Amongst wild mandarins and coffee

Today I woke up in Shire. At least it felt as it, as I spent the night in a mud house. It pretty much could have been Frodo's house in Lord of the Rings.

The mud house

Out on the porch at 6 am, I faced the view of a a lush valley with trees of mandarin, orange and coffee, while the sun slowly rose over the mountains and exposed Cachipay, the village on the other side.

We arrived yesterday to this very special finca, and believe it or not, but the house was built entirely of clay, and its shapes were similar to the works of the Spanish architect Gaudí; not a single even line. Even the mosaic was in place.

The constructor and architect, my guide's friend with the coolest name ever, don Segundo, had no idea who Gaudí was. But this was not his first mud house, he had also built a mud mansion, a much bigger one than this, in Villa de Leyva, a village a few hours away. He showed me pictures on his cell phone as proof.

Wild mandarin

"Did you have foreign journalists visiting you?" I asked. Yes he did. He even said that they shot an American film in the mud mansion. I'll believe that when I see the film...

The mud house where I spent the night is situated a 40 minute meandering walkway from the village Anolaima. I know this because I made the trek yesterday, here and there being chased by barking dogs.

Later in the afternoon yesterday we took a dip in the village pool, which was deserted but reasonably clean and gifted with a great view of the sourrounding valley. On the other side of the valley was a mountain top where a small lonely house seemed to be glued to the steep slope. Why have a house up there? I guess the view makes it worth it.

Mosaic stairs in the mud house

Later we visited another finca, owned by a German university professor who had lived in the area for 20 years. The relatively small house and lot were well extremely well taken care of and the interior looked like it would fit in Architectural Digest. In the garden flaunted rows of coffee, bananas and oranges. The finca was on sale for 196 million pesos (120,000 USD). I thought it was pretty expensive but my guide got excited and started dreaming.

Everybody we talked to in this area was very friendly and it felt as a safe area to visit. I was told this region hadn't suffered from the civil war, which probably makes a difference.

After enjoying a breakfast of coffee and eggs in the adjacent village Cachipay today we took the bus to Bogotá and then I ended my little vacation and took off to Medellín.

A trip out on the country

Today I woke up in a small village called Anolaima. It is situated about 70 km northeast of Colombia's capital Bogota, in the department of Cundinamarca.

I had decided to take a couple days off and went to Bogota, where I met up with an old Colombian friend that I hadn't met in 25 years (!). We met in Switzerland when we did an exchange year.

As my friend also had some days available we decided to take a bus out on the country, and we decided to hit Anolaima. As all busrides I have taken in Colombia this was a curvy one (due to the Andes), and the last part of the three-hour trip was all steep bumpy dirt road, with the passengers jumping up and down in the seats while the traditional music was played loudly in the bus's loudspeakers.

Anolaima got its name from the natives of the Panche tribe, the Anolaymas. Somehow this village invites to think about history, as the character of the village is very traditional and it almost looks as time stopped here. The pace of the people is very relaxed, and everybody is friendly. They don't even seem to notice the tall Scandinavian stranger walking around, but I am sure they do, they just politely avoid staring.

The climate of Anolayma is "balanced", neither hot nor cold, quite similar to that of Medellin. The village is situated on a hill and there is a beautiful view toward a little part of the Andine mountains.

Dogs. As many other Latin American villages Anolayma has a lot of stray dogs wandering around, in all sizes and races. As the block where I live in Medellin also is literally full of dogs, I begin to wonder, is there a special love between Latin Americans and dogs? (I've made the same observation in a few Latin American countries).
Colombians also seem never to mind a dog barking. In my apartment in Medellin my patience has been tested as the neighbour dogs sometimes bark for hours without ceasing. But people seem not to be disturbed or even notice. Once I mentioned it to our building caretaker, a middle-aged lady who also has dog (which also barks a lot), and she just answered, "If I would live in a finca I would have fifteen dogs!"

Today we will apparantly spend some time out on the "real" countryside, in a finca outside of Anolaima, belonging to a friend of my friend. I don't mind.

Next week we start our film school in Medellin and there'll be lots of work. A few days off were needed as the Film Adventures continue.

Baptizing murderers and meeting film stars

Intense days.

Last Tuesday I went to the Bellavista prison in Medellin, the biggest prison in Colombia, where 7,600 prisoners are trying to fit into much too small and worn premises. Bellavista which not very long ago used to have two murders a day, has now changed to the better, and who knows, maybe thanks to Swedish Ankarstiftelsen, their partner Confraternidad Carcelaria (a part of Prison Fellowship International) and their missions work in the prison.

