Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

BY CYNDI GREENING, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, USA – We returned from Zambia on the evening of Monday, September 4th. After four weeks of traveling and a tough three-week film shoot, most of us would have preferred nothing more than to take a week or so off to rest up BUT we’re trying to make “THE” festival submission deadline. So, we’re all hard at it. We’re hip deep in post production on BAD T!MING and VOICE OF AN AFRICAN NATION. Instead of going to bed in the “Pink Palace” each night, we go to our own homes for a warm meal, a soft bed and working showers. In the morning, we congregate (again) to keep pushing these films to completion.

In all my years as a teacher, I’ve never seen such determination and dedication from a group of people. The more amazing thing is the amount of trust they place in each other. Each member of the group counts on the others to give the production their best work. In school, there were always “slackers” … students who did almost nothing, started late on everything and hoped to “squeak through” on minimal effort. FilmZambia is definitely a capstone project for this crew. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.

Whenever I’m working on a screenplay, I go through phases were I positively HATE what I am writing. Right after I finish a script, I can’t stand it!! I always have to put it in a drawer for a couple of weeks. I abhor it. All I can see are the mistakes. After a few weeks, I’ll take it out and read it and I find myself liking what I’ve written. I sometimes think I’m clever.

The same thing happened in Zambia. It was such an effort to finish this film! The last couple of days were EXTREMELY stressful. The long flights home didn’t help. I was worried that it wasn’t going to come together or, worse, if it did come together, it wouldn’t look or sound good. What a pleasant surprise I’ve had for the last few days. As we capture the footage, log the documentary tapes and review the storyteller footage, I am SUPER HAPPY and EXCITED about what I’m seeing. The footage is looking good. The actors are believable. The sound is (mostly) good. Some of the 2nd Unit footage is incredible. As our trip to Zambia fades, the films are taking shape. Who knows what else will be materializing with this group?

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We spent 33 hours flying back to the U.S. and I arrived more exhausted than I’ve ever been in my life. It took everything I had just to get my mountain of baggage to the car. The ride home was surreal. I couldn’t figure out where I was.

I sat down on the couch and was asleep before dinner was ready. I don’t recall going to bed but know I did because I woke up there in the middle of the night. A dim light was streaming from a doorway to the left. I thought I was back in Livingstone, sleeping in my cot at Taito Falcon Lodge. I thought I was looking at the thatched walls and ceiling. I thought I could make out the mosquito-covered beds in the room. Ahhhh, everyone is safe; sleeping peacefully in their beds. I could relax.

I was snuggling back into the pillow when I remembered I had left Africa. I sat up with a start. Where am I? I just couldn’t make sense of it all. I slept fitfully.

When I woke up, I realized that we were back in the U.S. and Africa was only a memory. I was angry at myself for feeling so discombobulated but, when I looked at the African Voice blog, I realized I was in the same place as some of the others on the crew. I really enjoyed M.K.’s post (below) about letting that other life go. Heath’s post about the little details of that existence was comforting. I know that I’ll never be the same after that month in Zambia. It’s good to know that others were similarly altered.

As the person who was in charge of this whole adventure, I was constantly worried about the safety of the group and the success of the project. I don’t think I realized how stressed I was until we finally got back. I am relieved to have everyone back home. No (serious) injuries or illnesses. Everyone in generally good spirits and wiser for the journey. I find myself wishing we were in something similar to the Kraal so we could gather over breakfast and find out how everyone is doing … but, everyone is now doing that with family and friends. My “nest” is empty and my “babies” are on their own in the world again.

I want to wish each and every one of them well and THANK each of them for the fantastic, unbelievable job they did in Zambia!! There truly aren’t words to express what they had to go through to make this project work. Amazingly, they did it. Individually and collectively. I can think of numerous times in which EACH of them excelled and contributed in profound ways. I hope this is evident in the documentary. They are an amazing and wonderful group and I am lucky to have worked with them! I feel exceedingly blessed for having had the chance to be in Africa with them.

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I am happy to report that we have finished filming BAD T!MING! One of the last scenes we did was the concert scene with Zambian singer/songwriter Danny. There’s a jubilant scene at the end of the film that Unit Photographer Mike Montesa captured beautifully. The cast and crew were happy to bring the house down afterwards because we were finally done, done, done.

Now the post production work begins. Everyone keeps asking us when they’ll see the film. We explain that the editing will be taking us at least a couple of months. Then there’s the sound mixing and all that sort of post “sweetening.” We tell them it will probably be January. They look sad. I hope they’ll be happy when they finally see it.

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