Okay, you’d have to agree with me here, filming foreign cultures can be quite challenging, especially when you don’t know your head or tail about it. It becomes more difficult when the script you are given is in a foreign language, and even more so when the production team has to translate every word and the subtle movements that go with it for the actors speaking to each other in their own languages! Phew!
Recently, this is what he had to deal with while filming ‘Eritrea’s Lost Guy’. We had to translate the cultural messages into a cinematic language.
We’re wrapping up production as I write this, but we can already see that this wedding video is unlike anything we’ve done before. It is a recreation of the actual event for others in the community to appreciate.
If I’m not mistaken, this one doesn’t really follow any genre, but delves into the way Eritrean culture works: unique. Sometimes it would be like watching a play, then at other times it would be like a silent movie interspersed with soapbox monologues, scenarios and cultural discourses.
The producer, Ahmedin, wanted us to capture a fact that is not entirely uncommon in many Westernized refugee cultures. This video was about a happy wedding ceremony with a main focus on the character of Omer who has a diverse and tragic backstory.
His not-so-pleasant upbringing contrasts with that of a typical ‘close-knit’ Eritrean family and he ends up feeling isolated when the wedding ceremony begins. He wants to convey his feelings and talk to some of his closest relatives, but cultural ideologies seem to block his way. The video is all about acceptance and understanding.
However, none of the crew members could speak the highly complex language and we even had a hard time understanding the cultural nuisances. So, we had to shoot the entire video chronologically. We shot it in our green screen studio as a stage play.
With a complex and crowded wedding shoot featuring actors and elderly Eritreans who couldn’t remember lines or speak English, babies who needed diaper changes in the middle of getting ready, and a mix of other things, it was a really challenging shoot.
We had to get all the shots approved by the producer before we could proceed. The real challenge was moving the whole family in and out of shots every time we shot chronologically. What added to the chaos was the fact that we were going to be filming with an imaginary audience (to be added later in the edit). It got even more chaotic when family members kept disappearing without warning!
There was a monologue from Grandma that reinstated our belief in the fact that with the right emotions, words fall apart in any shot.
In no way can we say that the film is perfect, even the editing was painstakingly done and the acting was by no means professional; but the emotions that abound throughout the film will make it worth watching. The issue can feel so close to your hearts and we can only hope that we have helped you in some way to bring it to light.