After spending the last few months intensely devoted to editing both the video and still images that were shot during our journey, I can honestly say that the “trip” was by far the easiest part of this project.

I say that for many reasons.  In many ways I see the trip as a joyful journey of discovery.  It was joyful because I experienced it with my daughter. And for an entire summer we were in the presence of remarkable people

Susan Esmoris, Camino Abierto, Carlos Keen, Argentina

who were not only making a difference in other people’s lives, but in their own lives as well. Sure, there were some tough times along the way in that round-the-world adventure, but I was living a dream.

But the ultimate goal of this project was not about the travel experience.  It was to create a film, using our talents to tell the stories of these extraordinary individuals in a meaningful way.  We can really only express the theme of “the power of one” in creating positive change in the world, by telling the story in a global way.  In the beginning of this process, the “hook” or the interest was in the trip itself, but the story is about the journey and the human spirit.

It’s a daunting task to put together the pieces of a story with 150 hours of film and over 4000 images, let alone convey it in a meaningful way.  I’m finally at a point where I have gotten through all the interviews and am now intertwining those individual stories and connecting them together through the words of our subjects and our imagery to communicate that universal theme.  It’s no easy feat.

There are days, when things seem to be going much more slowly than I’d like, and I try to remind myself that I can’t “rush” the process – that it needs to happen at its own pace.  I have also found that even though we know the film will ultimately be so much stronger by working with a professional editor, that was made possible because of our success in raising funds via Kickstarter and that in itself comes with its own pressures. We have backers now and we’ve made a commitment and that is something we take very seriously.

This past week I made some major break-throughs in “seeing” how this film will come together.  I knew it would happen and it did as I listened carefully to what my subjects had to say.  In their own way, they each had expressed, how in following their own path, they were doing what they were meant to be doing in their lives.  They were being true to themselves.

Susana Esmoris at Camino Abierto in Carlos Keen, Argentina perhaps said it best when she said : “Eso es vivir intensamente, vivir intensamente.””Poner en tu vida el color que quieras, la danza que tu guste.”
“Live life intensely. Live  intensely”. “Wear the color that you want in life”.  Dance what you want to dance.”