Men, In Uniform (2004)

Summary:

My first documentary, Men, In Uniform is the portrait of a volunteer fire brigade in a small Polish village. Unemployed men and curious, young boys change into uniform and allow the uniform to change them.

To watch the film, click HERE.

The Backstory:

I traveled to Kotla, Poland, in the spring of 2004 to attend the London Documentary Filmmakers’ Group (DFG) “Total Immersion Course in Documentary Filmmaking,” which is held at the FilmFarm. I did not know that six months later I would quit my PhD program in Comparative Literature in order to make films for a living.

The DFG gave me a crash course in documentary in little more than a week, during which time I learned some basics of camera operating and editing and shot Men, In Uniform. Knowing a smattering of Polish from a six-month study abroad as a undergrad, I used my language skills to meet the locals.

When I heard that the local fire squad was preparing for a competition, I decided to document their training. It was then that I met a group of young volunteer firemen who rarely encounter an actual fire. Interviewing their brigade with members as young as sixteen, I got to know the men (and boys) beneath the metal helmets and fireproof jackets. I could connect with these men not only because of my Polish skills but also because of my personal investment in their story.

As I filmed their practice drills and regional competitions, my mother, a fire captain, was wearing her uniform in Nashville, Tennessee. On the final evening of my stay in Poland, my video screened before an audience composed of many people from the village, including my firemen. The firefighters were touched to see their story being told even if, in their humility, they still could not see the value in it. What they couldn’t seem to understand was that I didn’t want to make a documentary about heroes. Instead, I wanted to celebrate their ordinariness, the simplicity of their way of life, and, on a more universal scale, their humanity.

I came home changed. Filming the life of a small village and telling the stories of its inhabitants, I acknowledged that the responsibility of saving something beautiful, once assumed, yields incredible satisfaction. Rather than foster an eagerness to begin my Ph.D. study, my Polish encounter spurred questions about my decision to pursue a life in academia focused on research. Unlike scholarly publications I might contribute to the field of Comparative Literature to be read by my colleagues and those in similar fields, my films would be intended for a much larger and less exclusive audience.

Despite my doubts, I still went to graduate school. But less than one semester into my program, I began filling out an application to Temple University’s Film and Media Arts Program. Men, In Uniform constituted my creative portfolio…

Screenings:

Iowa City International Documentary Festival—Iowa City, IA
Cinemaslam—Ann Arbor, MI
IPADE Festival, Mediating Practices: New Directions in Visual Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Mediamaking 2006 Conference—Philadelphia, PA