Katie Barsevich
Copy Editor
Katie Barsevich accompanied Assistant Professor of Communications Jody Santos and the Visionaries’ crew to film a documentary that was shown at Springfield College on Tuesday.
The Visionaries crew and I finally released our death grips on the plane’s armrests as we safely landed at Tegucigalpa Airport, which has been listed among the most dangerous airport sites. In late September, we arrived in Honduras to film a documentary over a four-day period on the University of Zamorano, a non-profit agricultural university celebrating its 70th year.
On Tuesday evening, a little over two months after the trip, director/producer and Springfield College Assistant Professor of Communications Jody Santos, cinematographer Bruce Lundeen, composer Chris Barrett, editor Xandra deGonzalez, and I, the project’s production assistant, gathered in the Townhouse Conference Room in front of an audience of about 60 people to premiere the documentary and discuss our experiences. Santos began the event by proudly introducing the Visionaries as a documentary series that airs on PBS, chronicling stories of non-profit organizations doing good around the world. She continued to explain how their documentaries are different from other news, as the Visionaries produces feel-good films which profile people making positive impacts in their communities.
I first met Santos in the spring of 2011 when I declared my minor in Social Justice, though I was well into my majors of English and Education. In her Special Topics Communication course, I worked with my film partner, Josh Ernst (‘12), to write, film and produce our own 25-minute documentary on the Gray House, a Springfield, Mass. non-profit. Our film followed the format of a Visionaries documentary, allowing the Gray House interviewees to tell the uplifting story of their organization and the differences they make in the local community.
My first-time experience working in documentary production was exciting, and I learned to love the art of storytelling through film. Though that was my first and only class with Santos and involving film, I continued to stay in contact with her in the semesters that followed, always interested in her international, social justice-themed film travels.
In the fall semester of 2012, my junior year, I studied abroad at the University of Limerick in Ireland and traveled throughout Europe.
I believe it was a combination of this international travel history, past documentary experience and my related minor that led Santos over the summer to invite me on the Visionaries’ trip to Honduras earlier this semester. Needless to say, I was thrilled about another international travel opportunity and even more excited to be a part of the first-hand filming experience.
From the moment our plane hit the narrow airport runway in Tegucigalpa, the core crew consisting of Santos, Lundeen, audio technician Lit Turner, and I went straight to work.
It felt as if Lundeen’s cameras were always rolling with Turner monitoring audio, Santos was interviewing and brainstorming storylines, and I was continually sprinting after them trying to keep pace with their seemingly choreographed ways. As we filmed, Santos began to envision the documentary’s story coming together, highlighting Zamorano’s history and positive impact on the community and environment, two top-of-the-class students attending from indigenous Central American villages on scholarships, and the first women’s conference taking place on campus.
Long, hot days of filming started at 3:30 or 4 a.m. and carried well after sundown, sometimes until after midnight.
I quickly realized that while Josh and I had half of a semester to film our Gray House documentary, shooting for four days in Honduras put us on a very different time schedule. Though Honduras can be a dangerous country, especially for American travelers, we felt safe on Zamorano’s beautiful and friendly campus.
During our stay, we got to know the school structure and history very well. The crew and I were impressed by Zamorano’s faculty and their passionate students learning how to better provide for their families and communities.
The students we met were all extremely grateful for their priceless education the University of Zamorano offers them, and their passion for their school was contagious. It was also amazing to learn the university’s role in the surrounding community, including projects such as implementing safer stoves in homes, working to provide clean water, and protecting the environment working in the Uyuca biological reserve.
This was my first time visiting Central America and my first time in any developing country. It was an eye-opening experience driving through the capital city’s poverty on the way to Zamorano’s campus while beautiful mountains of green trees surrounded us.
I thoroughly enjoyed working and spending time with the Visionaries’ crew while soaking up everything I could about the professional documentary-filming process, practicing my Spanish, and learning about the university’s inspirational work.
“Teach the youth of today to feed the world of tomorrow”