Intelligent Travel

Cinematic Road Trip: South Carolina

You know you missed him... so John Ur is back with a smattering of the best films which show the landscape of South Carolina.

I know I’ve been to South Carolina. I’ve driven through it any number of times going to Florida or Georgia. But for the life of me, I can’t describe how it looks outside of the ads I’ve seen for the golf courses or Myrtle Beach. And in some ways, I wonder (completely ignoring any important historical events), why is South Carolina even a state? I mean, why doesn’t it just unite with North Carolina and settle down, buy a house, have some kids? Is it really that different that it needs its own borders?

Here’s what I do know, at least from what the important tourism people tell me through their plethora of ads about that state: There are some of the best golf courses around in South Carolina, most notably Hilton Head. For many, this is more than enough reason to book a trip. For those in the audience to which this applies, you may want to check out The Legend of Bagger Vance, a deeply philosophical (sometimes nauseatingly so) film starring Matt Damon and Will Smith. The film shot in Beaufort, Charleston, and Hilton Head, and has some beautiful long sequences filmed on the Pete Dye Course at Colleton River Plantation in Bluffton and the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.

Besides golf, on the Sea Islands along the coast you may find the descendants of African slaves, the Gullah or Geechee people. The Gullah worked on rice plantations on the coast, which tended to be swampy marshland. Because of the heat, isolation, and undesirable conditions, the slave owners hardly ever ventured out to oversee the work being done. Thanks to their relative separation from the rest of the state, the Gullah were able to retain many of their own traditions including language, song, and the trade for which they are famous: basketweaving. So strong are their skills and traditions that a Gullah woman, Mary Jackson, was recently named a MacArthur Genius.

Rumba in the Redwoods

Most people around here know me as Traveler’s business manager, but those who know me well know that I'm fascinated by Afro-Cuban music and dance and spend all my free time outside of work studying it. Yet – I must admit sheepishly – I’ve never actually been to Cuba. With the U.S. travel ban to Cuba still in effect, where’s a law-abiding Cuba-phile to travel to when it's time to hit the road and play? 

Fortunately, every summer Humboldt State University in Northern California holds an annual week-long workshop called “Explorations in Afro-Cuban Dance and Drum,” and this year I attended for the second time.  With my days filled with dance and drumming classes, and nights with impromptu jam sessions, I was in heaven. Not only does the program boast an impressive roster of instructors (with the likes of living legends Francisco Aguabella and Lazaro Galarraga), it’s a chance to meet and connect with other Afro-Cuban music enthusiasts, for whom this is also their idea of a perfect vacation.

In a nutshell, it’s band camp for grown-up drum geeks. 

With towering redwood forests on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, the setting for this unlikely pocket of Cuban culture is hard to beat. The highlight of the week is a party at nearby Moonstone Beach, when students and instructors bring drums and warm blankets to huddle around a bonfire and play rumba into the night, Cuban-style. This year I brought a camcorder along--the video above is a glimpse, in sight and sound, of what it felt like to be there that night. 

VIDEO: Everyday Explorers

A few months ago, we tipped you off to the new National Geographic video site, Everyday Explorers. Since that time, people have begun populating the site with fascinating clips of Weather, Wildlife, Green Tips, and their Favorite Places. The latter is of course closest to our heart, so since the site officially launched last week, we're going to start bringing some of the best of them to you here on the blog. Today's is a bit of a herky-jerky road trip from Las Vegas to southern Utah. The trip took 3.5 hours by car, but you can watch the sweeping landscape change in just under two minutes, and simultaneously avoid the whole butt-falling-asleep-in-the-seat problem. 

Share your own videos with Everyday Explorers online.   

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Cinematic Road Trip: North Carolina

John Ur crosses into North Carolina on his next stop on the Cinematic Road Trip.

If you drive down the eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida, you will see distinct regional differences between New England, the Northeast Corridor (roughly Washington DC to New York City), and the South. For many years the dividing point has theoretically been the Mason-Dixon line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. But that mentality has been out-of-date for quite some time. For me, the line is the border of North Carolina.

For my family, crossing the border of Virginia into North Carolina means we’re getting very close to one of our favorite vacation destinations: the Outer Banks. We'd spend many hours soaking up the sun, playing in the waves, looking for wild horses and eating as often as we liked. Countless puzzles have been assembled (more often than not, with a piece missing) and countless hours have been wasted lounging in the water.

Though we tend to stay toward the north end of the Banks, the more recognizable cities tend to be to the south –Cape Hatteras, Rodanthe (location for the new movie Nights in Rodanthe), Nags Head, and Kitty Hawk– where the Wright brothers decided to revolutionize travel. Further south, the city of Wilmington is peaking as a television production market. In recent years, "Dawson’s Creek" and "One Tree Hill" were both shot there.

But Wilmington also served as the location for a film that is much darker and more disturbing than the preternatural philosophical sensibilities found in the cast of "Dawson’s Creek." David Lynch’s Blue Velvet has been a cult favorite since its release, but is definitely not for those with a weak stomach for violence and sexual crimes. (Be forewarned, it’s not a real family-type flick.) If you’re down on Market Street, take a look for the Carolina Apartments – which stand in for Isabella Rossellini's Deep River Apartment – one of many area locations that were used in the filming.

