My friend Ani here in Georgia has a saying she likes: "Good things happen suddenly." That's how the filming of our Pankisi Women's Stories Project http://pankisistories.weebly.com/ felt to me this month - even though it has been more than seven months in the planning and preparing and finding support, all of a sudden it seemed July was here and the film crew arrived and we were off in a whirlwind of filming activity.
It was wonderful and intense and incredibly busy and deeply moving to see and hear the women tell their stories and answer questions about their lives. Pankisi herself was a glorious backdrop showing her many summer faces of sun, gentle breezes, wild thunderstorms with winds and light shows, lush greenness, rich fecundity, and a party dress of wildflowers to celebrate the occasion; and mask the difficult lives about which the women spoke. You will see all this in the film.
The failing infrastructure of Georgia made its appearance too, with several power outages and lost internet connectivity. Several times we thought we would run out of battery back-up for the cameras and microphones, because we had no electricity to recharge them. But each time we squeaked by and finished the day's filming.
The film crew was wonderful and unbelievably professional; skilled at capturing scenes and footage and getting the women to open up almost immediately. Their generosity to the project of donating their time and expertise to make this film for us is still unbelievable to me. A film like the one we are making and the film crew is gifting costs an average of $50,000. So this is huge! Those of you who have been supporting the women and their stories project either emotionally, energetically, or financially, can feel wonderful about what your contributions are supporting and the caliber of film that is being produced to restore a sense of dignity and place to the women of Pankisi.
And I must say the women are still in awe that the filming actually happened, was fun, and that they trusted the film-makers with their lives and secrets. I saw a sense of immediate relief and gratitude in their already beautiful faces after they told their stories, more than a relief that it was over and they did well; but a sense of something important accomplished and pride in their own participation; all of which allowed even more light to shine through. The energy was palpable that something truly important was taking place and they were part of it. Thank you for being a part of it as well; and for accompanying the women in a difficult world as this project progresses.
And then suddenly the intense 5 days of filming was over. The 20 hours of film log was reviewed and notes and observations were made. The film crew boarded their planes for the States. And this next stage of waiting begins. The editing and post-production of the film will take up to 6 months before the film is actually ready for release. Another amazing gift we have received is an offer by a composer at the University of Washington to write a soundtrack for the film using some of the original local music we recorded during filming. We here are all amazed by the way this project has spoken to so many and by the extreme generosity of so many to support the women. Thank you.
We will keep you posted as the film-making progresses.
From the women of Pankisi and from myself we give our thanks to you all!
It was wonderful and intense and incredibly busy and deeply moving to see and hear the women tell their stories and answer questions about their lives. Pankisi herself was a glorious backdrop showing her many summer faces of sun, gentle breezes, wild thunderstorms with winds and light shows, lush greenness, rich fecundity, and a party dress of wildflowers to celebrate the occasion; and mask the difficult lives about which the women spoke. You will see all this in the film.
The failing infrastructure of Georgia made its appearance too, with several power outages and lost internet connectivity. Several times we thought we would run out of battery back-up for the cameras and microphones, because we had no electricity to recharge them. But each time we squeaked by and finished the day's filming.
The film crew was wonderful and unbelievably professional; skilled at capturing scenes and footage and getting the women to open up almost immediately. Their generosity to the project of donating their time and expertise to make this film for us is still unbelievable to me. A film like the one we are making and the film crew is gifting costs an average of $50,000. So this is huge! Those of you who have been supporting the women and their stories project either emotionally, energetically, or financially, can feel wonderful about what your contributions are supporting and the caliber of film that is being produced to restore a sense of dignity and place to the women of Pankisi.
And I must say the women are still in awe that the filming actually happened, was fun, and that they trusted the film-makers with their lives and secrets. I saw a sense of immediate relief and gratitude in their already beautiful faces after they told their stories, more than a relief that it was over and they did well; but a sense of something important accomplished and pride in their own participation; all of which allowed even more light to shine through. The energy was palpable that something truly important was taking place and they were part of it. Thank you for being a part of it as well; and for accompanying the women in a difficult world as this project progresses.
And then suddenly the intense 5 days of filming was over. The 20 hours of film log was reviewed and notes and observations were made. The film crew boarded their planes for the States. And this next stage of waiting begins. The editing and post-production of the film will take up to 6 months before the film is actually ready for release. Another amazing gift we have received is an offer by a composer at the University of Washington to write a soundtrack for the film using some of the original local music we recorded during filming. We here are all amazed by the way this project has spoken to so many and by the extreme generosity of so many to support the women. Thank you.
We will keep you posted as the film-making progresses.
From the women of Pankisi and from myself we give our thanks to you all!
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For more pictures and an identical post, please visit my blog at http://suzerutherford.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/filming-of-pankisi-womens-stories/
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