Sandra's Journey | 7. In the flow of life

Sandra's journey. Filmmaker Sandra Korse journeyed with us in The Rhythms of Africa. She captured the creation process and her inner journey in short video's and writings. 

I seem to struggle with this week’s video material. "Damn," I think to myself, "what are we going to send to our followers...?" Carole, the Queen of asking the right questions, asks me an enlightening question. "Ai," I realise, "I haven gotten myself to a place of ‘should do….’ because we said we are going to send a weekly update…" And that is exactly what I am completely letting go of, here in Ghana.

Because nothing here goes according to a pre-arranged schedule. The energy is leading and what may happen in the moment happens. Just like what happened on Monday when I unexpectedly met with the head of the Nursing School. And wow, that was special.

Carole asks me some other questions. Because what is it really about? What is my energy telling me? What did I experience - as a documentary maker - last week?

I feel the energy within myself shifting from a place of stuckness to a free flowing energy. What if I can just write about what I've experienced? Perhaps images that are a fit will appear in my mind’s eye? Or maybe it is just going to be a written behind the scenes with no video footage. Is that also allowed? I decide it is .

Larger than life
It is 10 am on Friday morning. Carole and Mwintombo (two of the four characters in the documentary) and myself sit under the big tree in the garden. Carole beautifully opens up the space. Mwintombo moves his chair closer to mine. He looks at me intently and asks me a number of questions: What is your intention with the film? What do you have in mind and why should I cooperate?

Well-founded questions that I answer from the depths of my being and with the emotion in my voice. What happens in that moment is beyond words. I hear Mwintombo speak the words: "this film is larger than life". A sentence that touches me deeply. In that one moment all three of us feel that there is a bigger reason why we are creating this documentary.

From that moment onwards I flow with Mwintombo through the area. Which means as much as moving through Wa on the back of his motorbike, observing the beautiful greetings as we drive past, and being part of spontaneous encounters and unexpected performances.

No meaning just yet
And so this week's update is one with some individual shots from the past few days. And as a viewer you may not be able to derive any meaning from it, but that is my task as a filmmaker, at a time when I feel the flow of creation. Because day by day the story unfolds itself and I like what I see .

The photo below was taken during an unexpected trip to Ga, where we met several Chiefs and Sub-Chiefs.