Going Back
Have you ever been to a place (vacation destination, location for missions, etc) that you haven’t been too in a while where upon arrival it’s all familiar but either the purpose or situation dictates a totally different experience? If so, then I know how you feel! For me, going back to Guatemala to capture footage for our second film was so different than that of Reparando! The places were the same and even many faces were familiar but the experience was definitely unique.
From a pure production stand point, filming Becoming Fools was different than Reparando for many reasons. Probably the most obvious was for Reparando we were telling a story that already happened, whereas Becoming Fools was a film we captured as a story was unfolding right before us. So if trying to plan production days and events wasn’t hard enough in a foreign country for a story that we could sort of dictate, it was even more difficult to plan for a story we could not foresee happening.
However from a personal standpoint having the opportunity to film another story in Guatemala allowed me to connect more to the people that were in front of the lens. Not to say during production of Reparando we didn’t have those opportunities but it being my first time in a Latin American country, knowing only “hola” and “adios” (obviously my two years of Spanish in high school 20 years ago didn’t stick) and filming with a crew I had never worked with it goes without saying that I was a little preoccupied with other things to be developing relationships.
I also think that now that I have a 4 year old daughter and a 1 year old son that I can relate with the production, being that of us filming kids living on the streets. This had a huge impact on me!
Seeing the Heart First Hand
One occurrence I remember vividly was the night we went to observe kids selling goods on the streets. Tyler, Matt, Josue, Ericha and myself went to local fast food establishments where kids typically sell. At one establishment we ran into a 9 year old girl named Marta. Her mannerisms, smile and attitude were so infectious that it was impossible to not pay attention to her every move and word (even though it was in an unfamiliar language). I couldn’t help thinking of my own daughter and how I would feel if she had to be on the streets late at night selling goods, it was heartbreaking. At the same time, she amazed me how smart and mature she was for her age. Marta definitely captured my heart. I couldn’t help buying a few hair clips that she was selling for my own daughter.
The 16 days I was there were very adventurous! I could talk about the zip lining near Lake Antìtlan, shooting while walking through some of the most dangerous streets in Guatemala City (with armed guards of course!), climbing and shooting on top of an active volcano and many more exciting moments such as those. However, I believe what we do changes peoples hearts. I like to make sure we focus on that aspect because as much as we impact the hearts of others, as a team, our hearts are impacted as well.
