam. The film will be much more of a conventional documentary than originally planned, but it’s not entirely ethnographic, per se.

I’m open to surprises and expecting the unexpected in my final three weeks. I’m now shooting and reshooting the opening scene (the national anthem, signed on sporadic mornings), spending long days observing the girls, and searching for some way to close the film. (I want to return to the deaf school after the race, but what could possibly serve as a good resolution after the climactic race? And should I stick to the Shyam-Sumit thread or find some way to incorporate the whole school again?)

I’m sending you guys lots of positive energy, and wishing you many serendipitious moments over your finals weeks and days. As always, I’m stoked to read your updates and looking forward to finally matching names with faces in a few short weeks!

chasing childhoods across SE asia

Dearest sensory ethnographers...

Finally, I sit down for a moment. It's been wonderful to follow your posts at various internet cafes across SE asia. I absolutely cannot wait to see the final films, as I'll miss out on seeing the footage and the editing process. But it sounds like you've all been on incredible journeys. Just thought I'd say hello and fill you in on what's been happening in my film world.

I went to Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to complete filming for a film entitled 'Worlds' that myself and my partner have been working on for 3 years... The film involves returning to the places of our childhoods and filming them as they are today. The film is attempting to capture that devastating feeling of falling in love, and never being able to know the past of your lover, forever grasping at blurry images of the stories they tell you. We've been travelling across Southern Africa and SE asia filming landscapes that have changed so much in our lifetimes - two lives which have had utterly different trajectories through history, Jean having grown up as a person of colour under apartheid, and me having grown up the privileged daughter of a diplomat.

We returned to places where I spent much of my childhood, Indonesia in particular. It was haunting to return to the beach resorts which had been simply jungle when I was a child. In the interveneing 20 years, mile-long resorts were built and have become completely derelict. Now, Indonesian tourists still flock there at weekends, but staying in isolated rooms around which other rooms decay. It was incredible to stand on the beach I played on as a child, watching banana boats and jet-skis whizz past, in front of Krakatoa on the horizon. Jakarta, choking even when I lived there, is now an apocalyptic gothem city of mile after mile of skyscrapers and black, oil-slick rivers. We made a friend who worked as a Salsa teacher at the Ritz, and can only hope he's alright after the recent bombings.

Now I'm back in the UK editing another project, about mothers and daughters (of which you saw a hint in one of my pieces) which is completely draining, but going well. In September I will return to Cape Town to edit 'Worlds' with Jean. Editing is always excruciating, those camera jerks, the missed words and funny angles, but all these perceived errors aside, the 'moment' usually finds its way of shining through. Watching hours of footage in the last two weeks, I've realised it's when I stopped trying to control the situation that the most magic moments followed, yet I was focused enough to follow them.

As for 'Blindness', once I'm in South Africa again I'll be applying for money to make it with the national broadcaster - fingers crossed! Good luck to you all in the last stages of filming, and I hope I make it out to the US for the screenings!

lots of love,
Sarah