|
Anecdotes
Artist of Resistance was shot on location in the mountains of El Salvador.
This meant Luis Bohorquez and I had to backpack with an Arri BL, lenses, accessories, tripod, and sound equipment into the jungle.
The first day we woke up at sunrise in our cabin to the sound of roosters and exotic birds. Blurry eyed and travel worn, we cleaned our equipment, loaded film, packed our backpacks and took off in a 4 wheel drive truck. After traveling 30 miles on narrow dirt roads riddled with rocks and rivers, we hiked another 6 miles with 40 pound packs into the jungle on slippery red-mud paths. Upon finally reaching the excavation site a hush enveloped the jungle. All we could hear was the sound of tools scraping dirt and the whisper of The Argentine Anthropology Forensic Team. Relatives of the victims stood by watching: men, women and children. How could we proceed? How could we bring out our huge camera and impose upon this sacred moment? Luis shot the ants. Gradually we became part of this reverent scene. We had been told that the rains would come in the early afternoon, so after lunch we packed up discretely and began our hike back. On our way we met children hiking home from school, women carrying water in urns on their heads, men with machetes returning from the field, two boys carrying baby birds they had just rescued. We were overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility. How could we tell this story, that has been entrusted to us, with enough compassion and power to make a difference? |
||
