Worthy Docs

From dawn to dusk - photos above from the shoot in Kibera yesterday.

Actually, my day started way before dawn as we needed to leave for the shoot at 5:30am. When we arrived on location the first stop was the caterer for breakfast and a sweet cup of chai tea. As the crew set up for the first scene, I introduced myself to Geofrey, one of the lead actors who plays the part of Otieno.

Talking with Geofrey reaffirmed all of my reasons for being here. He shared his personal story and how he relates to the character he plays: they both had absent mothers, irresponsible fathers, and they both want a better life. Otieno uses politics while Geofrey feels that acting is his path. He also described the violence that he personally witnessed during the post election rioting here and he voiced his anger at the political leaders of Kenya who he blames for inciting tribal tension. Geofrey (and the rest of the cast and crew working on TOGETHERNESS SUPREME) feels that Kenyan youth can overcome tribal divisions and change their country in the future. In fact, he says that is why he is doing this film.

I waited out the heat of the day -- it's unusually hot here for this time of year -- talking politics with several members of the cast and crew while chasing the shifting shade under a lonely tree. My cameraman, Shravan, arrived in the late afternoon. I'm so grateful that Shravan is lending his talents to the documentary. He showed me that he has a trained eye and a solid sense of story. I thought we made a great team, and I'm looking forward to working with him over the next few weeks.

After shooting an on-camera interview with Geofrey (Otieno) we were setting up for another shot when we were interrupted by a piercing squeal. Turns out the pigs for the next scene had just arrived in the back of a pickup. This is Africa, so there's no such thing as an animal trainer on set and these pigs were protesting loudly. Now I understand the phrase "scream like a pig." But once they found their way to the fresh heap of food scraps set out for them, they were grunting happily and twitching their curly pink tails.

We ended our day documenting the scene where Otieno cooks a special meal for his younger brother Peter over a charcoal stove (see the photos above). As the sun dipped toward the horizon, and the crew worked to set lights, it felt like a dream to be shooting on a set in the middle of Kibera at magic hour...