“Some of the most beautiful places on this planet have the most severe travel advisories. Those are the best places to go.” – Marco, Traveler
Last we shared KACEY the documentarian. Kacey’s mission was documenting the coltan and cassiterite mining and the atrocities to women and children that go with it in the Congo.
Now to Marco, the traveler. And he finds himself in a horror flick thriller scene nursing a cliche campfire in Bujumbura And that’s when it happened.
NOW, LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO – MARCO
Marco: “I’m an African American. What’s gonna happen to me? I have absolutely zero value in the African kidnapping, mugging markets. Black power!!!”
We Welcome Your comments:
What is your take on MARCO?
What makes a person want to climb a straight-up mountain or hostel in coutries with travel advisories?
Why aren’t African American tourist targets of kidnappings. As a rule, that is.?
Have you ever visited or were stationed in a travel advisory country? What was it like?
Do you know any Americans, even by 6 degrees, who were taken hostage while traveling ?
The next Blog we will ask NAOMI, the Diplomatic Courier, “What was your mission?”
“You know how many times I had to hide because of rumors I was ripe for the slave trade picking. I always felt the IRC, though great, looked at me out the corners of their eyes. Like I was Nancy indie filmmaker indulging in voyeurism.” – Kacey, Documentary Filmmaker
Last we shared Charles, the Griot, found his mission at an actual mission orphanage, swallowed, finally, by the voracious thankful orphans devouring his tales.
Now to Kacey, her mission is to Document human inhumanity, only to find … what? … In her song
LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO – KACEY
Kacey sings, films, waits for a lover to come crashing at her cliff, summoned by beauty, a heart that only eternity can muster.
We Welcome Your comments:
What is your take on Kacey?
How do documentaries contribute to global peace movements?
Can documentaries hurt the global peach movement
Have you ever visited or stationed in a travel advisory country? What was it like?
Did you know anyone who may know someone who was taken hostage while performing a peace making task?
The next Blog we will ask MARCO, the Traveller, “What was your mission?”
What on earth does Alitash want with the hostages?
What manner of interrogations does she subject them to?
THE DEN is an extraordinary rubric; FIERCE in what it ASKS and will CONJURE!
My thoughts, imaginings, influences and searchings that go into The Den’s origination.
And … the saga of thoughts, wonderings, imaginings that will take me on The Den’s journey from script to screen.
Thank you for sharing this journey. I am fortunate as a screenwriter and filmmaker to have been called to develop a film that will take me on its journey on a need to know basis.
I invite you to view the extemporaneous clips below on my meandering joust with purpose, theme, premise.
Paranormal Peace
Africa Is The World
Global Peace
Peace Army
Every Man Is A Mother’s Son
Broiled Stakes (LOL – I like this title Nathan!!!!)
In the end, I’m always left with the same burning question:
“What Does Alitash Want?”
I have to get cracking on the script. I will be back and forth with doses on the Character Profile Shorts page. Keep up:) They will be coming at you fast! And, all along, please join me in your comments.
“Mission. By that what do you mean? Sent by some higher power to do something? Wandering around corners to discover someone to attack? Finding myself stranded, suddenly in the middle of a purpose I did not propose? ” – Charles, The Griot
Nathan Ross Freeman to “Charles” – The Griot
Death is hard headed, wounds are stubborn and mistakes are unforgiving.
PLEASE COMMENT:
What is your take on the GRIOT?
Are you a Story Teller? Tell us a story of an actual event in your journies.
NEXT:
The next blog we will ask KACEY, the documentary filmmaker, “What was your mission?”
I want The Den to be a surreal plot that conflicts unlikely characters both as hostages and captors who, in the end, will resolve, maybe, a construct for global peace.
THE “UNLIKELY CHARACTERS” – Meet the Cast:
I have researched with a certain reverence and fictionalized actual blogged and published accounts of a myriad of peace aid workers. For hostages, I chose 7 African American peace aid workers, 1 White mercenary and 1 White Documentarian and put them together in The Den.
Why the term “unlikely”? I took poetic license and created a posse of 9 hostages, 7 of which are African American. I mean, when was the last time you heard of an African American hostage?! We know that is not the international profile of a hostage no matter what the circumstances, unless they are very rich and/or famous. And even then, when was the last time you heard of any? And when was the last time you found two African women as warden and interrogator in a hostage community?
THE SETTING
The film begins on the hostages 45th day of captivity. Their warden; an African-Euro-American named, “Vana”. Their captor; an AFrian-Euro-American named, “Alitash”.
THE STORY
Nine Hostages are held somewhere in Africa. A Mercenary, Documentary Filmmaker, Griot, Medical Aid Worker, Diplomatic Courier, Refugee Resettlement Aid Worker, Infrastructure Aid Worker, War Correspondent and Traveller. Vana is their warden. Alitash is their interrogator. This is how far I have gotten. The script is in development.
I have decided to “interview” each character. The questions I select offers me the opportunity to have my characters negotiate their part, their say in how my plot will evolve. It’s a process that forces me to listen, discover their voices and have details revealed to me by the characters that guarantees authenticity and will never allow me to shove words in their mouths nor contrive behaviors that are merely plot driven.
The things they show and tell me, it’s really like magic.
YOUR HELP – View taped interviews and comment.
In the weeks to come, under the “Character Profiles” page, video blogs will accumulate of each character being interviewed. I have chosen this method of “interviewing” the characters in order to develop their profiles and to help guide me in the writing of the script. They are not meant to be part of the script. They are more of a consciousness exchange between me, the storyteller, and the hostages, the ones who journey.
Via the taped interviews I am sharing my plot ideas and possible progressions. I invite you to comment and share your thoughts and ideas. For, you see, the character profiles and the story outline . . .this is how far I have gotten.
Writing of the script will be through discovery and revelation via reader comments/feelings about the answers given by each character. I still need to know how this accord-thing that will be forged. What does Alitash have in mind for this group? Do the interrogations subsume death threats and torture?
How do I … responsibly … harness and proliferate the many, many innuendos and still wind up with a cohesive film?
GETTING STARTED (If you are joining my blog mid-stream, view the “Readers Guide” page to jumpstart yourself.)
1. VIEW “The Filmmakers Notes In Shorts” and tell me what you think.
2. READ and comment on the posts to follow under CHARACTER PROFILE SHORTS for each of the 7 questions posed to the 11 hostages. Every few days I will launch a new post that will include a character per question. Keep Up.
3. ALSO feel free to visit all the pages on the site for background.
So, get to crackin’ and be my muse.
DOWN THE ROAD
I welcome, thoughts, ideas, and, yes, development. Beyond input of readers I also welcome potential producers and financiers to join me in the making of The Den from script to screen.
Check out one of my premises in the short below.
The rest of my premises are on the FILMMAKER THOUGHTS IN SHORTS page.
The Den 