Director's Cut

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When I got here 28 years ago we had a huge rainstorm every month, even during the dry season. This year it was terribly dry. It stopped raining at the end of December and hasn't rained a drop since. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. Nine months of no rain. And it's heartbreaking because I know what's coming after that. It's gonna get worse and worse and worse.

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Hi, welcome to Director's Cut. I'm Pete Schwaba and we just saw a clip from the documentary From Mass to the Mountain, a film that tells the story of Padre Pablo, a Panamanian priest originally from Ripon, Wisconsin who works tirelessly to bring clean drinking water to an impoverished region of eastern Panama. I'm joined today by filmmakers Kurt Sensenbrenner and Colin Sytsma. Gentlemen, welcome to Director's Cut. Thanks. - Good to have you guys here. Alright so tell us about, it's a great character, Padre Pablo. Tell us about him and your connection to him. Yeah, so Padre Pablo's from, like you said, Ripon, Wisconsin, my hometown as well and he's kind of a mini-celebrity based on his projects and everything. He's got a pretty good following in Ripon and I heard about him growing up throughout the years and thought he had a really interesting story and wanted to see what he was all about and went down there as a junior in film school at UW-Milwaukee and he was starting this huge project, kind of his life's work and luckily I had my camera and just started filming. And that's how this project came to be? That was the first you started? Yeah, in 2011 my first trip down there he was just had a tease of an idea for the dam and it really kind of blossomed and kept growing throughout the years and I knew I had to go back because it's rare to catch something in its infancy like that. Yeah, and you just went down to help. You didn't have the intention of starting to make a documentary? Right, I went down as a volunteer just to help with whatever building project he had at the time and it just happened to be this big project and I just started shooting. It's an interesting place, he's an interesting person and it's pretty easy to just film. Yeah, you said he has a big following in Ripon. When he comes back home do the masses sell out really quickly or do you still get room? Does he stay mass still in Ripon? Does he come back and do work there, too, or is he strictly in Panama. He does, yeah. When he comes back he's pretty booked solid visiting with people, family friends, but he also does guest masses and preaches at different parishes throughout the area. Very cool, we'll let's take a look at another clip from The Mass to the Mountain. Can you imagine getting up and not having water to take a shower for three weeks or four weeks or not even water for a cup of coffee. As they kept saying, Padre, we don't even have enough water for a cup of coffee.

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Kurt

Why can't we just drill wells for people like in the states? Wells do not work in this area because when Panama came up out of the ocean there was all this ocean water trapped in between these two mountain ranges on both sides of us and when the water evaporated it left the salt and so when you drill a well the water comes out salty. So the only thing we can rely on right now is that water that falls up in the mountains, preserve the watershed, collect the water up there and then pipe it down to the communities. That's our only source of drinking water because that is where the rains fall and the water comes down into the river and that's where we're building a dam because during the long dry season the river dries up and there's no water. So the dam will provide water at the times when the river dries up. That's a beautiful shot there. Talk about your photography and getting those aerial shots. Yeah, so we used. He immediately deferred to you. Does that mean you're the one responsible for the big shots? Well yeah, so Kurt came to me a few years ago asking to help expand this film. He got his masters with this film at Hofstra University in New York and I looked at a 20-minute piece at that point and was kind of like, we need to get a drone down there to really visualize this place so we can tell a visual story. And there was so much that we left out of the film that we wanted to put in there just 'cause it was so beautiful. Just because you have the photography and the shots like that, right? Yeah, how do you do that? When you're making a film like this and you're telling a story that's, a lot of it is visual because it's a beautiful country, how do you make that decision to leave shots like that out or do you just say, to heck with it, we're putting 'em in 'cause they're great shots. Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is just like picking and choosing and really deciding what tells the story and what we need. You have a great shot in the film. It's at night and there's a moon over a house. Is that something you stumble on and get lucky in one of those magic filmmaking moments or was that a conscious, 'cause I think you were following one of the characters at the time, it wasn't just an establishing shot. Yeah,

