Early this morning we departed to Isla de Mendez with all our filming gear, and we packed enthusiasm, our most valuable tool. We had five scenes to be filmed by 3 p.m., so we started shooting as soon as we arrived. The first scene took place in the town’s graveyard, right next to the beach. In this location we filmed Chepe, our main character, passing by his father’s grave, while listening to voices that plead with him not to use bombs for fishing. Next, we shot two scenes in the water, next to the mangrove forest. We used a floating watch house to place the camera. From there we shot a scene in which Chepe speaks with the spirit of his father, and another in which Chepe joins a fishing cooperative to practice pesca limpia, or “clean” fishing techniques. At noon we had lunch in a local restaurant, where many of us enjoyed fried fish caught in the bay. After lunch we filmed two more scenes, and by 3:00PM we were done with the shooting.
Back in Ciudad Romero, we recorded the voices that Chepe hears. For one of them we had the participation of Chungo, the head of one of our host families. We had a successful shooting that would not have been possible without the commitment of our team, the enthusiasm of the participants, and the willingness of the people of these communities of the Bajo Lempa.
We cannot wait the to take a look at the footage tonight. -Hispano Durón