Wayland Filmmaker: Film 'Optimistic' Despite 'Bump in the Road of Kenya's History'

To a land far, far away, Wayland resident John Michalczyk took a video camera, a script and a curiosity about how a once “very enviable, democratically stable country” could erupt in a moment into virtual war zone where heinous bloodshed, rape and violence would displace 300,000 people and leave more than 1,000 dead.

In 1997, Michalczyk, a documentary filmmaker and Boston College fine arts professor, began working on a series of films about conflict resolution around the world. In January 2011, he turned his lens on Kenya for the ninth film in the series.

“Kenya: Passing the Baton” is the result. The film documents Kenya’s efforts to regain stability with a new government and constitution in the aftermath of its plummet from a kind of model African country to the depths of violence.

"'Passing the baton' is a metaphor for passing the political baton to the next generation," Michalczyk said. He explained that the phrase has roots in the popular track and field sports in Kenya, but was also used by a politician, Ruth, whom the film crew talked to during production.

Michalczyk’s history in documentary film has taken him all over the world – from Berlin, Germany, for his “Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall,” which will be showcased at a major conference in October, to “Prelude to Kosovo: War and Peace in Bosnia and Croatia,” another film in his conflict resolution series. In each case, he goes into the project with his own ideas, but an open mind.

“I have a gut feel for what I’d like to say,” Michalczyk explained of his filmmaking process. “[Then] we get the kernel of our info from our interviews on the ground.”

Putting a documentary film together is about more than capturing the right image or securing the perfect interview. Step one is raising the money to make the film, and it’s the most difficult step in the process, according to Michalczyk.

For the Kenya film, the Scituate Rotary Club approached him three years ago about creating the documentary. The club is actively working toward opening a Peace Center in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city and the epicenter of the riots that erupted in late 2007.

Several grants for which Michalczyk applied didn’t come through, but sufficient funding for the documentary was eventually secured from the Thomas and Erma Jean Tracy Family Foundation as well as a few other organizations.

Once a project receives a green light, Michalczyk said, his next step is research. He spends countless hours on the Internet and reading everything he can find on the subject.

“I do all the research and out of the research comes a focus,” he said. In the case of “Kenya: Passing the Baton,” the issues of violence and a newly adopted constitution emerged as the main ideas.

For about nine days, Michalczyk and his team lived in the suburbs of Nairobi, collecting 20-30 interviews and about 20-25 hours of footage that would be edited down to the final 90-minute film.

With that much material, it's no surprise that some of it hits the cutting room floor in spite of its relevance. For the Kenya film, Michalczyk said an interview with "the most famous critic of the government" didn't receive the screen time in the final project that he wished it could have.

"It was the most poignant [interview], but the sound was off and it was filmed with a camera that was secondary to our HD [high-definition] cameras," Michalczyk explained. In the end, three clips from the interview did make it into the final documentary, which was far less than Michalczyk desired.

"I can't second guess it because we had so much [material]," Michalczyk said. "We have the richness of all these interviews."

The film will enjoy its premiere Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. A Q&A session will follow the film during which members of the audience can talk with a panel comprised of Michalczyk; Rev. Raymond Helmick, SJ, of Boston College; Pastor Dan Schmeltzer from Kisumu, Kenya; and Rev. Joseph Kiarie, SJ, of Boston College and Kenya.

Michalczyk said he expects and hopes the audience will include many members of the Kenyan community now living in Boston. It will be Michalczyk’s first opportunity to learn from those closest to his film’s topic whether he accurately captured the problems and hopes of Kenya.

For those who are not directly aware of Kenya’s struggles and triumphs in recent years, Michalczyk said he hopes “Passing the Baton” will encourage people to “have a little concern.”

“My idea was to raise some awareness of these issues,” he said. “And secondly to raise up Kenya to help develop the Peace Center.

“The film is very optimistic,” he said. “It gives a very dark image – it’s like a bump in the road of Kenya’s history – but it ends with the light of a new constitution.”

“Kenya: Passing the Baton” will premiere at the MFA Wednesday Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. Ticket information is available on the MFA website.

The documentary will also be screened for free in the Cushing Auditorium at Boston College on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.