For the past two weeks, I
have more or less been shooting non stop in Kibi, in the
Eastern Region of Ghana. Kibi is the town of my birth,
which is one reason why I chose to base the film around the
town. It also happens to be the the centre of the Akim
Abuakwa region, through which the river Brim flows and the
river and it's relationship to gold is not only central to
the mythology of gold in this area, but also, therefore,
central to the imagery of the film.
March and April happen to be the hottest part of the year
in Ghana and I must say that after each day of shooting, I
was thoroughly exhausted. Though there is not supposed to
be much rain at this time of the year, it has rained twice
during my time here. And when it rains, it pours violently
and is always accompanied by heavy thunder and lightening.
Luckily, I was able to utilise this to my advantage, as I
had been hoping for rain for one scene.
I hadn't realised before I arrived that there was a solar
eclipse due during my stay. This happened to be extremely
fortunate for me, as I quickly made changes to a scene I
had planned in order to encorporate the eclipse. It has
added a whole new dimension to a key scene, and hopefully
the film overall, and it was very interesting shooting
during the eclipse. An eclipse happens very quickly and we
had to be fast to capture the key elements of it.
The story revolves around a boy who finds a lump of gold
and doesn't quite know what to do with it. In the process,
he meets a number of people who are able to tell him
stories about gold. He also has a number of experiences
with the gold and it is through these encounters and
experiences that we get to feel and understand the
significance of gold and the relationship people have with
it here. I can only describe the film as a poetic film: it
mixes what we traditionally think of as fiction with
documentary in a free manner. Howwever, even the so called
fiction elements are rooted in stories I have been told. I
cast a boy, Kwasi Akufo (13), from a local school and had
him play the part of the boy. The people he meets and
speaks to are all beeing themselves (Kwasi knows them all
anyway) and I am also including interview elements
organically into the story. Moments in the film will also
be sublime, mysterious and almost magical. In this way, I
hope to create an approach to 'documentary' form which will
allow us a different kind of insight into the subject; an
insight which I hope will have transcendental qualities to
it. As I pointed to to the Arts and Humanities Research
Council, one of
my objectives is to find ways in which to work with the
form to allow spiritual feelings, transcendental
feelings and mythology to be treated equally to
imperical factual observation. In other words, to treat
these elements as equally real.
Working with Kwasi Akufo and the many other people in the
film has been a joy. Kwasi quickly got into the groove of
shooting, as well as the procedures and the terminology
associated with filmmaking. His ability to both work on the
basis of taking instructions and his ability to improvise
with the people he met was fantastic. He had no
preconceived ideas as to what he should be doing as an
'actor' and was therefore able to just be himself. Likewise
many of the other contributors felt very natural in front
of the camera and it once again helps confirm my belief
that the best people on screen are those who are not
actors, but ordiary people who have no pre-conceived ideas
about what they should be doing. When casting for the boy,
I was primarily interested in his eyes: can he hold a look?
Can he take direction with what to do with his eyes?
While I have been here, I have also been working with the
composer for the film, Lionel Lawson. He has composed some
wonderful music and he is just making a few changes to this
music before I leave. My co-producer here in Ghana, Doris
Adabasu Kuwornu, has been an immence help with sorting out
people and making sure that the necessary arrangements were
made. She has been able to facilitate excellent access for
me and the good will I have received from people on the
ground in the Akim Abuakwa area is, in no small measure,
down to making sure that propper procedures and courtesies
were followed early on in the research stage.
I am looking forward to putting the whole thing together
and shall keep you posted on further developments.
Erik Knudsen
See Project Research Question
See Report One
See Report Two
