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A guerrilla-style documentary focuses on mistreatment of the porters of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the men and women upon whose back the mountaineering industry is quite literally reliant.
The benefit of storyboarding, writing and blocking documentary scenes on-the-fly while producing Porters on the Stone of God had its perks: outdoor offices. Photo: Chris Battaglia
Benjamin Key and Chris Battaglia set out to Kilimanjaro–”the Stone of God” to many–and documented the economic and social injustices faced by the Porters responsible for the burden of recreational hikers and tourist gear and equipment.
As an outdoors-oriented person with a talent for writing and an interest in celluloid salvation, Ben pitched an idea to John Michalczyk–film department chair at Boston College at the time–that he and I travel to Tanzania to film an investigative documentary.
Tanzanian Porters are the humans hired by tour operators to carry the heavy luggage and burdens of recreational tourists ascending Mt. Kilimanjaro. After careful (and very niche research), Ben sought to uncover some of the reasons behind reports of economic, cultural, and social injustices surrounding their existence. He would write and direct, and I film and edit. We co-produced this film from the streets of Moshi, Tanzania, to the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, to our dorm room at Boston College.
This project, at my 21 years young, with only a film department rental camera with a single lens, a boom pole outfitted with shotgun mic, a Zoom audio recorder, and a brush up against personal “edge zones” of comfort and challenge, I found clarity and purpose in journalism and socially-impactful documentary work. It would lay the foundation for me to find a voice in my next role as a nonprofit Digital Storyteller.
Cinematographer, Editor, Sound Recorder, DIT (digital imaging technician), Producer all wrapped up in one hotel room mise en scene. Photo: Benjamin Key
Porters on the Stone of God was funded by the Jacques Salmanowitz Program for Moral Courage in Film (2011).