Social Science Research Council Research AMP Mediawell
Citation

When the Forest Weeps

Author:
Gentile, Bill
Year:
2015

WASHINGTON, DC, 29 October 2015 — I shot and produced this film while on assignment this summer in the Ecuadorian Amazon for American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS). See http://www.american.edu/clals/Religio…

I spent three weeks shooting only with an iPhone 6+ onto which I had downloaded the FilmicPro app. I also connected wireless and directional microphones when appropriate.

I functioned as producer, cameraman, sound man, correspondent, writer and narrator — in other words, I worked as a backpack journalist. This is the methodology I introduced at American University (AU). It’s what I promote through the Backpack Journalism Project at AU. And it’s what I teach in my Backpack Documentary classes.

This assignment was funded by CLALS’ grant from the Henry Luce Foundation on “Religion and International Affairs.”