Great interviews! But I don’t know what they said
September 21, 2011 Leave a comment
Copyright Keith Kenney, 2011
Copyright Susanna Melo, 2011
In Adishi, few people (one?) speak English, so I couldn’t really interview anyone; I didn’t even know when to start or stop filming. Fortunately we are a multimedia, multi-language film team. Nana Mghebrishvili and Mari Papidze, both recent graduates from CSJMM, conducted and taped all of the interviews. Susanna Melo was the photographer; she documented the process and took many excellent photographs of Adishi, its surroundings, and its people. For those of you who know Susanna, you won’t be surprised to hear that she also developed wonderful rapport with every family in Adishi, which, of course, made filming so much easier. Susanna also suggested several filming opportunities and asked questions that yielded invaluable answers. Ramaz Gerleiani not only drove us to Adishi, but he was our translator for people who only spoke Svan. Svan is related to Georgian, but different enough that neither Nana nor Mari could speak or understand a word. My job was to film people doing things, such as cutting hay on the high fields, loading hay on sleds to carry down to Adishi, and people cooking. We all helped by thinking of questions and suggesting good film opportunities.
Mari and Nana recorded about 4.5 hours of interviews, and although I couldn’t understand what was said, it seemed like people were saying interesting things with passion. They were gesturing; their voices rose and fell; sometimes Nana and Mari laughed.
Copyright Susanna Melo, 2011
Copyright Susanna Melo, 2011
I’m very grateful to Tiko Tsomaia, a faculty member at CSJMM, for connecting me with Mari and Nana. They are sooooooo engaging, so much fun, that everyone wants to cooperate and answer their questions. Good photojournalists and documentary filmmakers rely less on technical skills (but they’re needed, of course) and more on people skills. They need to care about people and really listen; and both Nana and Mari are compassionate listeners. They’re even willing to do hard work in exchange for hearing others’ stories. Here Mari rakes hay into a stack; later she’ll interview the old man who got a rest while Mari helped.
Moreover, they were familiar with the video equipment. CSJMM uses the same camcorder as I do, and as the SJMC still uses—a Sony PD-170. After showing them how to use a wireless mike, the two women went to work with great confidence.
Copyright Susanna Melo, 2011
Copyright Susanna Melo, 2011
Copyright Keith Kenney, 2011
Copyright Susanna Melo, 2011
Keith R. Kenney 
