Untukmu Para Pengunjung

John Heller/Post-Gazette

Josh Eisenfeld, left, and Michael Armour, two college students from Fox Chapel, will travel to Mozambique in June to make a documentary.

Mozambique may seem a strange location for a college film student's first attempt at a documentary. For two old classmates from Fox Chapel Area High School, however, it's an opportunity for a bold leap into filmmaking.

In spite of the distance and the unforgiving conditions, Josh Eisenfeld of O'Hara and Michael Armour of Indiana Township plan to make the 8,000-mile trip in June to film a documentary on a Mozambican folk band called Massukos.

Mozambique, a poverty-stricken country of 23 million people on Africa's east coast, is among the continent's most underdeveloped nations. More than three-fourths of its citizens are farmers.

The young filmmakers will follow the band through Mozambique's Niassa Province -- an expanse of isolated scrubland scarred by craggy hills and shallow rivers, larger than Pennsylvania but with one-tenth the population.

When Mr. Eisenfeld, 21, read about Massukos in National Geographic magazine last year, he decided the group would be a perfect subject for his first large-scale film.

The band, led by folk-rocker Feliciano Dos Santos and playing a blend of traditional Niassa music and Afro-reggae, travels throughout Mozambique performing songs about hygiene and AIDS prevention. Massukos developed a strong following in rural Mozambique, where at least 12 percent of adults are HIV-positive.

"They're doing more than just making music," Mr. Eisenfeld said.

Band members, who have been in touch with Mr. Eisenfeld for months, immediately welcomed his documentary idea.

"I had my mind set on making documentaries," said Mr. Eisenfeld, who will be a senior at Syracuse University this fall. He approached Mr. Armour, a friend from high school who also is a film major at Syracuse, about traveling to Mozambique for the film. Mr. Armour agreed.

"For me it's all about the music," he said.

Popular music once flourished in the former Portuguese colony. But as the AK-47 rifle on the national flag -- symbolizing the 1970s independence struggle -- suggests, recent generations have suffered under brutal political violence and a civil war that strangled Mozambican culture until the mid-1990s.

With the country recovering, the classmates have a chance to film a rising African success story.

"We've had classes together every semester since sophomore year of high school," Mr. Armour said. "We always joked about doing a movie together."

The pair set about raising their own funds for the month-long trip to Niassa Province, including camera equipment, plane tickets and supplies. Using Twitter, Facebook and online fundraising services, they've raised nearly $20,000.

"It's just grassroots student funding," Mr. Eisenfeld said.

The pair are scheduled to leave for Mozambique on June 17. They'll be living and traveling with Massukos for most of the trip, but they've done little specific planning otherwise.

"We know a lot of it's gonna be left to us," Mr. Eisenfeld said. "It's tough to say what kind of film it's going to be."

The friends will follow the band across Mozambique, recording the its performances while covering their own experiences and reactions to the new environment, he said.

Despite the large investment of both time and money, Mr. Eisenfeld and Mr. Armour see the film mostly as a career learning experience in a field that requires intense interest and strenuous work.

If their first serious film emerges as a success, Mr. Armour said, they could submit it to public TV stations and film festivals for a wider audience.

"It's intimidating. I'm definitely a bit nervous," he said. "But now that we're doing the real deal, it's really exciting."

First published on May 31, 2011 at 12:00 am

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11151/1150329-54-0.stm?cmpid=movievideo.xml

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