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AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BROTHERS ON THE CREATION OF THE INDIE HIT, "GENGHIS BLUES: THE STORY OF A BLIND BLUES MUSICIAN'S JOURNEY TO THE LOST LAND OF TUVA" This column is here to show the human face in the tools and media that people like us work with every day. I'll be writing about the content side of the creative process, and the tech that helps get these stories out of their creators and into our world. If you know of people who do things with their hearts and minds as well as their pixels, please introduce me... I'd like to interview them. I'm starting kinda big with this one, but don't let that discourage you from referring any digital saints you might know personally. You can contact me at: storyfarm@adobe.com.
On January 20, 2000, I visited brothers Roko and Adrian Belic, who made last year's independent smash Genghis Blues, an award-winning documentary about Paul Pena, a blind American blues musician and his hero's journey to the little country of Tuva. In 1993 Pena was listening to a Russian short wave radio broadcast of Tuvan throat singing, and was captivated to the point he taught himself the ancient art in less than a year.
The film chronicles Pena's 1995 journey to the tiny nation (sandwiched between Mongolia and Siberia), in which he not only is embraced by the Tuvans, but even wins an award in a local throat-singing competition. The film is a great triumph of the human spirit. Pena was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a fact which only seems to throw into high relief the huge sense of dignity that surrounds this project. To learn more about the rich tapestry of this film, visit their website.
Storyfarm: How's Paul Pena? Roko Belic: Physically, he's in terrible shape. But he's surrounded by friends and has outlived all expectations of the doctors. It's unclear how long his spiritual strength will keep him going, but that's exactly what's happening, which is amazing. There's so much great energy around him right now... he's got a girlfriend, he's totally in love, and she's totally in love with him. Storyfarm: Tell me about this trip you're about to take. Roko: There's this thing called the Mongolian Foundation for an Open Society, set up by Hungarian billionaire George Soros, and they've arranged for us to come over for a two-day workshop, speaking to Mongolian independent film makers about low-budget techniques for film making. Making a film in Mongolia has got to be a real test in resourcefulness. Adrian: Hey, if we can learn from Mongolian independent film makers how they do things and come back and share it with American film makers, I mean, if you can do it in Mongolia, I'm pretty sure you can do it here. Storyfarm: Genghis Blues seems to have taken over your lives, with its success and its repercussions on a humanitarian level. Roko: During the editing process, which took about 3 years, we started developing two other projects, but they've had to be put on hold, action-wise. Even thinking about a real career... Storyfarm: You mean it's like, "Gee, I've made this hit movie, but what do I do with my life?" Roko: Well, we really didn't expect the film to get this kind of response, so I thought, as soon as I'm finished editing, I've got to get a real job, pay back these debts... Adrian: One reason we took this trip to Tuva is because it sounded a lot more interesting than going to grad school.
Storyfarm: Did you find that a lot of the story came out as you reviewed your footage in the process of editing, things surfacing...
Roko: I was recognizing all the time that the footage was either accurate or inaccurate as to what really happened. When you're shooting this type of thing, you have to stay engaged with what's going on, so when you're editing it, you know if you're editing it accurately. Like there's five people in the room and it looks really calm, but there's actually a lot of excitement there, so I have to edit it in a way that reflects that. Storyfarm: That's an interesting notion...this tool, this camera that's pointed at something and supposedly showing reality... Roko: It's almost never just right. Like with music, you're adding an emotional element where the camera may not have captured it. But by distilling a month of Paul in Tuva into an hour and a half, it's surreal by definition, it's not reality. [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