All Roads Spotlight: Hawaii

As part of our All Roads Film Festival coverage, today IT talks to filmmakers Puhipau and Joan Lander, whose film Na 'Ono o ka 'Aina – Delicacies of the Land is featured in this year’s festival.  Part music video, part documentary, the film is narrated by taro advocate Jerry Konanui, who addresses the importance of preserving traditional taro cultivation and the controversy of genetic engineering. 

The film will be screened this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington DC. The complete schedule for this weekend’s festival can be found here. A National Geographic program, All Roads provides an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists to share their cultures, stories, and perspectives through the power of film and photography. Read more from this series here, here, and here.

What prompted you to make the film?

In 2004, we participated in a film festival panel discussion with the producers of The Future of Food, a seminal documentary on the genetic engineering of food crops and the threat to world agriculture. Little did we know then that two years later we would be producing a Hawaii version on the same subject for the environmental law firm Earthjustice, a half-hour piece entitled Islands at Risk – Genetic Engineering in Hawaii.

During production, we learned that Hawaii is the genetic engineering capital of the world and that there is a lack of awareness as to what the GMO industry and the university research scientists are doing in the islands. The highly secretive bio-ag industry often influences legislation so thoroughly that not even the governor had the right to know where experimental and potentially dangerous bio-pharmaceutical test plots were being grown. We were able to shed light on all of these facts in our documentary.

But when we learned that the genetic engineering industry was going after the kalo (taro), sacred staple food of the Hawaiian people, we knew that another, more focused, video was in order. In addition, legislation to protect kalo from genetic modification was coming up in the Hawaii legislature and a video was needed to inform lawmakers and the public.

Elephant-Blogging with Xeni Jardin

Ever wonder what it's like to go on safari? Here's a great glimpse from BoingBoing co-editor Xeni Jardin, who tipped us off to the short video she shot in Benin recently while visiting the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve with her dad. She writes:

Today's episode of our daily online tv show, BBtv WORLD, is a first-person report I filed from the Pendjari Biosphere, a large nature preserve in the remote northwest of Benin, near the border of Burkina Faso. Lots of wildlife in this episode!  Pendjari is home to elephants, lions, monkeys, cheetah, and around 300 species of birds. We traveled here during the dry season, when animal spotting is easiest. Here is what we saw at dawn (the time of day when critters all come out to the watering holes and rivers).

I shot this video on a small hand-held digital camcorder. This episode of our daily show is a little experiment in trying to convey what this place feels like, first-person, without too many words.

Xeni adds:

Poaching is still a big problem in this area, and organized trophy hunting for foreign tourists is still legal and in demand here (mostly visitors from France; Benin is a former French colony and French is the official language). Lion hunts are a lucrative trade in this extremely poor region, where most people are subsistence farmers.

But eco-tourism and less-invasive safari experiences are becoming more important to the local economy here, and offer a more sustainable future.

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All Roads Spotlight: Colombia

As part of our All Roads Film Festival coverage, today IT talks to filmmaker Roberto Arévalo, whose film Weaving Life is featured in this year’s festival. Set in a mountainous coffee-producing region of central Colombia, Weaving Life beautifully documents the details of the daily life of Rubiel Velasquez, one of the few basket weavers remaining in Filandia, Quindio.  Arévalo artfully weaves into Rubiel’s narrative the social issues that shadow his family’s existence:  the fear of violence, the absence of public health, and a diminishing livelihood.

The 2008 All Roads Film Festival comes to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC this Thursday and runs through the weekend.  A National Geographic program, All Roads provides an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists to share their cultures, stories, and perspectives through the power of film and photography. Read more from this series here, and here.

How did you get into filmmaking?

I immigrated to New York City in 1981, leaving behind my mother and sisters in my native Colombia. For several years I worked in factories, cleaned offices, washed dishes and bussed tables. Eventually I obtained my GED and received my green card. I worked as a waiter while studying media communications at Hunter College. During this time I felt that most of the images and stories I saw in magazines, newspapers, television, and movies did not reflect my neighborhood, the people around me, my workplace or my way of thinking.

During my junior year in college I bought a camcorder and videotaped everything that caught my eye: at school, at the World Trade Center in the restaurant where I worked, in Central Park, and on the subway. I was fascinated by the uniqueness of the people I met in my daily life. As I examined the footage I collected, I began to understand myself better and realized that I could create documentaries that more accurately reflected people's experiences and the way I perceived the world.

What brought you back to Colombia as a documentary filmmaker?

In 2004 I visited Marlene, one of my four sisters, who lived in Filandia, Quindio, eight hours from Bogotá, Colombia. Her friend nicknamed "Falladera" or "No-Show" took me to meet Rubiel Velasquez because he believed that he and I would get along. It was about 8 p.m. and Rubiel was weaving a big basket in a small brick room with a bald light bulb hanging from the ceiling. I spoke to him for a few minutes and soon he called in his wife and five children who were in the next room watching television. I asked him questions about the town and his trade and he responded but never stopped weaving the basket.

