Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Peaking Through the Sand’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
Peaking Through the Sand is the first project we’ve worked on. Our Social Justice Documentary course at Villanova University gave us the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Brazil to pursue justice through film with a few local contacts for people who are interested in being part of the documentary. Our class gave us the instruction to use the onset tools like the cameras, mics, sound equipment and lights but much of what we learned about filmmaking came from being on set and discussing our challenges amongst one another. Before we began to document Dany and Paulo’s life, we spent a few days getting to know them organically by sitting in conversation, picking clams together, and meeting others in their community by way of Pólen, their close family friend. After building a relationship of trust with Dany and Paulo whom we refer to as our collaborators, we began to document their lives in an organic way.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
One of my favorite filmmakers is Spike Lee. He’s created such rich and relatable content for the Black community that watching his movies often felt like living a few days in my life or my parents’ life before I was born. When creating this film, we aimed for the feel to be similar. Relatable, seeing their mother-son relationship and the care and thoughtfulness behind every action associated with it.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
If we were given a good budget, our ideal project would be to explore the history of the town of Tubarão. If we had the time and resources, focusing on several specific matriarchs and/or figureheads of this community would be a very empowering story to amplify. Many of these women have been key in shaping the town’s culture and history and their stories are often left unheard. Highlighting their contributions, challenges, and the impact they have had would be empowering for audiences and ensure that these influential beings are not overlooked in the historical significance of these communities.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
Production was not an easy task; it was one of the more difficult parts of creating the documentary. Usually, the day before filming we checked in with Dany to learn what time would be best to begin filming the next day. From there we’d create a call sheet and a shot list for the day and attempted our best to incorporate eating and breaks into our schedule considering our large team and hot weather. Though, throughout our days we often had to rework what we created the night before, always keeping alternative options for interviews, shots, or food in case we ran into any issues. Often, we had 12-hour production days, sometimes longer, over the span of two weeks create this documentary. The process was difficult but rewarding in knowing that our collaborators can share their stories to the world in such an organic way.
What was the hardest part of making ‘Peaking Through the Sand’.
The hardest part of making ‘Peaking Through the Sand’ was figuring out how we wanted to tell the story. At first, this story was going to be featured as a vignette for our Social Justice Documentary class. As we continued to dive deeper into the story, important universal themes were arising, and we knew we wanted to unpack the full story. At first, we took a “Day in the Life” approach to tell this story but unfortunately, we faced obstacles that made it impossible. We went on to rework cuts more than 10 times. It was a matter of figuring out how to effectively convey our story in an order that made sense to the audience. Once we successfully were able to convey the right emotions, this story arose.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
With the funds and time, it would be a dream to follow up in the town of Tubarão and continue to build off the main themes of our short film, education. Comparing the disparities between public and private education would be a very important story to share with audiences. Focusing more on the legislation that is in place would be a telling foundation to convey the realities of certain families’ circumstances.
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