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Hot Planet, Thirsty Joburg
MBELIGI
Nunguk Ujai (Waiting for the Rain)
Pampa: Unknown Desert
The Green Martyr
Mountain Pine Beetle: A Climate Change Catastrophe
“You must be choking!” - Camp for Climate Action 2006
Adaptive Greening
Jonathan Brown and the Lost Penguin
The Fridge
The Last Boy Riding
From The Camp
Faceless
Hot Planet, Thirsty Joburg
by Jon Durand, Canada
I arrived in Joburg last week, and I've been getting myself set up and shooting footage of the city, the mining industry, landscapes, etc. I don't know if you've been to Johannesburg before, but it's a bit of a hectic, Wild West kind of place, and shooting from a moving car or office building is the only safe way to get shots in the city. Many of my interviews/contacts are in Nairobi for the World Social Forum, so I'll be meeting up with them next week when they're back in town.
MBELIGI
by Nwatum Damasius Akongnui, Nigeria
As for my self, I will be shooting here in Cameroon where I have for the past one week been doing location wrecking. I intend to start taking my shots on Friday 26th Jan. I intend to be on location for one week and then get to the postproduction stage which is scheduled to take another one week.
During my scout for suitable locations, I discovered that there is even more deforestation, earth backing and bush fires than I had initially known. It is actually a cause for alarm. from the locations I was able to find, I am positive that I will at the end of this project come out with a film that will awaken human consciousness towards conserving our society and maintaining it in a habitable state. I hope to keep you informed as the work progresses.
Nunguk Ujai (Waiting for the Rain)
by Ramadian Bachtiar, Indonesia
Right now, what we already have are shots from our previous visit. These are shots that shows the village's atmosphere. Their daily life activities and also one of their most important ritual, the Gawai day. We'll go to our location for taking the footage of our main character. Pak Janggut - our main character, is the tribe leader. He will take us to see their way of live. How his people use natural signs as their indicators for every aspecs of their life. For example: they use a kind of bird for their sign to start planting paddy.
And we'll dig up for more. In our last visit, Pak Janggut tell us that he wonder where are the birds.
Our problem, related with our proposed plan is, it's already rainy season in Indonesia. I am affraid we'll have difficulties in getting emotional shots about last dry season. So we adjust our storyboard. The peak of the conflict would be in Pak Janggut huge question mark weather his people will face long dry season again or not. In uncertainty, Pak Janggut got himself in.
We're going to Putussibau on 4th of February. We'll meet Dayakology Institute (Dayak tribe study institution) in Pontianak at the 4th. The next day we'll meet manager of WWF-Putussibau in Putussibau. According to the manager (by phone), food crisis happen in the region. I need to explore it more when I am there.
Here I attach short clip of our fottage from Puttussibau. It's shows only our stock that we have (we made it as somekind of short video clip), not the structure. It shows general view of Sui Utik village. Also there is Pak Janggut explaining their traditional knowledge. We will have him explaining their life, so we'll have 2nd point of view story telling video.
 Pampa: Unknown Desert
by Carolina Dias de Almeida Berger, Brazil
The film is in pre-production till next Friday. We’re working really hard and against time. The most exiting thing is that we’re working with documentary, and reality is usually more interesting than the idea that we can have about it. So, the film is very planned – we have the screenplay, the project, etc. – and the crew is being prepared to work in certain conditions such as hours of direct footage, direct sound and a tremendous hit. But the biggest challenge will certainly be the relation with our main characters, simple people and real heroes.
The hardest work and biggest responsibility is related to the scientific view of the phenomenon of “desertification” or “sandinization” which is the theme of the documentary related with climate change. The film must be a visual representation of something still being studied and lots of things concerning the subject are very controversial. So, the role of the director is always being able to equilibrate different opinions, the work of the crew and one’s gaze about the reality that we are representing.
The Green Martyr
by Olubusayo Iruemiobe, Nigeria
MY JOURNEY SO FAR...
If there was a Nobel prize for bravery, l would be nominating my friend, schoolmate and more recently my Director of photography for the NUFF film on climate changes, Olaolu Akinrowo.
I started the first leg of my shoot yesterday in Lagos after a very longtime in pre production. But most of what happened while shooting still came as a huge surprise.