so that was about 5

00 AM and I remember that was the first time that I actually got down to Panama and I was like hey, the moon's out right above where Padre Pablo is living. Should I shoot that? And I was like, "Yeah, I should shoot that. That's the reason I came down here." And so I put on my long lens and got that. It turned out to work out really nice. I'm guessing he became Padre Pablo when he moved to Panama and they didn't call him that in Ripon. Was it Father Paul or what was he? Yeah, Father Wally is how he's kind of known throughout the states but his middle name is Paul and so down there the name Wally or Walter doesn't really exist so they went with Pablo, Spanish for Paul, and so they call him Padre Pablo. And I asked him very early on what does he prefer to be called and he said I prefer Padre, I'm used to it, so I just call him Padre Pablo. And is he down there for the duration now? Is he gonna spend the rest of his life down there since he's so ingrained in the community now? He's hesitant to answer that question fully but yeah, he spends 12 and a half months out of the year down there or 11 and a half months out of the year down there. So yeah, that's his family, that's his community and I think. -

Pete

so that was about 5

And he's down so much. It's hard for him to abandon all these different projects. It's not just these water products and the aqueducts. It's building schools, building churches, he's built hospitals and it's like, a lot of infrastructure is there because of him because he has the tools to do it and he has these very unique connections to the United States where he's able to bring down large manufacturing equipment and all sorts of different things. So he built a dam down there to get better drinking water. How long did that take? Talk about that process and how he built a little bit every year and how long did it take? So in 2008 they actually put a culvert in that site, so they found a site with two giant boulders, things that they could kind of anchor this project to, 'cause without that it would just be washed downstream. It's mud, it's clay, it's the rainforest. So once they found the perfect site, 2008 they put this culvert in and then after that it it's really just two weeks out of the year every January until the project's done. Wow. And as projects do and as films do it kind of kept growing. It was like well, if we could go a little higher next year then we'd be done and then we'd come down expecting to be done. Well, if we can go a little higher next year then it will be done. -

Pete

so that was about 5

That's great. So six years of pouring throughout two weeks, pouring cement for those two weeks, six years it was finally done and

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so that was about 5

we could walk away sort of from it. And you could say that they're not even quite finished. They're still bulldozing out the back parts of the dam so more water can be gathered there. Padre's never done

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so that was about 5

. Let's take another look at a clip from the film. Farmers are so sick and tired of farming, a bunch of 'em, and the rich teak companies come up and say, "Hey, we'll give you $2,000 an acre for your farm." In come a stack of $100,000 and these poor farmers have never seen $100,000 in their life, and they say, "Oh, where do I sign?"

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so that was about 5

and then they cut down every tree on the farm and plant teak. Teak is a fast growing wood but this is for commercial purposes. It's not reforestation, per se, it's for commercial tree farming. The problem with teak is that during the dry summer months they loose every single leaf. They're just, they're a stick with branches on it sticking up all over. The teak tree does not give off humidity during the summer months like the espav or some of the native varieties which causes clouds and it drills in the water from the ocean. Teak does the opposite. It makes the whole thing drier and drier and drier.

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so that was about 5

Thousands and thousands of acres have been planted in this area. I mean the program on reforestation is wonderful but plant native varieties of trees but how much money is in that? Talk a little bit about that. That's a beautiful shot there. Talk about, you said yesterday when we spoke you lost one of your drones and that's gotta be a horror of filmmaking. Talk about that process and getting those shots. Yeah, it was actually lost luggage.

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so that was about 5

So we went down to Panama specifically to get three of those shots right there and it was a weekend where we went, I believe it was to Houston from Milwaukee and then from Houston to Panama and we hired a drone operator and he's like oh, we should bring and extra drone which was a great idea because one got lost, right, and then we got down there late and tried to get up to where Padre Pablo's foundation is and there was a bunch of people staying at where we were supposed to be staying. He had gotten the date wrong. He was having a retreat, a community retreat with all the kids, and they were staying there kind of like an overnight camp. So we couldn't stay there.

