The Dangers of Story Overload

Let me start by saying that I believe in the power of a good story...to transcend culture, to spark imagination, to create connections, to engage strangers, to empower the voiceless, to provoke change, to inspire ideas, to nurture understanding, and on and on. But as I witness the proliferation and dominance of story - corporations, politicians, activists, evangelists all out there busking - I'm becoming concerned about the impact on our real lives.

Stories are simple. Stories are constructs that take complex and often messy realities and craft them into a narrative with a beginning middle and end. Just the act of choosing a beginning is artificial. Our daily lives are not linear, orderly progressions. An encounter that holds the promise of future romance or a business partnership can fizzle into nothing at all. Unless you create a life together or launch a product or make a film or a baby or whatever - that storyline just ends. We all have countless dead-ends in our lives. The same is true for history and biology. My concern is that if we constantly see everything in the form of a story, we may lose our capacity to confront - and even embrace - the very real complexities of life, love, politics, business, and nature.

But it's not only the simplification, it's also heightened drama that is a concern. In a recent Wall Street Journal Article about the "stars" of the award-winning documentary STARTUP.COM, both entrepreneurs talk about the difference between their actual experience and the dramatized version that was depicted on screen. One of them eloquently explains:

"They had to sell the story, and they had to pick the pieces that made everything larger than life. And that's part of the brilliance in the work that they did. It's not part of the reflection of reality - it's the reflection of the artistic license to tell a story - an exciting story." - Tom Herman

I'm starting to better understand why innovator and entrepreneur Iqbal Quadir resisted becoming a "character" in the documentary film I wanted to make about him...we were calling it 'Startup.com with a global twist.'

I can give another example. My documentary CATCHING OUT features several contemporary hobos who dissent against mainstream American consumer culture by traveling for free on freight trains. The film has received criticism for not being more dramatic - no encounters with railroad police, not enough actual trainhopping footage. Sure, it's far from a perfect film, but even with hindsight I would not amp up the action. True, you can get a big adrenaline kick when you are scrambling around a train yard, but more often riding the rails is about endlessly waiting and watching. You go nowhere fast. It's boring stuff that involves a lot of napping, reading books, and philosophizing with fellow travelers. The exhilarating part of hopping a train is the existential journey of abandoning social convention and cultural expectation - a more complex and nuanced experience than encountering a bull or a catching a train on the fly.

Or consider my more recent filmmaking adventure: when I went to Kenya to document the making of the feature film TOGETHERNESS SUPREME, I thought I would capture a straightforward story about the trials and tribulations of producing a film in a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi with a local cast and a crew of local youth trainees. But as I started shooting, that story felt shallow, contrived. A more complex and more compelling story presented itself about the interplay between the fictional narrative of the film and the real lives of the cast and crew. There's no question that the more complex story would have been harder to tell and part of the reason that I recently pronounced the project a "Fail" is because I couldn't figure out how to bring it to fruition. But I'd rather not make a film at all then craft a contrived story.

Of course, I want passionate and talented storytellers to continue to create stories that offer us the chance to dream and imagine and visit worlds we would otherwise never know. I particularly want storytellers from distant and diverse places to challenge our standard western narratives. But I also want to encourage the storytellers of our time to experiment with deconstructing stories, breaking them down, pulling them apart, and exposing their simplicity and artifice.

One last clip!

Over the past few days I've shared a few video clips that offer a glimpse into the talent and spirit of the young Kenyans who worked as cast / crew on TOGETHERNESS SUPREME and will appear in PRODUCING PAMOJA. I posted one last clip of behind-the-scenes crowd control below...

I still need to edit clips of Geoffrey, the actor who plays the role of Otieno, and Owino, the aspiring politician who plays the role of a political organizer in the film. I also want to share colorful clips of a local musician and a group of dancers, but I'm out of time for editing, and I need a little technical help with some of the footage!

In other news, I've reapplied to Chicken & Egg Pictures for funding that would allow me to spend some crucial time with my editor - to craft a real fundraising sample and create a rough outline of footage / scenes for the film. I'm also actively exploring the outreach strategy for the film and during my upcoming trip to Holland I will meet with the amazing organization Butterfly Works to discuss!

Introducing Chemaiah

Wrapping up the introductions (for now) with Chemaiah. (Please see this post for background)

In this clip, the star of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME is feeling down after shooting a scene where an anti-Kikuyu mob burns down the home of his character, Kamau. The scene reminds Chemaiah of the actual events that took place in Kibera when his grandmother was threatened and forced to flee her home permanently. We also have an interview (in Kikuyu) with his aging grandmother.

Introducing Chris

As I explained in my previous post, I'm posting a series of short video clips to introduce several of the young Kenyans who will appear in PRODUCING PAMOJA.

Today I'm introducing Chris, who plays the role of Masher in TOGETHERNESS SUPREME. Masher is a Luo thug who hates Kikuyus and leads a mob to burn the house of the main character, Kamau, at the end of the film. In this clip, Chris talks about how he is similar to the character he plays, and he shares a story about an event that changed his life. We also have footage of him reenacting the event near his childhood home.

Introducing Faith

Continuing the series of video clips that I announced here...meet Faith!

Working as a trainee in the DIT department, Faith impressed everyone with her determination and dedication. She is a shining example of what can be achieved by the youth of Kibera when opportunity is offered. In this clip, she describes how a mob scene in the movie feels very real to her and reminds her of her own experience during the post-election violence.

Introducing Jahill

As I explained my last post here's the next video, introducing Jahill!

