In the beginning there was a post...
As you can see I haven't really done anything with this website yet but for those of you whom I've met personally and given my card you may have visited this site and seen the rather boring first post with the missing picture. Slightly unimpressive huh. Lately I've been using the old Arab proverb "the door of the door maker is always broken" to describe the state of my website but I have slowly realised that I must really make sure my online presence is as good as my offline one so here is the first real post.. its about me and where I'm at now.
Currently I'm traveling, not for the sake of it mind you, but to make a documentary. I'm in South East Asia, and more, specifically Bali, documenting the Capoeira groups that have been springing up all over this part of the world. Its a self-funded one man show so no guarantees on a perfect piece of work here but its an attempt to try and make a film from beginning to end. I did a an Msc in Digital Design and Media and hence have been testing out the 'media' part of those qualifications to see if I can cut it.
I love documentary films and I love Capoeira (if you don't know what that is I shall be writing another post later). I've been doing the latter four four years and since first coming out here in December 2007. I made some amazing friends and I wanted to share the experience of some of these young Capoeiristas in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore with other Capoeiristas and hopefully with a wider audience. The spread of this art has happened in a similar way that Kung Fu left China. First some Brazilians left their country and with little help began groups across the United States and Europe as well in Capoeira's ancestoral home of Angola.
Now with the help of movies like Only The Strong, Ocean's Twelve Catwoman and Meet the Fockers, the Internet through YouTube and many specialist websites groups are springing up everywhere. some have the help of Brazilian teachers and Masters others organically try and copy what they see and form new groups usually based around the acrobatic movements at first but later learning more. Its an art that appeals to all ages and races, bringing people together to play a game, a language of the body used to express many different things. Here in Indonesia I'm beginning a road trip with members of the Bali group to go Jakarta for a Batisado, literally 'baptism' though it has no religious connotations other than the word. It is an initiation for all new players and a ceremony to award cords (cordao) to the players of the game.
I'm in two minds about returning to Bali after the event as I have to re-shoot some interviews in Kuala Lumpur and visit my auntie in Singapore its a tough call but I think I have to make a decision tonight. The trouble is whether or not I should follow my plan because I think that in order to create a story I have to follow just a few characters around for a substantial part of time. However I had wanted to document the rise of the South East Asian groups entirely - though a budget of 3000 pounds is really not enough for that. Hence I shall have to miss the Philippines and I shall only be attending one day of massive event in Singapore due to a problem in changing the dates on my air ticket. I think to be honest that its about the story here in Indonesia....
I shall fill you in with photos and video once those areas of my site are working. ciao for now
Jamie.