Helping Haiti

Life takes unexpected turns sometimes. Right now I am helping out at a Help-Haiti-conference. We are located high up on a mountain here in Hawaii and the conference is organized by Youth With A Mission (YWAM).

About 40 international professsionals from different spheres of society are here - scientists, businessmen, lawyers, education specialists and many others (even a Hollywood film producer), all to brainstorm about possible ways of how YWAM and its friends can help Haiti. The conference has been preceded by a research team going this nation, and we also have with us the leader of YWAM in Haiti, who has been working there for decades. The focus is twofold: to find long-term strategies (like helping building the education system) but also to find practical ways of sending help within weeks. Haiti is a broken nation in so many ways and needs help in almost every dimension of society.

As I am writing this, the congress is discussing things as energy supplies, transportation, human resources and health, trying to find out how the YWAM base in Haiti can be used as a window to make a difference for the Haitians.

If you want to make a difference in Haiti, they right now need skilled people in many areas such as carpenters, electricans, administrators, physicians, teachers, kitchen managers and many other areas. If you are interested, let me know and I will help to get you in touch with the people in charge. They just said that the commitment for such work should be at least for three months, preferably longer.

That was a little "Haiti update", and within days we will be back on working with our film projects again. More about them soon!

Through a feature film and a tsunami!

Hi!

Finally I get to write again, after a month in a feature film set and after a tsunami!

I am still in Hawaii, in the town of Kona, on Big Island, alive.

It has been an intense month of filmmaking, working on the feature, low-budget indie-film The Land of Eb, directed by Andrew Williamson. We were a team of about twenty people who spent a lot of time out in the country, filming in coffe farms, poor areas, on roads, in a supermarket and in a hospital.

The film was shot on a Canon 7D, a digital still camera with excellent high-definition film-looking video capabilities and the possibility to use different lenses.

I'll give you a quick go-through of which positions the team had: producer, director, director of photography, assistant camera, 1st assistant director, 2nd assistant director, production manager, line producer, production coordinator, craft services, gaffer, key grip, wardrobe and make-up, props department, sound mixer, boom operator and production assistant. Pew!

My position was sound mixer which means recording and mixing sound on location. Quite important! As my help I had the Brazilian boom operator Rodrigo, an excellent coworker who soon also became a good friend.

For a want-to-be director as myself, being a sound mixer has the benefit of placing me where the action is. Thus, to give me experience from a full-length film, it was awesome. I learned both technical and organizational things.

Then what was our film about? It is called The Land of Eb, referring to a historical myth which the main character tells his children.

The film takes place in present time and is the story of Jacob, a man from the Marshall Islands. The name of these islands might sound American, but this is a Polynesian nation with its own language and its own culture.

Sadly, the Americans took advantage of its vulnerability after the second world war and exploited the islands for nuclear bomb tests. Today, still many of the Marshallese people suffer from the consequences and are victims of diseases due to the nuclear waste (watch this video in YouTube for an update about this). Many of them fled to Hawaii.

The main character in the film, Jacob, gets to know that he is deadly sick in cancer and we follow him as he spends his last months leaving his family in the best position possible. Most of the dialogue is in Marhallese.

The film is almost a documentary and it was very touching to see that our actor actually lives his life almost exactly as portrayed in the film. Often the script was adapted or created on site to reflect reality. (In the picture: director Andrew Williamson with Tarke and Jonithen Jackson, who played the main couple in the film).

The atmosphere on set was very professional (although all of us worked non-paid) and our schedules were tight. Most of us have previously done YWAM’s School of Digital Filmmaking and this film provided an awesome opportunity to learn and progress for us all. I really look forward to see it cut together and I will certainly update you as soon as there is an official trailer.

Writing this, it’s almost March and the rest of this quarter I will work in the offices of the director I am supposed to work with.

We have several interesting films coming up, all in development and all with presumably quite high budgets. I will tell you more as soon as I’m allowed to! I can tell though, that they all will contribute with totally new, fresh stuff on the cinema screens if they make it all the way!

