The secret sauce to my last storytelling trip
Over the past several months, I’ve been creating content from a number of different storytelling trips around the world, and two in particular are really shining as trips that really allowed me to take my creative work to a deeper level.
I collected more heartfelt and vulnerable interviews, developed an understanding around cultural complexities, and felt a lot of enthusiasm around sharing those discoveries with others.
I think it’s no coincidence that these two trips have another thing in common as well. These were trips where I was able to work closely with locally-based creatives, as fixers or videographers. Mudassir in Bangladesh and Yikuno in Ethiopia helped bring these stories to a whole new level. They helped me gain access to interviews I likely couldn’t get on my own. They helped me understand how to read between the lines after hearing from people.
I’m now committed to partnering with locals for storytelling whenever I get the opportunity to. It makes such a big difference. Here are some of the big reasons I think this should be the approach we regularly aspire to.
Five Reasons Storytellers Should Team Up With Locals
1) You gain a better sense of the whole story
In all my experiences, my fixers and filmmaking partners were great at understanding my creative vision but also making sure I had an appropriate understanding of what I was seeing. If they sensed I needed some insight into history or culture that I might not have, they would fill me in between filming, and that helped me understand the whole picture of the story.
For example, in Bangladesh, I came thinking I would film all the many environmental challenges that the country faces separately, but Mudassir helped me realize that it was a broader picture of climate migration that tied all these things together. He helped me figure out how to zoom out the perspective, made great recommendations for experts I should reach out to. And he helped make sure each subject was appropriately compensated for their time.
2) You connect even better with other locals
In both Bangladesh and Ethiopia, my local connections greatly helped me throughout the interview process. I came with a list of questions, and asked them, but Yikuno and Mudassir helped make sure they landed. They asked organic follow-up questions and put the people we were interviewing at ease. They helped our subjects better ignore the camera and simply be themselves.
In past visits, I’ve conducted interviews through translators who weren’t involved in the filmmaking and storytelling per se. The difference is stark. Having people who could interview and translate with an understanding of our finished product enabled them to ask questions that were more dynamic and useful for storytelling purposes. Seeing their translations and transcriptions eventually also helped me realize that simply translating the ideas without the nuances they included and drew out were so much flatter.
3) You can be a more gracious interviewer/storyteller
The norms around what to expect as a visiting filmmaker vary a lot country-to-country. In general, I often find that many of the cultures of the places I visit prioritize formal introductions, making personal connections, and honoring relationships at the very beginning of an interview.
In contrast, I’ve seen filmmakers from Western countries visit who are more used to immediately setting up gear and adjusting settings because they’re aware how cumbersome that can be and want to get it out of the way. Working with a local fixer or filmmaker can help bridge the gap, understanding how to meet local expectations while still keeping a production on track.
Of course, when you’re an outsider, you’re usually offered a good amount of grace for doing things differently, but whenever I can minimize their need to adapt, I appreciate it. Part of my visit to Ethiopia included many interviews with priests and clergy, in a country where religious devotees are very visibly devout. To what degree should I bow, take off my shoes, and receive blessings as a Christian, but not an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian?
My local friends helped me navigate that.
4) It supports the local creative community
I’m all about supporting the creative community, just about anywhere. However, spending time with creatives from various countries has helped me appreciate how much harder it is to launch and grow a creative career in a setting like Ethiopia or Bangladesh.
Many of the creatives I’ve worked with are able to succeed by building a body of work, having more examples to point to, and organizations they can list among collaborators. Word of mouth and referrals are also incredibly valuable.
5) It’s a big win for ethical storytelling
Ultimately, my concept of ethical storytelling is that in an ideal world, people tell their own stories. Of course, some of the challenges that exist in the real world are things like language barriers, access, and things like privilege and who people are more likely to pay attention to. All these things inevitably affect the process, but there are things we can do to minimize their interference.
Of those things, working with somebody who is from a much more similar cultural background, who can better keep a person’s voice intact is a really big win.
Of course, it’s not black and white. Just because somebody is from the same country doesn’t mean other differences like gender, class, or ethnicity can’t also alter a perspective. But you at least move significantly closer than you would on your own. After all, ethical storytelling is less about checking all the boxes, and more about doing everything you can to honor the people involved and fully considering the impact of your story.