There I met Ruth, a radiant lady in her thirties who coordinates the evangelism work in the prison, the only female evangelist among 7,600 murderers, rapists, thieves and who knows what. "They have taken me to their heart and see me as their mummy" she says with a tender smile. At the end of our visit she asked our Swedish Christian friends if they knew a way to finance one thousand refreshments for a special week where they will do small theaters and festivities for the inmates. Within seconds one of our guests promised his church would finance it.

Pray for Ruth! and if you want to support her, let me know, her small salary depends totally on gifts.

During our visit we baptized around 20 prisoners who had decided they wanted to become Christians. I did the translation and it was powerful to say the words "I hereby baptize you to Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen" and then see the person be pushed down under the water of the small pool and then risen up to a new life.

According to Ankarstifelsen, around 20,000 prisoners have decided to become Christian believers during their years of work in approximately 80 prisons in Colombia. People who leave their criminal ways and start a life of honesty, goodness and responsibility. No wonder Colombia is changing for the better!

During our visit the local coworkers of Confraternidad Carcelaria showed us a "restoration" program called Arbol Sicomoro, where the new Christian prisoners learn how to take responsibility, how to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, how to reconcile with their victims, how to restore their values etcetera. In a few words, they are helped to become good, whole and responsible citizens.

Well at the end of that rewarding day, I flew to Bogota to participate in a premiere event for the film Jerusalem Countdown produced by PureFlix, an American Christian film production company. I got to lunch together with the stars of the film as well as one of the producers. We were also inside of RCN, Colombians biggest TV network, where our American visitors were interviewed in live television.

Due to a job I had to finish, I flew back to Medellin today but I hope to be back to Bogota soon again.

Intense days, living the Film Adventure!

P.S Sorry for spelling errors... in need of English proof reader!

In prison

Being on the side of a Colombian prisoner being baptized in water, is one of the moments that I have enjoyed most in my life.

Today I once again had the opportunity to join Swedish Ankarstiftelsen as they visit the prisons of Colombia. Today we accompanied their local Christian volunteer workers in the prison as they baptized new believers among the prisoners. More people saved for eternal life! Yohoo!

Do you believe these words of Jesus are still valid?

Truly, I tell all of you with certainty, the one who believes in me has eternal life. (John 6:47)

Tickets to heaven are still around and it's real! Let me know if you are interested!

Ankarstiftelsen is a fantastic organization. Walking in the footpaths of Jesus, they "waste" a lot of money on:

• Constructing schools for kids who have none
• Helping young people to escape criminality through soccer and teaching them how to live a constructive and meaningful life
• Helping prisoners to enter a path of legal and healthy life
• Offering microloans to poor women who take off and start contributing to society 
• Reconciling criminal gangs who have been in conflict
• Supporting orphanages

Tomorrow we are going to another prison... one with around 7,000 prisoners...

Speaking of which... last week we started shooting Sin Reversa! Tell you more soon. Now I need to pack my bags because I'm taking off to Bogota tomorrow!

More rehearsals

Our rehearsals for Sin Reversa continue. Today I made a special rehearsal with the two protagonists. It was very rewarding. I like to do a lot of improvisations with my actors, I think it feeds a lot into their characters.

I started out interviewing the actress "in character", letting her invent things as she answered questions about her family, her home, her finances etc. Then we did some improvs to provoke some of the feelings I am looking for in the film. It worked like a charm.
I always try to improvise with a lot of conflict, that always gives fire to the conversations and expressions.

Earlier today I contacted a friend of mine who I know has a lot of insight into acting and directing and I explained the difficulties and he gave me a lot of material to work with, many of them very concrete.

Finally we did a camera movement rehearsal. It worked fine as well, because the guys had prepared the content before arriving. Great! I felt I regained some control today.

Monday we will have our last production meeting before shooting.
O yeah, the finances, another burning issue. We are trying to raise $4,000 for this film. Until this point we have received $218 in our IndieGogo campaign. Still lots to go! And we need it before Wednesday!

If you feel you'd like to support this film, check THIS LINK out!

Second rehearsal done

We have finished our second rehearsal for Sin Reversa. Now we only have the rehearsal on the day of shooting left. The plan is to dedicate half of that day to rehearsals and half of the day to final shooting. We have a pretty complicated scene to do.

