Cata Gota Cuenta translates from Spanish directly to English meaning ‘Every Drop Counts’ this was the title of my Actuality Media documentary I had the pleasure of creating and producing in 2016 in Guatemala, Central America. The dream wasn’t possible without RMIT, it all started in early 2016 in my first year of university. University was a week away from commencing and all the fresh media students rampaged into the lecture for their first introductory taste  to the world of university media. Towards the end of the slideshows there was brief mention of a group called Actuality Media a North American based company who every year gave gifted and aspiring documentary makers the opportunity to film an international documentary with the guidance of industry professionals about changemaker groups whose aims are to make a true difference in their local communities. I have always believed in taking unique experiences as soon as they are handed to you because you just never know if you will ever get the same opportunity. RMIT Media expressed to me that they thought my documentary I made in VCE in 2015 ‘We Will Remember Them’ had real potential and if I added more skills to my filmmaking craft I could make a few splashes in the industry. RMIT encouraged me to then submit an application for Actuality Media attaching my 2015 documentary. A couple of months went past and I thought automatically I was unsuccessful in my bid, however one day I received a phone call from the United States and it was Audrey, one of the coordinators at Actuality Media saying we loved your documentary and we would like to interview you on Skype. After a 2-hour long interview, I was successful in my application and I had the choice of joining the documentary outreach programs in either Tanzania, Guatemala or Bolivia. With the university timetable Guatemala was the most suited destination available. In all honesty I had no clue where Guatemala was I thought it was Guacamole spelt wrong. So I researched this intriguing country and wow I was stunned! Guatemala is known for its steep volcanoes, vast rainforests and ancient Mayan sites, the first ever chocolate bar was also invented in there during the Mayan times. Also the country is known for  having the  longest civil war in the history of Latin America, which was fought between military governments, right-wing vigilante groups and leftist rebels which lasted a good 36 years and by the end of the civil war, 200,000 citizens were dead. Guatemala also has one of the highest violent crime rates in Latin America; the country saw 6,000 violent deaths in 2014 so I had more than enough reasons to keep my wits about me. Despite this I could not deny myself this opportunity, I headed over to this amazing country keeping my wits about me and having high hopes about the good work my film crew and I were going to do in the next month in country. I was the only Australian on the documentary outreach program, but in my opinion this was to my advantage, I used my charisma and larrikinism to entertain the other international recruits and settle in what would be a pressure cooking month but a throughly enjoyable one. My crew of four talented filmmakers included our director Anita Koltun from the U.S.A, Taylor Amos our unpredictable but highly skilled cinematographer from Canada and our sweetheart editor Lexi Knight from South Africa  with of course me taking the heavy roll of producer. It was an incredible month, the first two weeks was jam packed with meeting our changemaker group EcoFiltro a social organisation that manufactures and distributes water purification filters all over Guatemala and countries in Central America and are aiming to provide filters to a million Guatemalan families by the year 2020. Lead by the inspirational founder and CEO Philip Wilson, EcoFiltro welcomed my crew with open arms giving us amazing access to the factory, its staff, the villages and families that are provided with water filters, they were asombroso. We filmed our documentary through the eyes of Guatemalan school girl Laura who was personally effected by the terrible water conditions in Guatemala and through her schools introduction to EcoFiltro’s Water For Life program and the actual water filter her illness has been cured and her school and personal lives enriched much like her school friends and families. After the first two weeks of interviews, getting to know our crew, subjects, story and our locations we begin the full third week our most important week of production. We began filming the documentary, everyday was a full schedule often going to Laura’s school filming our major scenes then going to Eco Filtro’s headquarters to film the rest of our shots. By the end of the week we had the exact footage we needed and our story was brilliantly crafted and then we were prepared for a gigantic final week of editing, advertising the film for the local screening in the town of Antigua Guatemala for the locals to view. It was a huge success, the locals tearing up and getting very connected to the raw stories we presented, the popularity of EcoFiltro is evident all around town with filters in just about every local business for everyone to use. We eventually left the country, everyone back to their lives back home, but all with a story to tell and experience which has changed every single member of the Actuality Media Documentary Outreach Program. Although our documentary is titled ‘Cada Gota Cuenta’ Every Drop Counts after our amazing journey in making this unbelievable documentary meeting unforgettable people, making a genuine difference in the Central American communities I think we learnt that ‘cada experiencia cuenta’ every experience counts. My filming making skills were certainly enhanced by the experiences in Guatemala and the skills I learnt there I will carry across to my many hopeful film endeavours.

Michael Serpell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeXioAtMUzc