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| Derek Walcott and Ida Does in Cap Estate, Saint Lucia. Photo © Rebecca Roos |
by Ivette Romero
Film
director Ida Does was born in Suriname, and is of French, Chinese, and
Dutch-Creole descent. She has worked as a journalist, researcher, writer, and
documentary filmmaker for the past two decades and resides in Aruba and the
Netherlands. She studied documentary filmmaking at the Media Academy in
Hilversum and the Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. After working at a
broadcast company for five years, she went on to become an independent
filmmaker and producer in 2007. Does has directed two award-winning
documentaries about prominent, national figures of Suriname–freedom fighter
Anton de Kom—Peace, Memories of Anton de Kom—and poet Trefossa (Henri
Frans de Ziel)—Trefossa: I Am Not I. [See previous posts Forthcoming Film: Derek Walcott,
Poetry is an Island and Film: Contributions Needed for
“Poetry is an Island, Derek Walcott”.]
Does’
motto is a beautiful line by Leo Lionni: “From time to time, from the endless
flow of our mental imagery, there emerges unexpectedly something that, vague
though it may be, seems to carry the promise of a form, a meaning, and, more
important, an irresistible poetic charge.” Here we ask her a few questions
about her work, her sources of inspiration, and the poetic language of her
films.
Repeating
Islands (RI/IR): I love Leo Lionni’s thoughts on inspiration and creativity,
which you have chosen as a motto; based on what he calls that “unexpectedly
something,” What
inspired you to create films on Trefossa, Anton de Kom, and Derek Walcott?
Would you say that there is a quality that the three men shared that led you to
this work?
Ida Does
(ID): Yes,
isn’t it just a wonderful motto? I’m a big fan of Lionni and his children’s
book about Frederick, the mouse. I have read it to my children, and now read it
to my grandchildren. As a matter of fact, I recently gave this book to Derek
Walcott for his 84thBirthday. The way that Lionni describes what it
means to be a poet, and the value it holds for the community is as simple as it
is true. I love that simple, seemingly effortless way of telling stories. I
very much relate to that approach in my own work.
If you ask
me about my main films and the people they portray, one can only see the
similarities afterwards; I didn’t plan it, it just happened that way. Looking
back there definitely is a quality which these men share: They are all
Caribbean pioneers! Trefossa was the first poet to publish a book in the lingua
franca of my birth country Suriname, in 1957. His poetry is extraordinary
and meaningful, not only for the poetry itself, but also for the emancipation
of our language and our collective self-esteem. Anton de Kom was the first
black writer of Suriname who studied our colonial history and published a book We slaves of Suriname in 1934. His life was tragic, being banned from
Suriname for his progressive views, then arrested by Nazis in the Netherlands,
to later die in a Nazi concentration camp in Germany. And then of course Derek
Walcott, the first colored Caribbean writer to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
My
inspiration to make films about these men might be explained by my fascination
with history. I have a special relationship with the past, I want to touch it
remember it, while I still can. I am always mindful of the passing nature of
things, and I have a strong commitment to hold on to these people’s legacy, to
tell the story of the contribution they made to our continuity as a group. They
helped to define us, younger generations growing up in colonial en post
colonial times. It fascinates me how some people find ways to rise above
everything with their work and lives, and make such a difference in many
people’s lives. People who possess this elusive blend of passion, character,
talent, and courage. By making these films I hope to preserve these
individuals’ historical impact for other generations. Especially in the
Caribbean context, where a lot of stories are still untold, unknown, hidden.
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| Derek Walcott in 2008. Foto © Bert Nienhuis |
RI/IR: How does your background
and lived experience shine through in your subject choices and your films as
finished product?
ID: Being a child of the Caribbean
myself, I am naturally attracted to stories from the region that feels most
like home. My personal story is one of separation. I left my birth country when
I was a young girl, and years later I had to leave it again as a young teacher
and mother, after the brutal murders by the military regime in 1982. Since
then, I have never returned to Suriname, and had to find a way to deal with
that sense of separation and homesickness. I found this when I moved to Aruba.
This is my country of (re)birth, a place that has stolen my heart, and that of
my family. So, your question is not easy to answer. I suppose you could say
that I am deeply in love with the Caribbean, its history, its diverse people,
its languages, the diaspora, the longing, and the complexity of our identities.
I feel ‘in body’ when I connect to artists and storytellers, scientists, who
are, like me, looking for ways to discover our own narrative.
RI/IR: I
was struck by the photo of Walcott on the first page of site for Poetry
is an Island: Derek Walcott and the statement that explains that the
documentary presents “an intimate portrait of the St Lucian Nobel laureate for
literature set in his beloved native island.” How does a sense of “place” play
a role in this documentary (and, perhaps, others you have directed)?
ID: Derek Walcott’s life is long and
rich. This ‘fortunate traveler’ has indeed traveled the world and led an
international life. The fact that he always remained closely connected with St.
Lucia, the island he was born, intrigued me. From the very start I knew that I
wanted to film Derek there… in St. Lucia, because I expected (and hoped) to
meet him ‘at ease’ in the place that he loved so much. I was curious to film
the St. Lucian landscape and to visit the villages that I had read about in
Derek Walcott’s work. I wanted to feel and smell St. Lucia in the same palpable
way that I experience Walcott’s poetry. Coming closer to Derek Walcott—to
me—was to discover St. Lucia and the interaction between the man and the
island. And then…meeting with the people that he writes about, the places he
describes, the valleys that he portrays; it was so much more than a
geographical discovery. When I was there, it felt like I could literally touch
Derek’s work, the heart of it. Which is what the film is all about. So,
yes, the sense of ‘place’ is key in this film. I could have chosen to follow
Derek on his journeys, or interview people around the globe about him and his
work, but instead, I tried to zoom in and capture what I felt intuitively was
the very essence of Derek Walcott. To me… that is.
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| Derek Walcott and his partner Sigrid Nama, in 2008, just before Walcott gave the forst Cola Debrot-lecture in Amsterdam. Photo © Bert Nienhuis |
RI/IR:
How was the reception/reaction of the general public and Walcott himself to Poetry
is an Island?
ID: It was so wonderful. We have
had several screenings and Derek Walcott was present at the World Premiere in
Port of Spain (at the Trinidad &Tobago Film Festival) and at the Gala Event
in St. Lucia during this year’s Nobel Laureate Week. He commented in public in
Port of Spain (https://vimeo.com/75951373 ) and after the screening in
St. Lucia he told me that he enjoyed it even more, watching it for the second
time. Of course that is tremendously rewarding and I appreciated that he had
never ever made demands to see the film before it was finished. Based on
the responses after the screenings, the emails that I received from people and
all the comments and sweet hugs afterwards, I think people like the film. I
look forward to more reviews coming out this year, I’d be curious to see how
critics receive the film. On our Facebook page and via our website we receive
requests to come to all kind of places around the world, so it’s still very
exciting. Documentary Channel from Dutch television is enthusiastic about it,
and they will screen it on national Dutch television. So yes, there is more to
come, for sure.
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| Prof. Michiel van Kempen introducing Derek Walcott, lecturing in Amsterdam in 2008. Next to Walcott is the chair of the meeting, prof. Joyce Goggin Photo © Bert Nienhuis |
RI/IR:
As an artist, how do you express your own personal “poetic language” through
the process of filmmaking? Is this revealed in your selection of
visual imagery and setting, dialogue, the type of research, or other choices
you make as a director?
ID: This is an ongoing process. When we
are filming on set, I am like a sponge… my senses are wide open to everything
that is happening around me. I am fully present in the moment, fully focused on
the energy that’s in the space and the details that are metaphors’ or could
become metaphors at some point. By the time we turn on the camera and start the
actual filming, I will have read and researched a lot. Often, I have to
actively force myself to stop reading and researching, because I need to go into
another mindset, when filming. I have to let things emerge…I place my faith in
the moment and in reality. I love the phrase ‘romance of discovery’, that’s how
I feel when filming. I only feel that I succeed as a filmmaker when my work
touches people, on an emotional level, by what happens, emerges, arises. Most
of the time it’s not explicit, and that means that I always look for a pace and
small things of daily life that we all can relate to. In my choices of imagery,
I have to trust my sense of being open to the unexpected and, here’s Lionni
again, I just learn to follow ‘the promise of a form, a meaning and the
irresistible poetic charge’. It is my goal to tell an honest and authentic
story. Always. In doing that, I don’t try to ‘control’ the story, but I train
myself to keep the eye of the poet.
[from Repeating Islands, March 14th 2014]
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| Actors Felix Burleson and Paulette Smit play a scene from Walcott's theatre work. At the table from left Sigrid Nama, Carel de Haseth, Els van der Plas and Derek Walcott. Photo © Bert Nienhuis |