Lagos is by far the most populated city in Nigeria and adversely one of the most polluted. Lagos can easily boast of a population of 15 million people from all ethnic groups, religion, sex, age etc.
My friend and i wanted to capture a huge crowd scene with lots of cars, trucks emitting C02, so we decided to shoot at Oshodi, Lagos on Sunday, the 28th of Januray, 2007 and were we in for it.
We have layabouts called 'Area boys' whose only means of survival is via hassling innocent people for the next meals. So we were easy targets after only recording 5minutes of footage. They demanded money or they were going to cease our cameras (a Sony HDV, a Sony camcorder and a Kodak Digitla still camera) and our tripod. We showed them student ID's which clearly showed that we were film students but this did not move them. They threatened to beat us, then ceased the tripod, blocked our path until my friend eventually talked them down and settled them with a bribe. They were about 15 of these little thugs in total.
Then it was off to Lagos Island where we were received with the same treatment. Two older thugs demanded money or ther were going to smash our equipments. My heart was in my mouth at this point in time. My friend did his usual routine and psyched them, then settled them.
We spent enough on bribes (If you can't beat them, join them).
The day ended with a big fight in the public transport we were in. The bus driver got the beating of his life.
Today, Monday, 29th January, 2007 while shooting I saw a rotting corpse near a very smoky incinerator.
I was refused entry into the dumping ground which produces the biggest smoke in Lagos.
Illiterate Nigerians in general hate cameras.
It's been fun though. We have explored and recorded so much in moving and still pictures.
Next stop, Rivers state (In the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria), the crunch of my project were gas flaring is as common as breathing and were kidnapping, oil bunkering, terrorism is the norm.
This project is exposing me to some crazy stuffs going on in Nigeria firsthand.
I am exhausted from shooting all day, so this message is probably littered with mistakes. Pardon me.
Mountain Pine Beetle: A Climate Change Catastrophe
by Lindsay Robles, Canada:
The crew website!
Shots to date:
Canadian Forest Service:
On January 18 and 19 I traveled to Victoria, British Columbia to interview 6 research scientists from the Canadian Forest Service. The scientists provided us with background on the physical characteristics of the beetle, its history and the circumstances surrounding the current outbreak. They also gave us a tour of their laboratories and we got to see a pine beetle first hand. They’re so small – only the size of a grain of rice. It’s amazing to think of the devastation these small creatures can have when their populations explode.
Forintek:
On January 30th, we interviewed Martin Feng at Forintek Canada, a forest industry research company that is investigating the physical properties of beetle-killed trees and ways to maximize the salvage value of the millions of hectares of dead timber stand in British Columbia.
Stan Nikal Jr.:
I conducted a phone interview with Stan Nikal, a community chief in Moricetown, British Colmbia, who described for me how the increase in logging is destroying their trapping range. Trapping is an important contribution to the income and livelihood of many First Nation people.
He’s looking into when the next council meeting will be regarding the MPB and seeking permission for me to come up and film.
Future Shots
BC Interior:
We will be traveling into the British Columbia interior the week of February 5-10 to see the impacts first-hand. Ray Schultz manages the Mountain Pine Beetle Emergency Response Office. We will be speaking with him about provincial actions to manage the spread and protect communities. On the 6th and 7th we have been invited to the Cariboo-Chilcotin community taskforce workshop, where top officials from the provincial government will discuss the issue with vulnerable communities. And finally, we will visit the city of Quenel, where the Denim Pine company is marketing the blue-stained lumber as a specialty product.
Minister Rich Coleman:
I am still trying to firm up a date to interview Rich Coleman, Minister of Forests early in February.
David Suzuki Foundation:
I will be speaking with the David Suzuki Foundation, one of Canada’s most recognized environmental organization, the third week of February.
Bruce Blackwell:
Bruce Blackwell is a forest industry consultant with extensive knowledge of British Columbia forests and the complex interconnections of the forest ecology. In our interview with Bruce, he will provide insight into the connection between forest fires and the infestation – both in terms of the causes of the outbreak and the future threats to the forests and forest dependant communities.
Overall:
Overall, we are pleased with the progress we are making and the knowledge we are gaining. Once, the shooting wraps up in February, it will be full-steam ahead to edit the video and tell our story. There are so many different angles to take on this complex issue, that focusing on the ones we want will be the biggest challenge.
