In the summer of 2011, Austrian photographer and cinematographer Klara Harden hiked solo through Iceland. During the expedition she worked on a film project, documenting the entire journey and acting as her own film crew. The images are breathtaking as she shows varied scenery of mountains, brooks, terrain, valleys, glaciers, volcanoes, homes, and more during her 25-day expedition.
MADE IN ICELAND from Klara Harden on Vimeo.
The Green Living Project will be showcasing a new lineup of local and global short films at the 2nd annual San Francisco Film Premiere. The event will take place on October 22, 2011, from 6PM-9PM at Hub SoMa.
The Green Living Project has created over 60 films from 17 countries across Latin America, North America, and Africa. This event will feature their most popular projects dealing with topics of sustainability, such as wildlife conservation, community development, sustainable travel, and more. Not only is this event a great way to educate yourself and experience new places, it’s also a chance to network and socialize with like-minded individuals and learn ways that you can personally get involved in the Green Living Project’s cause.
Tickets cost $12 at the door ($10 if you have a student ID) with a portion of all the proceeds going to one of the featured films at the event (to be voted on by attendees).
Can’t make the San Francisco Film Premiere? You’ll have another chance to see the project showcase on December 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.
I’m often skeptical when Hollywood forays into the realm of ‘travel films’.
Don’t get me wrong; there have been some wonderful movies in recent years that capture the true essence of the world of travel & the beauty of venturing on a grand journey: Lost in Translation, Into the Wild, L’Auberge Espagnole, Before Sunrise, Up in the Air, and The Beach (did you really think I wouldn’t mention it?) are just a few examples of travel narratives done right.
But those successes aren’t enough to stop the certain feeling of dread I get whenever I learn that Hollywood has again attempted to tackle the travel theme. Perhaps certain blasphemies like Sex & the City 2 or the recent rendition of Gulliver’s Travels keep this fear alive every time I shell out $11 to go on a two-hour cinematic adventure.
That being so, when I first heard about The Way; a film directed and developed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, I expected the worst. An adventure film produced on the magical wings of nepotism? Sounded like the perfect storm.
But Wednesday night’s New York City premiere in partnership with the Walkabout Foundation promised a dazzling list of A-listers (Former President Bill Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Dhani Jones, Wyclef Jean, & the Sheens, among others) and promised to benefit a good cause, so I packed my cynicism away for a few hours and decided to see the film.
%Gallery-136040%
So, is it worth the trek to the theater? Click on through to find out.
The Way is the story of a Tom (Martin Sheen), a father that loses his intrepid son, Daniel (Emilio Estevez) as Daniel sets out in the French Pyrenees on a solo journey along the historic Camino De Santiago. Devastated by the loss and desperate for a way to reconcile their distanced relationship, Sheen’s character decides to embark on the Camino himself, carrying his son’s ashes every step of the way.
In brief, the Camino De Santiago (or the Way of St. James) is a 500-mile trail that starts in France and ends near the Northwest tip of Spain. It was first trekked in the 9th Century by pilgrims hoping to visit the remains of the Apostle St. James upon their initial discovery. In the early days, it was an arduous undertaking; weather, meager provisions, and difficult terrain all took their toll on the dedicated peregrinos. But by the 14th Century, it’s estimated that 25% of all Europeans walked the Camino and today, over 200,000 hikers complete the pilgrimage every year; for many different reasons.
Through Tom’s journey and the friends he makes on the trail, a very poignant illustration of the Camino De Santiago is presented; the beauty of the environment is vivid, the community among pilgrims is familiar to anyone that’s bonded with strangers on the road, and over the course of the film, the mood of sun drenched afternoons walking, eating, and drinking through the Spanish countryside is tangible. The characters all feel genuine and there’s enough clever humor throughout to make the film a fun adventure to be a part of.
One of the best parts of the film is that the story feels real; from a traveler’s perspective, it’s relatable and stays true to its roots of telling the story of the Camino. It strays from the typical over-dramatized treatment that Hollywood loves and instead tells a very real story that will resonate with many people who have trekked the Camino & anyone that’s ever ventured on a journey to cope with a personal battle. For this reason, I think it joins some of the other great travel narratives as a movie that’s definitely worth seeing for those interested in adventure.
The Way succeeds in staying true as a travel story partially because of how it was produced; Estevez insisted that the crew was never larger than 50 people (including actors), a large part of the film was shot on the go using a versatile Super 16mm setup, and the actors actually hiked a good portion of the Camino throughout the course of production.
In all, I give The Way 4 out of 5 St. James’s Shells. It opens for a limited release in theaters today and a wide release on October 21st. So long as you don’t have to make a pilgrimage of your own to go see it, give The Way a second look this weekend.
Photography lovers might want to make a trip to Istanbul this summer to be the first in the world to see the last roll of Kodachrome photos on exhibit at the Istanbul Modern museum. As we reported in December, the film was discontinued in 2009 by Kodak due to the rise of digital photography, and the very last roll of film was processed in Kansas at the end of 2010. The last 36-exposure roll was given to National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry in July 2010, who used it to photograph subjects including Robert de Niro, Bollywood stars, Turkish photojournalist Ara Güler and the Rabari tribe of India. McCurry is best known for his iconic portrait “Afghan Girl” which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, shot on Kodachrome.
The Last Kodachrome Film will run August 2 to September 4 at the Istanbul Modern, located on Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait. The museum also features a collection of modern and contemporary Turkish artists, and will show another photography exhibition from Turkish artist Lale Tara in August along with the work of Steve McCurry.
Photograph by Steve McCurry, courtesy of National Geographic.
A new video by Japanese filmmaker Takayuki Akachi shows people taking steps all around the world. Sounds simplistic, because it is, but the video shows a beautiful slice-of-life from around the globe. His concept is described as “collecting the steps from all over the world and playing a music with the steps.” The artist specializes in a “lone backpacker” style of filming that allows him to travel without a film crew. This isn’t his first round-the-world video effort: last year he made the stop-motion Traveling Denim, documenting a pair of jeans over two years and 50 countries. Check out all of his videos on Vimeo.
Music by Dulo, video sponsored by Onitsuka Tiger sneakers. MANY STEPS from Takayuki Akachi on Vimeo.