Today I learnt more stuff. I learnt that everything needs to be prepared, instructed and rehearsed. Especially so when you work with non-paid people. We hadn't rehearsed with the camera operator and the protagonist before the main rehearsal. The protagonist came without knowing his lines by heart and so did I. The camera operator had to be instructed, and all this took a lot of attention from directing the actors. Actually, I felt I lost control. We didn't have time to do all the things I had hoped and instead of being able to focus on the acting, I put all my attention on the image sequence.

I guess this is the moment where I need to let go and trust. Trust that everything miraculously will come together. I do my best, and God does the rest...

Some positive things were that we had lots of the extras/actors showing up. Incredible, since we can't even afford to pay them something basic, few of them have film experience and we have never worked with them before. The main actor showed up and so did the camera operator.

Next step is to do side rehearsals before the shooting day. With the main actors, with the cam op. I have to learn the script by heart. Still lots to do.

And let go and trust.

First "final" rehearsal for Sin Reversa

Today we held a production meeting and the first of two final rehearsals for our short film Sin Reversa.
We had plenty of our actors/extras showing up, that was awesome!

We also got the actor we were looking for! Not in the way we had thought. Actually, the "loudspeaker" method didn't work at all. I don't think even one person showed up from hearing that. But some other people showed up, some that we had invited personally. No, instead our last-minute solution was to call back a previous actor we had seen and who we were unsure about. But... we saw improvement! So much that we decided to stay with that person.

We keep learning. One thing, casting auditions need to be well announced. The key is how you announce....

Today I learnt something else. Producing a feature film vs. producing a short film is not like driving a car vs. driving a bicycle. It is like driving a car a long distance vs. driving a car a short distance. You need the same complete car. You need a complete team to produce a short film. Every position and procedure is important and needed, down to the assistants. You need a lot of time to prepare. Meetings, preparations, lots of think-through. Equipment. Bring-in-case's. Calls. People need to know where to go and what time. And last but not least, you need money.

Well, I guess this is all valid if you want to do something with "almost" the same quality as a feature film. And that's what we're trying to do.

Tonight I feel totally dead. One of my most stressful days in a long time. How dead will I feel directing a feature film? I hope a good team would keep me alive...
But I am also happy. We got so many things to work tonight. I am grateful to God. We are going forward.

One more rehearsal to go tomorrow.

PS. If you want to support this project, click here!

Scouting actors.... on the streets of Medellin

Last week we had four different casting sessions for our short film Sin Reversa. We are getting our actors together step by step. But since we are working with non-paid and many non-experienced actors,  we get a lot of "acting" that we aren't pleased with, or simply put, it looks acting.

There was one important role that we still hadn't got the actor for at the fourth and last casting last week. What to do? We have our last blocking rehearsals on Wednesday and Thursday this week. I said, "Let's go out on the streets and simply ask people".

Since we are Christians and do our film projects with a spiritual purpose, I thought, "Ok, we'll pray and go out and God will do the rest", just like the disciples of Jesus did, has they held up their fish and bread to Jesus.

So we decided to go to a poor area (a "comuna"), because the role we are looking for is that of a person from such an area. My friend and casting coordinator J-C told me,
"Urban, there is a way, my friend works with this 'perifoneo', a car that drives around the area announcing cultural events with loudspeakers. It would only cost us 25.000 pesos. Do we have the money for it?"
I sadly responded,
"I'm afraid we don't have that money."
I had already spent the double of that on newspaper casting ads the other week and I am just out of money.

Then, after having prayed for God's guidance and protection, we went out on the streets. We started to ask some people. But quite soon J-C told me,
"Urban, I want to pay for that loudspeaker thing out of my own pocket."
"Really? Ok, let's do it".

So we went to this local cultural center in the comuna and asked to borrow a hall were we could do an audition tomorrow. Gracefully, they not only had a space free tomorrow, but they would let us use it for free! J-C would go on and contact the loudspeaker guy.

Then, in case the loudspeaker method wouldn't be efficient, we went out on the streets again. With only a notepad in our hands, we went around and asked the people walking by, "Would you like to act in a short film? You look like the character we are casting" and informed them about the audition tomorrow. Some of them were interested, others were not, or were busy working. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to think we were weird or suspicious.

Anyway, I am excited to see what this can lead to and what can happen as we pray and go forward. Starting with nothing, we now have a new audition set up, one that will be announced by an ambulating loudspeaker car!

We asked somebody "Do you think people here are interested in such a thing? Would they go if they heard the message?" "Oh yeah, everybody here wants to do stuff like that" they assured us.

Tomorrow we will see!