“You must be choking!” - Camp for Climate Action 2006
by Julian Benz, Germany
The project website
The last two months were quite work intensive but all in all an
inspiring learning experience.
Telling the story of the camp for climate action in a documentary filminvolved talking about several related topics and also reflecting itsaims which were
1.) education and collectively learning about climate change related theissues.
2.) showing that you can live on a low energy sustainable infrastructure and what kind of changes that requires
3.) and confronting with direct action and civil disobedience, the
largest single emitter of CO2 in Northern Europe which is Drax coal
fired power station (UK).
This in itself is quite challenging already. As we went through over 11hours of footage recorded at the camp and selected the best interviews,statements and shots, it became clear that we had a lot of good material that we could use, but also that we only had limited material on some crucial aspects.
As we are young idealists struggling for social and climate justice, and draw motivation from trying to reach the impossible, we decided to take
a risk and go for the production of a long documentary that would try to
reflect the complexity of this global issue and the diversity of what
came together at the camp.
We had in mind producing a shorter 15 minutes version of the documentary
film for NUFF global based on that.
After several weeks of hard work, sleepless nights and creative madness,
there we are with a 62 minutes (including intro and credits) documentary
and quite satisfied with the result.
We test screened different versions of the film a couple of times in our
circles of friends, collecting feedback and progressively improving the
film sequences.
In terms of music soundtrack, we got contributions from fellow bands
which provided us with good and non-copyrighted songs. We also made a
sequence about coal mining in Venezuela for which we used material from
a fellow media collective called Gattacicova with their permission.
Two weeks ago we attended a climate camp follow up meeting in Leeds/UK. Over 70 people from all around the UK (and beyond) came together to
join efforts, to evaluate their past experience and to decide whether or
not to organise a Camp for Climate Action 2007. The meeting was very
inspiring and decided to organise another camp this summer from 14th to
21st August. Following on from last year's success, the Camp for Climate
Action 2007 will take place near to a target relating to aviation or the coal or oil industries. The location will be chosen over the coming months.
We test screened the film in the evening and people liked it. It was
good a feeling to see people laughing at certain sequences and cheering
at others. In general we got good feedback and that kept us going. We
networked with other people that felt like contributing too, so we are
now in the process of subtitling the film into German, French and
Spanish and compiling a DVD with the film and several features like
additional interviews, a radioshow about the camp, a cartoon, short
action clips etc.
The network of groups and individuals working on climate change issues
in the spirit of the Camp is growing throughout the UK. A lot of people
were keen on using the film as a resource to inform in their communities
and mobilise for their local activities and the upcoming Camp 2007.
And we hope it'll inspire people in other parts of Europe too! That was
one of the reasons why we invested energy in translating it.
We hope to have the DVD ready by mid-end February. It'll be licensed
under creative commons and distributed through the network and through
internet.
We uploaded a 23 min selection of sequences for you on our website here:
Adaptive Greening
by Zahra Ebrahim, Canada
 “Jonathan Brown and the Lost Penguin”
by Sarah Stephen & Nick Roffey, Australia
Our film tells the story of Jonathan Brown, an eccentric outback inventor, who must return an Emperor Penguin to Antarctica. In so doing, he discovers the effects of climate change in Australia: the worst drought on record and devastating bushfires in Victoria. His grandson Jack provides the voice of a new generation struggling to negotiate the mistakes of the past.
Logistically, pre-production has been quite difficult. Our principal problem has been the construction of the Emperor Penguin puppet. Realistically, we do not have the budget for such a puppet, but have been fortunate enough to commission someone who has agreed to work on the puppet for the love of it. Our second major prop is Jonathan Brown's ornithopter, which is also under construction. This is less of a  problem, as we have constructed a similar prop ourselves in the past. We attach a photo of our earlier model. Our current hurdle involves securing stock footage and photographs to use as plates for blue screen shots, which can be quite expensive. We are acquiring these from photo libraries, weather bureaus and television stations, as well as intending to shoot plates ourselves.
Our locations are almost finalised, as is our cast and crew. We have also secured equipment, a studio for the blue screen work, and post-production facilities. We look forward to the shoot and the final product.
