AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS 2009

Sylvia is a midwife in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest shantytown, and she’s worried about losing her home and business when a UN project to tear down the slum and replace it with “affordable” block-style housing for the poor breaks ground. The rent for the new houses, built specifically for her and thousands of her neighbors, will be out of her reach, meaning she will not be able to stay and must find a new place to live—all thanks to a project aimed at helping the poor. In the rural countryside, Jackson is grazing his cattle through the lush grasses of one of Kenya’s largest remaining wetlands. As he moves through the valley, Jackson makes a startling discovery: the once fertile pasture has been slashed and burned, leaving only charred papyrus stalks and stagnant pools of water. It seems that an Oklahoma-based agricultural company is clearing the area behind a 16-foot dam to store water for its vast rice fields. The West has spent billions of dollars over the years on aid to Africa, yet poverty persists. Following the struggles of two families whose lives will be overturned by these projects and the humanitarians who are determined to “help” them, GOOD FORTUNE shows that sometimes the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
Van Soest is director/producer of the award-winning film WALKING THE LINE, a feature documentary about “vigilantes” along the U.S.-Mexico border that has been lauded for excellence in production and advocating human rights. The film has screened at film festivals around the world and has received national broadcast in six countries. Van Soest founded the production company Transient Pictures with Jeremy Levine in 2005 and has produced original content for clients such as the Sundance Channel, Working Films and the Dramatists’ Guild. Contracted by Cactus Three, he produced an independent television documentary about architecture, design, and land rights in New York City called HOUSE OF RATH. He is also founder of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a vibrant filmmaking community in Brooklyn, New York.  

What inspired this film?   How did you find your subjects?
The concept for GOOD FORTUNE began more than six years ago while I was a student of economic development in Kenya. Like most westerners I was deeply affected by the extreme poverty I had experienced traveling in the developing world and felt overwhelmed by feelings of compassion. My decision to study in Kenya was an effort to learn how I could use my energy and resources to be part of the solution, but what I found was far more complex. For starters, I was shocked at the extent to which foreign dollars were already at work— the West has spent more than $2.3 trillion in aid to Africa within the last 50 years— and the sheer number of organizations working on the ground.

The longer I spent in Kenya, the more I sensed a disconnect between the values of the people administering aid and the people targeted by it. Many of the communities I visited felt completely disenfranchised with the international aid organizations. Not only were donors failing to meet the needs of the community, they were often not involving them at all. I became incredibly sensitive to the fact that often outsiders were taking it upon themselves to dictate the future of entire communities.

I decided to follow two outwardly controversial aid projects and track the impact they had on the individuals they were aimed at benefiting. In both locations I was strongly advised not to go into the communities at all; there was strong anti-American sentiment brewing in the Yala Swamp and Kibera is generally seen as unsafe for outsiders. But in both cases I found incredible people locally to introduce me to the communities, help locate captivating people, and act as my cultural interpreters. I latched onto Jackson in the Yala Swamp immediately for his commanding presence and strong opinions. Finding Silva in Kibera took a little longer, but ultimately I was told that the midwives were seen as opinion leaders in the community and was soon led to Silva.

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
Shooting in Kenya was certainly full of challenges!! I was blackmailed by local officials, administrators, and even my own interns, my computer was stolen (then miraculously recovered), I was forced to hold my camera together with gaff tape after it nearly broke in half (another time it was almost completely submerged in water, but somehow came back to life a day and a half later), and was diagnosed with malaria more than once.

But I can’t even begin to describe some of the incredible experiences production afforded my personally, witnessing a child being born in the home of a good friend, getting stranded in Jackson’s home after rains turned the soil to ankle-deep mud, my translator getting into a knife fight with a Maasai man who cut off four of his fingers, witnessing an HIV diagnosis, and even just the quiet moments watching the sunrise as Jackson pushed his cattle into the swamp or drinking tea and watching Bruce Lee movies with Silva in her home. The process had a profound impact on me personally and apparently I left a bit of a legacy behind as well; there is now a boat, a cow, and even a child bearing my name in Kenya.

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers?
Hmmm, I love Errol Morris (specifically his earlier films...and FAST, CHEAP, AND OUT OF CONTROL!!) and Werner Herzog, but those are probably stock answers for doc filmmakers...I really think the bar has been raised for docs in the last 5-10 years and there are a number of people pushing the medium that I really respect. I had the pleasure of working with James Longley at the Sundance Labs last summer, and think he is definitely one of the most interesting filmmakers working today.

What is your all time favorite documentary?
Wow these are hard! I think my favorite documentary is always the one I happen to be dreaming about making! If I really had to put a film up on a pedestal though, I’d probably say Chris Marker’s SANS SOLEIL

What other projects are in the pipeline?
For starters, I am working on a short doc based on another story I was following in Kenya about the connections between poverty, HIV, and a fish. I am in production of a film about a very eccentric housing developer in New York who gambled everything just before the housing crash, and am developing a film about the Lithium deposits in Bolivia.

Why did you become a filmmaker?
Filmmaking enabled me to combine a number of different interests into one medium; social sciences, visual arts, storytelling, etc. and allows me to completely submerge myself in the issues and stories that inspire me. Being able to marry these elements and communicate something I feel passionate about expressing is an extremely gratifying experience for me.

Did you go to film school?
Yes, I went to Ithaca College where I had a number of amazing professors that had incredibly diverse approaches to filmmaking. I still keep in pretty close contact with several of them, and two specific professors—Ben Crane and Meg Jamieson—have been working as advisors for this project.

What do you shoot on?
GOOD FORTUNE is shot entirely on a “DVX100.” I love that camera so much that I really resisted the shift to HD for a long time, but recently bought an  “HPX170” and am really loving that as well.

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
SILVERDOCS is our World premiere so maybe I’ll have to get back to you on this one! We have had some very unexpected changes internally though...having the opportunity to screen at SILVERDOCS enabled us to put together the resources to finish the film, and when we opened up the edit again we decided to make dramatic changes! We cut one of the primary characters and really shifted the focus of the entire piece.

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
I think SILVERDOCS has really become an important festival in the documentary world and we were delighted to be programmed! Beyond that, we are very excited to premiere the film in Washington, DC and be able to draw an audience from development workers as well as doc lovers. Creating a social impact for our film is very important to us and we felt SILVERDOCS was a great place to launch that work.