THE independent film-maker can be relied upon for the unvarnished truth about the human condition, replete with all its vices and altruism.

Career & Education talks this week to just such a professional — Dr Esther Figueroa — to provide insight into her work. The 53-year-old, who holds a PhD in Linguistics from Georgetown University, is an independent film-maker of more than two decades.

In 26 years, she has worked on a wide range of media products, including commercials, television specials, television series, narrative feature films, music videos, public relations videos, oral histories, community histories, event documentation, web content, and multimedia.

In more recent years, much of her work has been focused on the environment. She has made one feature length documentary — Jamaica for Sale — and eight short films that vary in length from four and a half minutes to twenty-four minutes.

“The shorts are always about a specific problem that we are trying to alert people to and get them activated,” noted Figueroa, who also holds a master’s in East Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Hawaii, and a first degree in history from George Washington University.

The topics have included the threat of bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country, river poisoning in the Rio Grande Valley, the need for fishery conservation, saving the intact eco-system of Font Hill in St Elizabeth from large-scale development, as well as the environmental and social consequences of the Falmouth cruise ship pier development.

Who is an independent film-maker?

An independent film-maker is someone who is in control of her/his media project. S/he is the person who comes up with the idea for the film and s/he is the person who has both control over its content and the creative/aesthetic aspects of the project. The film s/he is making is not commissioned and s/he is not working for hire. An independent film-maker is also someone whose reason for making films is not just monetary gain or producing what is known to be popular in the marketplace, but is someone who is willing to take risks, go against received tastes, expectations and/or content, and who is motivated by something larger than the desire for exposure and recognition. Since there is very limited financial support for independent film-making, most independent film-makers cannot afford to be independent all the time and, therefore, usually do a mix of our own independent projects while working for hire or in collaboration with others. Most independent film-makers are not able to get our work widely distributed.

What is the value of the work that you do?

The value of the work that I do in Jamaica is that if I wasn’t doing it, it wouldn’t exist. I have been performing the role of witness by documenting the destruction of parts of Jamaica and the bad development practices that we are wedded to, so that there is a record of what it looked like before and what it looks like after. That is of historical importance. I am, in that sense, creating an archive.

For example, I have the only footage of Falmouth Harbour shot from the sea before the dumping up and building of the port and then after. I have that footage in stages so that people can see the transformation. The sort of documentation I am doing — for example, documenting the Palisadoes highway development — creates a record that can be put beside what our officials have claimed about the project. So for example, silt screens are required in these projects and a big deal is made about how the screens are put in and how they are preventing environmental damage. But I have footage of the screens being assembled by poorly paid manual labourers who are trying their best, but who have no idea what they are doing. And I have footage of those screens within days being completely useless, entangled, washed up on shore, etc. Yet scientists and officials keep referencing these screens as if they were functioning when they are in fact only symbolic gestures.

We have this problem in Jamaica where performance is everything so that to simply perform an action like put out a silt screen, or send divers down to remove corals becomes enough. The fact that the silt screen doesn’t work or the divers are mishandling the coral doesn’t matter. If we repeat something enough times then it is factual. I show through my footage that in reality it is counter factual. Unfortunately, the media is part of the problem because most in the media simply repeat verbatim statements made by Government and industry leaders and officials and don’t question what is being said.

Another value to my work is that I give a voice to that which has no voice — the environment. I (also) give an outlet to those who usually do not have a voice — poor people, the socially disregarded, dissidents. So my work creates a counter narrative to the dominant narrative. This is what we did with the film Jamaica for Sale. For over 100 years the people of Jamaica and the Caribbean have been constantly bombarded with propaganda that states over and over that tourism is the engine of development, that it is good and necessary and that everyone must do everything possible to support tourism, which means give up access to our beaches, accept a government in eternal debt, accept poor wages, act like buffoons, and so on. Jamaica for Sale shows that this is not a sensible approach to development — not from an economic, social or environmental perspective.

The value of my work is I try and help people see things they haven’t looked at before, haven’t thought about before, didn’t realise, or haven’t wanted to face. So for example, the short educational video Massa God Fish Can Done shows how our bad practices have destroyed our fisheries and how we must follow the example of places like Belize and adopt conservation and good practices. It’s not rocket science. All the evidence is there. All aspects of Jamaica have been studied in great detail for decades upon decades. We just refuse to take responsibility and act in accordance with what is known. Instead, we prefer to live in a world of pretence and fantasy.

What was it that prompted your entry into the field?

I got into film-making by chance. As an undergraduate, I thought I would have communications as a major, but when I took a required course it ended up being all about the glamorous Hollywood film industry and I found that trivial so I ended up not continuing with communications. Later, I was part of a historical moment where there was a great need for the creation of new media and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and fell into what turned out to be my life’s calling. I was living in Hawaii getting my master’s in Chinese when I began to learn about native Hawaiian history and concerns, and became aware that there was an absence of content on Hawaii television for, by and about Hawaiians. My partner, who was Hawaiian, and I started the first Hawaiian television series on public and commercial television. We created our own independent production company Juniroa Productions, Inc and then I just continued on from there, learning new skills and producing new product.

