Making My First Documentary
I want to be a documentary filmmaker, so I made a documentary about a successful man. Whenever you want to make a film about a climbing area, there’s usually a guy. THE guy. Sometimes it's a woman, but if you want your film to be about route development its almost always a guy. I was living in Madrid last year and got a tad hyperfixated on the concept of route development and bolting. I wanted to understand who is doing it, why, and with what money. When I decided La Pedriza was my muse, it was evident that Talo would be my subject.
Talo Martín is the author of the La Pedriza guidebook and a climber who’s been around for a while, so he was definitely my guy. Oh, also, he’s climbed an 8C slab, very important, can’t forget that part. I found him, signed up for his class, and asked him, “hey can I make a film about you?”
Once I asked Talo, there was no turning back; this was my project. You never know how much work something will take until you start. The first 3 steps are pure determination: Finding Talo, contacting him, and meeting him. The next 97 steps are imminent due to the personal and social pressure you have now put on your project’s success.
At first, I tried to do every job on my own: scripting, organizing, planning, and directing until I realized I don’t speak Spanish, and I can’t film myself. I stopped being stubborn and hired my friend and Madrid local, Natalia. I say hired, but neither of us has made any money from this project. We’ve got something even better: experience. Natalia helped me understand my subject and film him, two pretty important jobs. Natalia was the glue of this project as she helped me maintain my sanity through 11 months of working with Spanish people. I love the Spanish, but they are slow, and I am American, and the cultural differences would have been impossible to navigate without her.
Preparing to climb Placa Infinita 7b while filming For the Love of Slab
After getting permits, filming, interviewing, and reinterviewing, I worked on editing the project all summer, amidst being completely homeless, living in a tent, and travelling Europe to photograph the World Cups, and no, I was not paid for that either. In September, I moved back to Scotland and started organizing a premiere for the film. I emailed gyms and sponsors relentlessly and was able to organize a premiere at Sputnik Las Rozas, although I did not find a sponsor willing to fund anything. I made a trip to Spain in October to meet with the owner of Sputnik and organize for the December premiere.
The premiere was a bit chaotic, but it happened. The volume was too low, and the room was too small, but I was honestly just grateful that it finally happened. As I sat there watching my film show to an audience for the first time, I realized that no one in this room is a native English speaker, and no one in this room is American. At first, I was overwhelmed with the sense of being an outsider, but then I couldn’t help but be insanely proud of myself for making my first documentary in a language I don’t speak, in a country I’m not from, for an audience who doesn’t know me. I sure do love a challenge.
After the struggle that has been the past 11 months of making this film, I’ve learned a lot. I know how to better manage my workload, delegate, direct, and edit, as well as to negotiate with humans who are different from me. Now that I have something on my resume, I can ask for a bigger crew for my next film this summer, which will explore gender inequality in route establishment in Scotland. If you’re interested in getting involved, please reach out, or donate below!
My Crowdfunder here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/boireannaich-allta
When the film is OUT on YouTube, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/d6foqhNLlW4?si=nSvk68lWK98RvuTt
