Doing It!

Posted December 14, 2010 | by irene | in Walking | no responses

Just before I left to film my first documentary on location in Spain, a good friend sent me a postcard that had a picture of Pablo Picasso dressed in a black and white striped shirt. The the caption read, “If you know exactly what it is you are going to do, what is the point in doing it.” In that moment, I had no idea what I was going to do.

A few years ago, after I was suddenly downsized from my career in the telecom industry, I walked 780 kilometers on a medieval pilgrimage route in Spain known as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Famous for its legendary power to transform, modern day pilgrims join the path arriving from all over the world with various religious and cultural backgrounds, often in search of spiritual enlightenment. When I returned from this life-altering experience, I shared anecdotal tales about the pilgrims I met and experiences I had along the way and found out that people were inspired. The Camino became the story platform for my artistic creativity and soon after, I wrote my first book; My Camino. Now a writer, author, storyteller and a keynote speaker, I went on to perform a one-woman show at the Drake Hotel and the London Fringe Festival. All of this happened because I went for a long walk.

One day unexpectedly, I received a call from a woman who read my book. She had terminal cancer and asked if I would walk the Camino as her guide as she was afraid to walk the path alone. Because of my personal experience on the Camino, I contemplated the idea of filming a documentary based on this woman’s dying request to walk and face her fears. Even though I had no film experience, I felt there was a story that needed to be told. Based on my experiences on the Camino,  I completely trusted it would provide me with the people, insight, intrigue, conflict, adventure, mysticism and whatever else I needed to share this story.

Out of the blue, through a contact made at a LIFT workshop, I was referred to a Russian cameraman, Pasha Patriki. He was available, willing to carry all of his equipment on his back, and had agreed to film while he walked the entire way. Mony Dojeiji, a Lebanese Canadian former business exec in the software industry, offered to join the group as a caregiver to the woman with cancer. A master pilgrim, she resigned from a lucrative position to walk the Camino in 2002, and then continued on a 5000-kilometer walk for peace, from Rome to Jerusalem. Since she spoke fluent Spanish, she agreed to conduct interviews with experts, pilgrims and locals along the way. Within a matter of weeks it was all set. I was a Director, filming my first documentary. I was nervous and yet I was excited about the possibilities.

I decided to call on my life experiences to guide me. I used to row competitively on a Masters crew at the Argonaut Rowing Club. Our coach Paul Westbury used to say, “The trouble with rowers, is they slow the boat down.” He went on to tell us that racing sculls are engineered to go fast. As soon as one rower in the crew thinks that they alone can make it go faster, it almost always has a direct impact on slowing the boat down. He insisted we learn to align with the entire crew and be one with the boat.

I approached this documentary from the same perspective.  I trusted that if I remained open to the creative process, and stayed out of the way of the forward momentum, that the Camino would deliver the story that needed to be told. My approach was to define the over-riding, themes, styles, history and significant known events to review with Pasha.  The first thing I did was to create a conceptual checklist. By defining some of the high level concepts for consideration, I created a direction for the story to unfold. Since the route is mapped out by yellow arrows painted along the way I wanted to include this symbol as well as other Camino iconography. I planned to capture the architecture, shells, stones, and animals, as  well as anything along the way to do with themes such as: music, history/or passage of time, women, culture, language, religion, spirituality, emotion and ritual. I knew that I couldn’t control what the Camino would deliver and I wouldn’t be able to stay with Pasha all the time. I gave Pasha creative license suggesting that we trust whatever the Camino delivers. The checklist provided him with a guide without telling him exactly what to film. It was a huge risk, but I believed strongly in my vision.

Unfortunately, the woman with cancer had to cancel a couple of weeks before we left and my main story idea for the documentary was gone. Almost immediately, I had interest from five different women who had heard my story and now wanted to walk with me. I decided to continue by shifting gears creatively.  Through my research and personal experience, I had discovered there was something lacking spiritually, emotionally, and physically from the apparently secure and comfortable lives of modern North American women. Now I wanted to explore what compelled these and other women to voluntarily choose to suffer both the joys and anguish of walking hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometers on a medieval pilgrimage route in search of something more?

Before leaving,  I conducted interviews with the neophyte pilgrims to capture their personal background, characteristics, intentions for walking, and fears. Once in Spain, we decided to start each day filming their daily diary. This way we could track their personal inner journey through to transformation.

As the Leader of the group, I adopted a natural hands-off approach to managing both the creative process and this diverse group of women.  I considered myself more of a guide, by giving them the freedom to choose their own path, this allowed the Camino to deliver what each pilgrim needed. I found the dual responsibility of shepherding the pilgrim’s and directing the documentary, exhausting. I couldn’t sleep at night, often staying up late tracking impressions, story structure and making travel plans for the next day. I knew that I couldn’t control what happened on the journey, but I was committed to the integrity of capturing the truth. We shot 35 hours of footage over 12 days capturing rarely seen footage of the pilgrim’s mass in Santiago; interviews with priests and monks, opinionated Camino experts and multinational pilgrims provides controversial insight to allure of the Camino.

Calling in some editing favours, we put together a five-minute sampler to show to prospective financers, distributors and broadcasters, along with a one-sheet. After 12 days of walking across the north of Spain with only two days of rain, we had filmed something that was more of soft piece depicting a complex feminine inner journey. The footage was breathtaking and the stories were moving. We follow the pilgrims on the Camino at various stages as they talk directly to the camera in daily diaries and in unguarded, highly emotional moments. We are privy to the struggles and epiphanies of the women who walk. The feedback was the same everywhere from the National Film Board to private television broadcasters, they felt it didn’t have the conflict required for a good POV documentary and wasn’t multicultural enough to represent the Canadian marketplace. There were no fights, no wars, no political conflict and no bloodshed. No one got eaten by a bear. No one broke a heel. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to use the film, but didn’t give up on trusting its importance. Because I am a keynote speaker, I had the chance to show the sampler to my audiences and get direct feedback. The response was overwhelming. Women saw this as a story of empowerment and choice. Many offered to do organize small group screenings in their home, church basements, women’s associations and more. They asked to buy the DVD sampler from me. There was a strong case to move ahead with the telling of their story. I decided the feature length documentary would be released at a grass roots level and I would use the Internet to get the word out there. I didn’t concern myself with getting a broadcaster.. The doc is now going through the editing process and it will be authored to encourage a discussion group following the screenings.

Even though the film didn’t turn out the way I expected, I couldn’t have imagined it turning out any other way. I’m glad I didn’t know what I was doing.

To order a copy or download Las Peregrinas go to http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Damazontv&field-keywords=las+peregrinas&x=9&y=15

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