I was mesmerized by the unique skill and hard work required to make baskets. I felt the story of the Velasquez family represented the story of many artisans in rural Colombia. People like Rubiel, who despite their hard work and talent are often ignored both in and outside of Colombia. I asked Rubiel if I could make a documentary that would show his work and tell his personal story. I told him that his baskets were art and that the world should know about him. He smiled in disbelief and said "Esta bien" (Okay).

Cinematic Road Trip: Virginia

John Ur is a lover, not a fighter. So it's fitting that this week's stop along the Cinematic Road Trip is in the great state of Virginia.

I always thought it was strange that, as the saying goes, Virginia is for lovers. If I were not a lover, would Virginia still be for me? If you are a lover, but live outside of Virginia, are you considered an outcast? Isn’t Virginia for recreating history in period outfits? I would love to see some sociological studies on these subjects.

But perhaps Virginia is for lovers because like love, the state is home to many peaks and valleys. It's surprisingly diverse geographically for an Eastern state. Starting at the coastline on the east, the state rises up to the southwest mountains and the foothills of the Appalachians. The highest point in the state, Mount Rogers, is contained in the Blue Ridge Mountains a bit further to the west. It's also home to a wide swath of rivers and forests that make up the Shenandoah Valley, which are easily explored in Shenandoah National Park.

Many women already find the mountainous region of Virginia romantic without even knowing it. This is where a portion of Dirty Dancing was filmed. The Mountain Lake Hotel in Pembroke, Virginia served as “Kellerman’s Resort” in the film (and was once visited by fellow IT blogger Janelle). Cottages and hotel rooms are available at the resort as well as “Dirty Dancing Weekend” packages which include film location tours, trivia and dance lessons. But don’t look to try to recreate the scene where Patrick Swayze lifts Jennifer Grey over his head in the lake… You’d have to drive about 230 miles south from Pembroke to Lake Lure, NC, where that scene was filmed.

All Roads Spotlight: Ethiopia

As part of our All Roads Film Festival coverage, today IT talks to filmmaker Daniel Taye Workou, whose film Menged is featured on the newly released All Roads Film Festival 5th Anniversary Collection DVD Set. Workou is a filmmaker of Ethiopian descent and Menged is his first fiction short, which was shot in and around his grandfather’s village in Ethiopia. It is a modern adaptation of a folk tale about a father and son on their way to market and the people they encounter along the way. 

The 2008 All Roads film festival begins this Friday in Los Angeles at the historic Egyptian Theatre.  A National Geographic program, All Roads provides an international platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture artists to share their cultures, stories, and perspectives through the power of film and photography.

How did you get into filmmaking?

I got into filmmaking quite late. I came to Paris to do a masters in international relations, but I quickly learned that Paris is not only the City of Light but also the city with the most films on screen in cinemas every day. As a student you can enter a lot of cinemas for free. It was then that I started to become what the French call a cinephile. Three years later I went to film school in New York.

What is the story behind this film?

The story was one of my favorite tales my father used to tell us when we were kids. It left a big impression on me. My father moved back to Ethiopia some 30 years ago. I used to visit him frequently and I watched the country going through all kinds of changes politically, economically, and culturally. As my father grew older I wanted to spend more time with him and was looking for projects in Ethiopia.

When I visited my grandparents in the countryside I was looking for a story to place here. Observing the people and the dilemma they live in I remembered the story. I tried to adapt it to the situation there now and incorporate the elements which have an impact on the rural society in Ethiopia today: religion, globalization and international organizations. I decided to make it a comedy because humor is an important part of our culture.

Cinematic Road Trip: Washington D.C.

I often take a little time out of these articles to talk about states with inferiority complexes. Part of this is to stir up conversation ("My state's better than yours!") and part of it is to try to explain the mentality of living in a small state where your local news and weather is overshadowed by your larger neighbor. The District of Columbia is a completely different story. On the one hand, it is not a state and has no representative in Congress; so much for that whole "No Taxation Without Representation" thing. On the other hand, it is one of the ten biggest cities in our country, one of the most visited cities in the world and has a population greater than Wyoming (and only slightly less than Vermont and Alaska).

So while we may not get our representation in Congress, one point of pride for D.C. is its widespread representation in the film world. The city is one of the two or three most iconic in our country, and though the U.S. Capitol can on occasion be faked with the Arkansas Capitol building, there are no obvious replacements for the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial or many of the other neoclassical buildings. To make a D.C. movie, you inevitably have to include shots of D.C. But that's where the rules seem to end.

To the average movie-going public, once you see one of the establishing shots of the monuments on the Mall, a sweeping aerial over the Reflecting Pool, or a look through the iron gates at the White House, you know you're in D.C. and you accept that the filmmakers know what they're doing with the location. To D.C. residents, every little geographical twist is blasphemy.