Salero Festival Premiers

March 25, 2016

Festival teaser for Salero, directed by Mike Plunkett.

If you go back throw my blog you'll see I spent a lot of time in Bolivia working on a feature doc (untitled at the time). Well, the film is finished and starting to make the festival rounds. It premiered at IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) last fall, and now has two major US premiers. It will be making its West Coast premier at the San Francisco film festival and its east coast Premier at Full Frame! Below is a short write up from the San Francisco catalogue:

"Moises Chambi Yucra and his family stand at the crossroads of time. For generations, they have has made a humble living harvesting salt from Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat, but beneath Uyuni sit massive amounts of lithium, a mineral instrumental in powering smartphones and electric vehicles. With stunning cinematography that captures both the vibrancy and the solitude of the land and life, director Mike Plunkett captures the final days of an age-old way of life."

More info and screening dates @ www.salerofilm.com/

San Francisco International Film Festival 2016 April 21 - May 5
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2016 Durham, North Carolina April 7 - 10
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2015 November 19 - 28

Credits: Directed by MIKE PLUNKETT
Featuring MOISES CHAMBI YUCRA
Edited by ANDREW BLACKWELL and PAX WASSERMAN
Composer ADAM BRYANBAUM WILTZIE
Director of Photography ANDREW DAVID WATSON
Co-producers AARON RABIN and NOAH BLOCK-HARLEY
Executive Producers PHILIPP ENGELHORN, MICHAEL RAISLER and PAUL MEZEY
Produced by ANNA ROSE HOLMER, ANDREW GOLDMAN and MIKE PLUNKETT

SUPPORTED BY:
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation San Francisco Film Society Documentary Film Fund
New York State Council on the Arts
Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
Tribeca Film Institute
Independent Filmmaker Project Paley Center for Media in Association with Snagfilms

BOLIVIA (Trips #3 and #4)

February 18, 2014

I have spent a lot of time in Bolivia over the last 2 years working on a pretty wild feature documentary currently titled Charge, funded in part by the MacArthur Foundation and backed by Cinereach, two wonderful organizations. I think i said it in a earlier post, but this film has been a dream project. Over the years of working in production, I have found you can really rate a project based on 1) Your team. 2) The subject manner 3) Style & visual approach. This project nailed them all... Amazing team, amazing subject manner, and amazing visual approach... and now its sad to think its over. This past fall, September 2013, we wrapped production after spending nearly a month in El Salar, the largest salt flat in the world, where much of the film takes place. The photos below are from the September trip and from a prior 20+ day shoot we did back in December of 2012. (Yes, these have been collecting dust on my hard drives). On both trips we spent all our time in El Salar, which is one of the most wild places I have ever been. At a base level of 13,000 ft its a tough location to work in. On the December trip we experienced some really wild and quickly changing weather, adding to the challenge of working in a remote part of the world.

For those interested in gear, on the December 2012 trip we had a RED ONE (MX sensor) as our A camera, and a RED scarlet as our B camera, with a set of Zeiss Super Speeds and a Ultra Prime 180mm as our lens kit... On the September 2013 trip we had a RED EPIC as A camera, and C300 as backup. Our lens kit consisted of a Canon cinema 30-105mm T2.8 as our main lens (we were shooting a lot more veritie and action on this trip), but also had a 18mm and 85mm super speed for low light work. We once again had a Ultra prime 180mm T1.9 as our long lens, which is an absolutely beautiful piece of glass.

In order to shoot in such a remote part of the world and on a camera package such as the RED, we spent A LOT of time on prep. Double cables, endless test and backups of anything / everything, etc. Super big thanks to Nick who AC'ed the Dec 2012 trip, and Greta who AC'ed the Sep 2013 trip.

(El Salar, an indescribable landscape like no other)

Sep 2013 trip A cam. Pictured with the Zeiss 18mm T1.3

Greta, Ninja and AC.

Mathew's car mount rig to get some driving shots.

(Spent my birthday in Bolivia. I was given Johnny Walker and homemade fireworks.)

(This was the result)

This is real. The most amazing stars I have ever seen!

Peaceful day off in the desert to wonder.

Sep 2013 crew photo

December 2012 Trip Photos

Wish I had my motorcycle.

El Salar has some random and bizarre locations.

Even on a cloudy day, the sun intensity is extremely high. The altitude combined with a white surface creates one of the most sun intensive places in the world.

Natural light interview with a perfect key and edge light, provided but utilizing doors and windows.

Our subject floating in the back of a truck... El Salar will glass over in the right conditions.

Crappy place for a flat tire. Nick taking a nap in the hottest sun you can imagine.

Bizarre train cemetery Nick and I explored on our day off.

Dec 2012 crew photo.

Bolivia! (Again!)

July 11, 2012

I spent another few weeks this past May/June down in Bolivia working on the Feature Doc Charge. Bolivia, what can I say. Its really like nowhere else I have been. It really is the closet thing to a modern day wild west. It was really interesting being back a second time. Despite being bitten by fire ants on my first trip and getting violently ill on BOTH trips, I still think its a pretty amazing place and can't wait to go back (one more trip is in the works).

Once again we took two RED packages and a set of super speeds down (+ 7 other cases of gear). I gotta thank my best bud, adventure buddy and wonderful AC Nick for a killer job (he is the handsome fellow in most of the photos).