What is a typical day like for you as a film-maker?

One of the great joys of being a film-maker is there is no typical day. Every day is wonderfully different. It is an exciting and creative field filled with challenges and possibilities, and requires all of your abilities and all of who you are to bring to the table. Some days you are daydreaming about how to make your film. Some days you are trying to figure out how to find the money to make your film. Some days you are doing research. Some days you are in meetings. Some days you are in the field shooting. Some days you are at home editing. Some days you are in the studio recording. Some days you are at home writing and e-mailing and talking to people on the phone. Some days you are dealing with technical logistics and pulling your hair out. Some days you work 18 hours straight. Some days you don’t get out of bed!

What do you most enjoy about your job?

I love my life, I love my work; the two are one and the same. I am extremely lucky and blessed. I love the creativity, the imagination, being able to think ‘hey, let’s do this’ and then seeing what started as a concept come into being bit by bit until at some point it is complete. I love the unfolding of a story. I love editing and crafting that story in a way that hopefully can move people and make them care. I love getting to go places and see things I have never seen and to return to those places if I can and see them again. I love getting to meet people and hearing what they have to say and to be a conduit for them being able to say things they deeply and urgently need to say. People have some amazing hardships and yet retain their humanity and dignity.

What are the challenges you face on the job?

I shoot very depressing and painful things, and I often get very dispirited. The images are burned into my brain because I have been looking at them so closely. And the knowledge I have of what is going on. Some days I really can’t go on and I have to take a break. After a very difficult shoot, it sometimes takes me days to recover. Sometimes you really wish you didn’t know and you didn’t see. It can be very lonely work. The other challenges are technical. For example, I have to upgrade my camera and editing equipment for my next feature documentary and there are so many different formats and cameras that are only slightly different from each other and I can’t quite tell which is better for me and which I should upgrade to. It stresses me out completely. And, of course, money. Financing is always a problem.

What are the academic requirements for entry into the field?

There are no academic requirements, but it depends on what genre of film you are involved with and what role you are playing. Media making is a huge, wide-open field. You can get any college degree all the way to a PhD or you can get a vocational degree or you can take a course or two or you can figure it out yourself. There really are no limits because there are so many different types of jobs in the industry: writing, acting, art direction, design, building sets, graphics, special effects, grip work, management, financing, camera work, cinematography, lighting, research, reporting, on-camera talent, television hosting, interviewing, catering, transportation, hair and make-up, costuming, location and talent scouting, scripting, casting, audio, photography, directing, producing, on and on. Probably the best of both worlds is to have some training in the part of the industry you’re interested in and then get hands-on, real-world experience by volunteering, apprenticing and/or working on a production.

What other skills and/or competencies are required for the field?

Every skill and competence is required in film-making and so it is a very democratic business in that no-one can do all aspects and everyone can find something they are good at. I used to develop media curriculum and teach kids to make videos as a way of developing overall competences, and there was always a moment for each student to shine, whether they were shy or outgoing, whether they were nerds or not interested in technical things. You need to be able to persuade, charm, seduce, communicate, entertain, move people’s imaginations and emotions. You need to be able to conceptualise, plan, anticipate, organise, command, delegate, listen, understand, learn, problem solve. You need to be able to make meaning, make a whole from parts, create cohesion. You need to be able to care, be committed, focus, be empathetic, take risks, be open, be creative, get outside your comfort zone. Everything from math, to physics, to chemistry, to art, to composition, to discourse comes into play, everything from the most concrete to the most abstract — the sciences, arts, and humanities all come together in what is a completely engaging occupation.

How much can you make as a film-maker on an annual basis?

It depends where you are working and what end of the business you’re in. I can’t say for Jamaica where I am always amazed by how people are loathe to pay others a living wage or even to pay them at all. But in other places where people do get paid media making is a very good industry to be involved in. If you are a technician working on high-end productions you are very highly paid — and you work extremely long hours under very stressful conditions. If you own equipment to rent, you can also make a lot of money. There have been changes in the industry and the days when most people made a very good living has unfortunately changed as have most industries due to neo-liberal capitalism, globalisation and outsourcing, but it still is an industry where there is steady and often well-paid work. (However), you have to be prepared to be versatile, mobile, hard-working and thick skinned.

Why would you advise anyone to get into the field?

Before I’d advise anyone to get into the field, they would first have to convince me that they have something to say, something to offer, a vision that they want to communicate. If they do, then I’d encourage them to get into film-making because it is a truly fulfilling, creative, meaningful, holistic field of work. I would also encourage anyone in Jamaica who is brave, has integrity and commitment, who cares about Jamaica, to take up the mantle and do investigative journalism of the sort our beloved departed John Maxwell showed us needs to be done. We need film-makers who are trying to uncover the truth, who are trying to fight for justice, redress what is wrong in our society, show alternatives. We need film-makers who are not just interested in being cool and chasing after money and some notion of the glamorous life, but who are willing to get down and dirty and help us get out of our state of deception, delusions and ‘Jamaica no problem’.