These weeks I have also enjoyed some days of recreation, including snorkling, cliff-jumping and hiking. I swam with manta rays (big flat fish) and I spent a night on a beach, hiking with a group, mostly from the film team. We also went to the top of the island, the inactive vulcano Mauna Kea at 13.000 feet (4.205 m). Sometimes there is even snow there, but not this time.

Maybe the most adventurous for real though was today, when we had a tsunami, created by the earthquake in Chile. People were evacuated from the lowest areas. Luckily our island here is very montainous and it is very easy to walk upwards, quickly gaining height and safety from the sea.

Coordinated by the University of the Nations, we safely watched webcameras on tv and could see the water changing height from there. The sea level rose, then the water was sucked towards the ocean as if the whole sea sunk, quite amazing. It turned and the sea level slowly rised again, these movements going on for a couple of hours. The tsunami showed out to be harmless to both people and buildings this time though, and after a couple of hours we were told that the risk was over.

To conclude I again want to thank you all who are supporting me with your prayers and finances. Without you this wouldn’t be possible. I definitely believe I’m on the right track and I view this time as an amazing gift.

In spite of risks, may you take the bold and right steps needed in your life, and be encouraged by these words said to Joshua in the Old Testament:

I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do.

(Joshua 1:9)

Back in Hawaii!

Can you believe this – I’m in Hawaii again!
Isn't that surreal?
Especially since I left a freezing Sweden full of snow and darkness…
…and landed on an island of 25 degrees Celsius, sun, sand, seawaves and a light breeze. I don’t complain!

I don’t know why I am lucky enough to be able to enjoy this place on earth, but – I guess the best I can do is to appreciate it!

This first week I have mostly installed myself, trying to get rid of jetlag and looking around for accomodation. I have been introduced to our projects, and the first one coming up is an independent feature film called The Land of Eb, where I will be a location sound mixer. That means being in charge of microphones and sound on set.

The Land of Eb is a film about a man from the Marshall Islands, and the theme behind it is the aftermaths of the American nuclear test bombings on those islands. Did you know that the Marshallese still are fighting with diseases from the bombings? Being a kind of docustyle drama film, the purpose is to shine some light on the Marshallese people, and the director Andrew also wants to help some of them to start making their own films.

As for me, I am happy to gain experience on a feature film set. Even if sound mixing is not my ultimate goal, I will definitely learn lots from just being part of the crew. And hopefully I will contribute as well!

Well, dear folks, that was all for this week. I'd like to end with a quote:

Life is like a parachute jump – you only get one chance!

Have a good week!

Departure soon!

I got my visa and I'm scheduled to take off January 13th. Cool!

Finally

Hi there!
Believe it or not, but finally I have received a green light!
It won't be LA nor Dallas, but in the middle of the Pacific Ocean again - on the Hawaii islands. The director is inviting me to participate in a project run out of Kona, where I have actually been before. I might be participating in an indie feature as well, meaning an indepentently produced feature film.
I will hopefully leave around Jan 15, if the visa process runs smoothly.
Will keep you updated!

Advent

Time flies and almost a month went by. The Christmas lights have entered the Swedish cities and people are planning where to go for holidays.

Myself, I'm starting to plan for the next year. It seems now I will have an opportunity to go to Hawaii again. At the moment, the Dallas project has been moved and is on hold for a while. But there are other projects coming up. I wish I could talk more clearly, but these opportunities might be even more interesting. In the following two weeks I will probably know about dates.

Meanwhile I have been helping a company in the preparations for taking one of the most famous cinematographers in the world to Sweden. I have also had the privilege to connect with more people in the Swedish film and television industry. And, writing on my script and continuing our work on the YWAM videos.

I wish you some meaningful "Advent" weeks and I'll update as soon as I have information about next year. Thank you so much for taking interest in my journey.

Some people are historymakers...

Hi there

Here is a preview shot of our last YWAM promo film. Ha ha, we had fun! I hope it comes out well in the editing too (I'm not the person editing it).