July 2004
26 posts
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Back to Madrid
Sitting in a café in Madrid, reflecting on my trip.
My trip to Egypt has solidified my belief that first and foremost, I am a filmmaker. I don’t think there is anything that I enjoy as much as the filmmaking process.
Although the Egypt production was pretty low budget, I could totally see myself doing a combination of ethnographic/social documentaries as well as fictional narrative films. I...
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Sharm El Sheikh/Cairo
Got up, somehow. Met our driver to drop off our equipment. Went to go look for a dive t-shirt. Went back to anemone dive club to say good bye to the guys. Went to lunch at the Marriott Hotel. Very Italian presence there. They were doing some daytime aerobics class. (Mind you, it’s like 120 degrees outside.)
Left Sharm, stopped by a giant sand dune to take a photo. Walked precariously to the sand...
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Sharm El Sheikh
A ton of notes from today also. I’ll post soon.
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I have a ton of notes from today, I need to formulate them into something coherent. I will post soon. Promise.
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John and I gave a lecture this morning to an undergraduate broadcast journalism class at AUC. We spoke about the foundations of our project, and how are shooting has been going. The students and the professor asked us different questions, but they were mostly interested in the why of our project. We explained to them how media perception in the Middle East is relegated to coverage of the war and...
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We went to AUC to go listen to an Egyptian documentary film speak about his experiences. He was also working on an experimental narrative film project. He found several actors, including one that represents him. He is filming them using locations that he encounters in his daily life. So if he goes to a party, he brings his characters to the party and films them there. Since he was lecturing in the...
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So John and I made our way over to the AUC campus at 8:45 am. That’s way early, For the record, my “vacation” has been filled with days where I’m getting up really early, which after a night of shooting/partying, is really fun, I must say.
So we get over to AUC to meet with the students. We jump in three separate cars and head over to the outskirts of Heliopolis. The plan is really simple: we...
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Morning begins w/ Samy driving us across town so we can video tape Cairo during the day. It’s easier to shoot the video w/ a driver that we know than a cab because cab drivers might report us. Shooting goes fairly well – I sit in the back of Samy’s SUV so I can film from both sides of the road. Got a good shot of the pyramids in the background with a billboard of a woman w/ blue eyes in the...
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Woke up with the most splitting headache I have ever had. It definitely wasn’t the alcohol – I only had a few drinks. The pollution has finally hit me hard. That and perhaps jet lag. Oh well. Four days isn’t too bad.
First on our agenda today was a visit to AUC to film the girls in their classroom environment. We had to pick up our official paperwork from the head of PR on the way over there. We...
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Met w/ Salma after missing appointment yesterday and her friend Norhan. They both seemed very receptive to our project, and we made plans to get together later in the week.
Met with PR woman to procure pass to shoot. We had to write a letter explaining our project in order to receive approval. Turns out this woman’s husband, who also studied at Harvard, is world-renown Time photographer...
So after waking up on Kristin’s couch this morning, John and I cabbed it back home. We called Jan to apologize for missing our appointment with one of her students. She wasn’t too pleased, but set another appointment for 9:30 AM tomorrow.
We showered and headed out to a book store called Diwan to meet with Ahmed. We figured surrounding him with books would make him feel right at...
Cairo After Hours
Tonight’s artist was a producer named Fathy Salama. He’s an Egyptian based out of France, where he’s very well known. We shot about an hour’s worth of footage. Fathy asked for a dub of the footage, and we exchanged contact info.
Towards the end of the shot, I met some of John’s friends from Cairo, including his ex-girlfriend, who’s also a grad student of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard, and...
Cairo
Well today has been a rather busy day. Early this morning John and I headed over to Gold’s gym, which is located in a former papyrus museum on the Nile River. There, we met with a kick boxer named Konga who is interested in being in our film. Konga seems like an outgoing guy, and I think he will work well for the film. In addition to being a kick boxer, Konga is also quite the party animal....
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Cairo
So I finally made it to Cairo. Safely and without a hitch. I met John and his friend Samy, both for the first time. I have a really good feeling about this project. I think John has some great ideas, and I think he’s lined up some cool choices for subjects. Samy reminds me of the guy from Indiana Jones - whose name currently escapes me. He’s full of anecdotal Egyptian knowledge as well...
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Barrajas Airport
International travel can be a pain in the ass. After arguing with the woman at the check in counter for 30 minutes as to why I shouldn’t have to pay a penalty for a schedule change made without my consent by Air France, she then told me that I could only carry one bag. So then I kindly tried to explain that my Air France flight from MIA to Paris and my connecting Air France flight from Paris...
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Happy Fourth of July!
Happy 4th of July! Celebrated by partying it up in a club in Madrid. Met some cool girls from W. Kentucky U. Had some drinks, and an overall good time. Great techno (80’s remixes, house) at the club, Cibeles. Fun fun fun. I head for Egypt tomorrow in the AM. It’s 5:30 AM here, but it still feels like 11:30 to me….
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Madrid Part 2....
So I did the museum thing today….
Went to El Museo Nacional del Prado. I had the opportunity to see some amazing works of art…
I especially enjoyed the extensive selection of works of art by Velázquez, including “Las Meninas,” which is one of my favorite pieces of art. In addition to Diego V’s stuff, I saw some pieces representative of diverse European eras of art....
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¡Madrid!
Me encantan las mujeres de España…
I could totally see myself living in an apartment in Madrid. This is a city designed for my lifestyle (and my sleeping habits.) The people are friendly, the food is great, and everyone is up till the wee hours of the morning. Took some city photos at dusk - can´t wait to see how they came out.
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Madrid at Night...
Chillin’ in the back of a bar somehwere in Madrid… Bumped into the group of Auburn kids that were on my plane from France to Madrid. I didn’t see any of the kids I had talked to, so I didn’t say anything. It got me thinking, though, about bumping into someone I know out here. What are the possibilities? Who knows. I wonder - who would I want to see, and who would I now?...
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Pre-Travel Thoughts
Some pre-travel thoughts will go here… need to transcribe them from the journal. Not in the mood to do it right now.
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The Adventure Begins...
First off, I´d like to thank all my family, friends, and colleagues for their support with this project. (I guess this is how my speech to the Academy would begin.) In all seriousness, I really appreciate all the care and concern expressed by my loved ones regarding this trip. I´ll be safe - promise. I look forward to exploring the different aspects of Egyptian social life - from the Bedouin...