A sound trainee during production of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME, Jahill is also a DJ on the community radio station Pamoja FM and an aspiring musician. In this clip he takes us on a journey through the winding, narrow passageways of Kibera while he shares his thoughts on the film and life in Kibera.

Introducing....

Over the next week, in a series of short video clips, I'm going to introduce several of the young Kenyans who will appear in PRODUCING PAMOJA. The clips also offer a glimpse into production of the feature film TOGETHERNESS SUPREME which was filmed entirely in Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa, located on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. (Click here to visit TOGETHERNESS SUPREME blog)

“Pamoja” means "together" in Swahili, and in PRODUCING PAMOJA, we follow local youth – from different ethnic backgrounds – as they work together to produce the film and give Kenya a brighter future.

Please watch these clips with the understanding that they are intended as character sketches and should not be viewed as trailers for the film. I have very limited editing skills so these clips reflect what is easiest for me to cut together and not necessarily the best material in terms of content. They also do not represent what the completed film will look like, and I don't even have clips of everyone who will appear in the film!

First up is Martha who is the lead actress in TOGETHERNESS SUPREME (and recently nominated for an African Academy Award). She plays a volunteer nurse and the love interest of both the film's main character, Kamau, and his friend, Otieno. Martha is very dedicated to community empowerment, and her quiet passion is apparent in this clip. We also have footage of her rehearsing a poetry performance with a community theater group.

Somehow, Someway

I made a promise to myself that I would complete PRODUCING PAMOJA somehow, someway. The path forward is still not clear to me but I'm very gingerly, cautiously returning my attention to the project. I say gingerly and cautiously because the obstacles seem so huge that I can't face the challenge head on. Instead, I'm tiptoeing around and hoping to sneak up on it.

First, I've hammered out a rough outline of the film and figured out how I want to approach the story stylistically. Of course it's subject to change, but at the moment I envision a series of vignettes each focused on a youth trainee who worked as either cast or crew on the production of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME. I imagine each vignette as a separate chapter, strung together like beads on a necklace. Together they will tell a story about the blur between fact and fiction: how the fiction of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME reflects the real lives of youth in Kenya aspiring to a brighter future.

This graphic (designed by Julie Betters) is a good illustration:


I've also been thinking about an outreach strategy for the completed film and how to take audiences from passively watching to actively engaging. Suddenly it struck me: the number one message echoed by every one of the youth trainees in my footage is that what they lack is opportunity -- not talent -- but the resources to exercise their talent. And I think I've come up with a way to deliver opportunity to the youth of Kibera. Strangely, it's possible that the outreach project is my true calling. Certainly something I could happily devote the rest of my life to. When I think about it, I feel the fluttering of butterfly wings...

But, like the film itself, I'm easily overwhelmed by the challenge and I'm trying to figure out how to transcend Mistake #1 on this intriguing list of common blunders:

8 Mistakes that Filmmakers Make

2010

Since we have crossed the threshold of a brand new year, I thought it would be an appropriate time for me to write.

For me, 2009 was not easy to characterize. It held so much promise early on when I embarked on my adventure in Kibera. But I encountered some unexpected obstacles during production and then the project seemed to lose it's momentum and awkwardly stall. I'm deeply indebted to my family, friends, and other angels for providing early support to get me to Kenya, and I want to provide more than a karmic return for this outpouring of generosity. I also feel a strong sense of responsibility to the cast and crew of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME who shared their stories with me. I want to make sure their voices are heard. So, I'm determined that 2010 will see the fruition of PRODUCING PAMOJA. Somehow, someway.

I'm also determined to launch a documentary project called MOBILIZING THE MASSES. Not yet sure what form it will take but I want to share stories about the amazing mobile innovations springing up at the grassroots level around the developing world. And meanwhile, I've been thrilled to transition from being a big fan of Ushahidi to playing a (very minor but super rewarding) role on the team.

2009 was also consumed by renovations on our house (a couple photos posted below). We lived at times without exterior walls, without a roof, without heat as winter descended and managed five months without a faucet or a drain in the kitchen! We made significant progress and learned many lessons along the way. Dare I hope to finish the work in 2010???

Fingers firmly crossed.

Halfway There

I'm at Heathrow airport in the UK, halfway to Nairobi. It has been such a whirlwind getting to this point - just one week ago I decided to throw caution to the wind and embrace this amazing opportunity. A little over two weeks ago, I had never even heard of the Kibera Kids short film or the Hot Sun Foundation, and certainly I had not heard about TOGETHERNESS SUPREME, the feature film I will be documenting.

So why am I doing it? Since I first embraced the medium of documentary film, my mission was to tell stories that are otherwise not shared. Particularly, I wanted to share stories that -- in stark contrast to mainstream media depictions of famine, disease, ethnic war, poverty and endangered wildlife -- showed the creativity, ingenuity, generosity, resourcefulness and proud spirit of the Africans I had encountered during my time on the continent. But I felt an awkwardness about reaping their stories for Western consumption and wanted to find a way to nurture indigenous voices as well. I imagined a hybrid production of a feature film and a documentary shot simultaneously. And somehow, almost two decades later, this vision has become manifest. I hope that this documentary will amplify the voices of the kids and youth of Kibera and help to bring their stories to audiences around the world.

Also, I'm grateful for Shravan Vidyarthi a talented Kenyan filmmaker who is generously helping me to capture this story. We start shooting Monday.

Finally, in addition to being halfway to Nairobi, I'm also halfway toward reaching my fundraising goal of $2K matching funds. These funds are crucial for me to be able to continue working with Shravan, purchase additional tape stock, and cut the footage into a trailer. Please, consider contributing using the link in the previous post.

AND HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED SO FAR!!!!