Finally got a chance to watch this documentary about Afro-Venezuelan culture, of which I was featured in a small segment playing the guitar last May for the officially recognized month Afrovenezolano. The documentary was filmed and produced by a friend of mine, Maria Marcano (the girl featured on the cover) who works in the Ministry of Education as a producer as a television producer as well as an active University student. It doesn’t suprise me that she never actually gave me a copy like she’d promised; like most Caraqueños she is typically very hard to get a hold of and in the moment makes alot of promises and plans that never come to fruition, it’s a cultural thing. But oh well, all is forgiven, she is beautiful and friendly after all so I cant stay annoyed for too long.
I was amused and kind of relieved to find that my part in the short 20 minute documentary consisted of about 3 seconds. I wasnt prepared when we recorded in Bellas Artes and was never happy with what I improvised in the moment. I also think that apart from being born in Africa I had very little relevance to the themes presented in the documentary and felt kind of akward about being in it. The documentary itself was a pretty good concise look at the coastal african descendent culture, talking about the different customes, a little bit of historical background and the current racial issues and a bit of typical boring government educational information. My only criticism is that it lacks that little touch that makes a production seem complete. Apropriate supporting images and more original stock footage; the most interesting parts being lifted from an old documentary comparing the culture in the coastal town of La Sabana with a coastal town in Africa. I would have thought that with the amount of time she had to make it might have turned out a little bit better in that regard but in any case apart from that, it serves as an interesting introduction for beginners. I myself am quite conscious of the editing issues behind making a documentary as I have eight digital tapes of people playing in the metro lying around waiting for me to edit, and I still feel like I’m lacking in material!
