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| Mayan Women and NWI Delegation members at meeting, opening ceremony. |
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| Videographer films meeting of Mayan Women and NWI Delegation. |
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| Jody Willams speaks with a representative of Mayan Women. |
Rachel and Adele are back from filming in Guatemala. They traveled with the Nobel Women’s Initiative Delegation to learn about the issues women in Guatemala are facing, and had the opportunity to interview Nobel Laureate Jody Williams. They then traveled to eastern Guatemala to meet with the Mayan Q’eqchi’ women, and others involved in the resistance against mining. There were some unexpected surprises, and some changes to production–we can plan all we want for the production phase of a project, but until we are actually filming, we never truly know what will happen and what we will come home with. Now, the story is fuller and more connected than we had realized.There is a strong and united group of Mayan Q'eqchi' people involved in the resistance against mining, and Rachel and Adele had full access to their stories.
We
still have some remaining production to complete in Canada, which
includes interviews with lawyers and the mining company. At the same
time we are now working on post-production, which includes editing
the storyboard, reviewing the film and footage, writing a narrative,
and editing a trailer. Adele is currently working on
converting/labeling/sorting the video footage and processing the
photography. Rachel is researching archival mining and genocide
footage and photographs. Together we will be writing letters,
drafting proposals for submission, fact checking, and looking for
additional post-production funds.
What
you may be surprised about is that this process is longer than
production, and can be longer than pre-production. This is where we
get into the details of weaving a story together – where we try to
make the initial vision a reality. I point this out because as anyone
who has been through a long-term project knows, once you wade into
the details of a project you have to be conscious of forgetting the
mission – becoming so detail focused that you forget (or lose the
passion) for what made you want to tell the story in the first place.
Together,
we will strive to give the Mayan Q’eqchi’ people a platform to
show their strength, and tell their story. As a team, we ask that you
continue to help us spread the word about this film and the important
issues it will address.
Thank-you
for your continued support.
Lee
K. Toepfer