- Sarah Stephen and Nick Roffey
The Fridge
by Lucie Štamfestova, Czeck Republik
Reportage about shooting a film
How to show the long-term effect of climate changes in 7 minutes? With the help of a simple metaphor. Imagine a fridge full of food. What happens inside when someone forgets to close thes door? Even a small child can understand it…
 We filmed it in most famous Czech studio where a lot of animated films were done. That studio had a realy great atmosphere and we felt good there. They helped us with many things – ligths, equipment and even with an expert assistance.
At the rubbish heap we found an interesting old fridge and rebuilded it a bit.
We prepared all the things for animation, special efects and so on.
 It took 3 weeks of painstaking work in the studio to shot everything we wanted to. We had lot of problems with engeneering (as allways computer and other things didn’t work perfectly) but at the end we finished the last scene.
Right now we are preparing on-line, start to look for some interesting and relevant sounds and writing main ideas for the film music.
There is a lot of work behind us, but we are sure, it will be a nice film about the global warming theme.
Lucie Štamfestova – film director
Pavel Sobek - screenwriter
The Last Boy Riding
by Jon Steffan Ballesteros, Philippines
As previously mentioned, preproduction was quite a challenge. One of which was in the location hunting process. Some of the locations were easy to deal with, but there are quite a few who were not very welcoming to the project, like the gas station and the factories. The problem usually arised when they learn that it is about global warming, and they become paranoid in protecting their own interests. It was quite disappointing to have to approach these kinds of people. But really, I should have expected it.
And still, there are quite a few who didn’t even have a clue of what global warming is, and that was also disappointing, but in a way also inspiring, as it has driven me more passionate to do this film with the hope that it will create awareness.
But the process wasn’t totally grim, as there are also many who have expressed their willingness to help, even more so, when they learned that it was about climate change.
I am especially thankful for a wonderful production team, and a wonderful cast, who have vowed to render their talents to this project, just because they believe in the project and the cause it stands for.
I guess that is all for now. I have also read the updates from my fellow participants, and I must say, it is quite inspiring to be a part of this global initiative. My best wishes to my fellow participants and to the Nuff Global Community! Will write again to give you updates on my first day of shooting.
Jon Steffan Ballesteros
The Last Boy Riding
Philippines
From The Camp
 Ahmed Khalid Mashharawi, Palestine
I deeply apologize for the late arrival of my message but recent events in Gaza hindered me from my work. The people here were afraid getting out of their houses.
Some of the pictures taken under the ceasefire but now I can continue filming and I will finalize the filming after ten days. Then I will start editing.
During research and the preparation of the story I learned a lot and the people who I met become aware more about the climate change.
I was surprised by the extent of damage of two houses in the beach camp. Through research I discovered the extent of the threat to the whole world and not only us.
People have not only to approach the sea water with the absence of the possibility of building new houses they also have to approach the corroded due of the inflow of water from the sea under the ground. There are also no possibilities for sewage treatment and everything is flowing directly into the sea which means the stuff remains on the beach. Therefore, not only sea water, which are close to homes ….
 Don’t burn our future. Act now!
Bai Yunwen, Beijing, China
Last Dec, after confirmed support from NUFF global for my film idea, I followed these youths to start a coal witness trip in Shanxi, a coal mining province where the most important and major province of China, 1/4 of the coal production in China and 1/2 of the exporting coal comes from. Much of energy consumption in China is supplied by coal, which may drive more and more emission of greenhouse gases.
During the trip, the youths approached the coal mill, did interviews with locals and coal miners and bear witness on polluted environment. They also set a solar panel to charge lantern lighting at PingYao’s Youth hostel, showing many tourists the possibility of using solar energy, delivering the message that the Burning of Fossil Fuels, coal is bringing the threat of global warming.
In this film, I showed lively voices and faces of group of energetic Chinese youths, which are acting against Climate Change demanding Clean Energy. The film will be showed in Chinese campuses for propaganda, to encourage more students involved in this energy revolution.
In order to compact the scenario, I adjusted the former scene, and made it focus on how a group of youths is acting for change. The film making has come into the final stage – adding English subtitle and more tiny punishments.
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Faceless
Hot Planet, Thirsty Joburg
