Blood of women – 2010
Shooting this film was very difficult – not for technical reasons, but because of the importance of the topic. We have shot in Western Kenya, very close to the Ugandan border. There’s a lot of problems and tensions, of political and ethnical nature, in this area. But in spite of this, we met wonderful people.
The filmcrew was in fact just Christian Lajoumard, the director, and myself. We filmed with a Sony Z7 camera.
I used a Sound Devices 788T recorder, which I find more practical, in a « documentary situation », than the Cantar X2. Sennheiser SK5212 wireless mikes, with Sanken COS11, perfect for a documentary since they only require one R6 battery that lasts up to a day. Really practical in areas where power supply can be a problem. Sound quality almost matches what you’d get with Audio Limited DX2040, but you don’t have to worry about 9V batteries, which can be a problem sometimes. For direct sound, I used a Neumann KM150, and for backgrounds a paired MS Sennheiser MKH30-40, on a Cinela Zephyx suspension : great for documentaries, especially since we did lots of travel on dirtracks in a SUV.
Synopsis
In Pokot country, at the Uganda-Kenya border, sexual mutilation of young women as a rite of passage to adulthood is traditional. The film gathers testimonies of women who have endured, most of the time unwillingly, such a mutilation.
Technical specs – UNIFRANCE
Directed by : Christian Lajoumard
Produced by : Claire Agnès Lajoumard – Acrobates Films
Camera : Christian Lajoumard
Sound : Arnaud Soulier
Editing : Marie-Laure Désidéri
Sound editing : Marie-Laure Désidéri
Mixing : Raoul Fruhauf
Some quiet zebras, on the road to Nairobi. ©Christian Lajoumard 
Christian Lajoumard, director and Bernard Kedi Kabete, translator. ©Arnaud Soulier 
In the law lands, cigarette break during the rain. ©Christian Lajoumard 
In the law lands, cigarette break during the rain. ©Christian Lajoumard 
Bernard Kedi Kabete, translator. I propose to Kabete, an initiation to recording sounds. ©Arnaud Soulier 
Christian Lajoumard, director and DOP with Bernard Kedi Kabete, translator. I propose to Kabete, an initiation to recording sounds. © Arnaud Soulier 
In the low lands near Ouganda’s border. © Arnaud Soulier 
Interview with Bernard Kedi Kabete, translator but also coordinator of NGO program ©Christian Suarez – Arnaud Soulier 
Meeting under the “speech tree“ in a low lands’s village. Awareness campaign regarding mutilations. © Natanaëlle Perrion – Arnaud Soulier 
Interview with a mutilator. © Arnaud Soulier 
I met this young man in a little village of low lands’s, near the Ouganda border. It was few months after the Obama’s election. ©Arnaud Soulier 
Christian Lajoumard, director, on the road… © Arnaud Soulier 
Je fais une partie de pêche aux sons en bordure de rivière tumultueuse. ©Christian Lajoumard