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so that was about 5

And it was like 11, 12 at night and also there had been a power outage for the last couple days so there was no light anywhere. So we ended up sleeping in a car on the side of the Pan-American Highway that night

and then we got up at 6

00 AM, got those shots that you see that are really dry looking shots that you fade in from the green to the brown, drone shots of the teak, and then within an hour two it started raining and so we weren't able to film anything after that. We had about a two hour window to get all the shots we needed and then it just started pouring. You guys probably kicked back with a big beer that night after you got those shots. It was a stressful trip, yeah. You also said you got sick during the filming. Talk a little bit about that. That's a challenge you probably don't anticipate when you go down there. Especially for the short amount of time, since it's only two weeks out of the year and in the drone trip case we had to go outside of that two week window because when we're there it's usually kind of lush and the dry season is just ending, or the rainy season is just ending so it's kind of green, it's nice, and then we had to go back in May to get these dry shots and when you're going outside of that two week window you then encounter bugs and mosquitoes that we really don't encounter in January when we go and so unluckily enough we got bit by some mosquitoes carrying Dengue Fever which is a tropical disease and it was two separate times

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and then we got up at 6

. Really? Yeah, I think we went down for six days once and then I came back and then I was gonna fly right to New York to meet Curt and start editing what we had shot and I had got sick on the plane and so I basically sat in Curt's bed for the entire time I was in New York City and just sweated out, I'm sorry about that, by the way. Had to burn the mattress. But yeah, and it ended up being even a little bit worse for Curt 'cause he ended up getting walking pneumonia as a result of that. Dengue Fever lowers your immune system a lot while you have it so I contracted pneumonia while I had Dengue Fever and it was a, it was a rough two months or so. Yeah, sounds like it and Deep Woods Off does nothing with these mosquitoes? Is there anything you can do to prevent it? I mean, you try. That could really mess up your schedule while you're shooting. Yeah, I mean you try and we did have a lot of bug spray and 100% DEET, but once you walk into the grass there there's all sorts of sand fleas and mosquitoes and it's just, it's inevitable that you're gonna get bit by something. What I'm hearing is that there's not gonna be a sequel.

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and then we got up at 6

Okay, let's see another clip from From Mass to the Mountain. We don't have another sugar. You gotta be kidding. Yeah, I don't know.

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and then we got up at 6

If you come next year you're gonna see it working. That's a whole year.

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and then we got up at 6

They're gonna send you a photo by the internet. That's been working on them bags. From the skin? From this and the cement. You need to clean up. The owners are crick.

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and then we got up at 6

Tell him we could roll him and run in them barrels. In what? One of them water barrels? Roll him? - Down the hill. Roll him to get him cleaned up. Down the hill.

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and then we got up at 6

Like a wash machine. Okay, guys, let's get out of here. So talk about the challenges that Padre Pablo faced in building this infrastructure, specifically the dam, and the challenges he faced. You've got farmers selling their land for money that they need, you got corrupt politicians it looks like. Was he looked at as an adversary at times, like did people not want this to happen? Or, talk about those challenges that he faced. Yeah, I mean, just focusing on the dam project and that, he saw a lot of pushback from the people that were bordering the land he was trying to protect because they use that as hunting land, they use that for cultivation. They saw it as kind of communal space that they could kind of go in and out of and take wood from. And when you're preventing someone's source of income and source of food for a family it can get kind of combative understandably and so he dealt with that pretty delicately but he's had experience throughout the years of trying to protect watersheds in other areas, trying to help out the indigenous people as well and protect their land. So it wasn't a new struggle for him on that front. And he eventually got it done. You have a great clip where he meets with the politicians and they all seem on board. So what took so long to get this done? There's a great scene you have in the film where he, I think he was new to Panama and he gets offered a glass of water and he takes it and there's little worms in the water. First of all, did he drink it? I have to ask 'cause you never. Yes. He drank it? That was his source of water, his shared source of water for at least six months to a year while he was down there, yeah. So that's crazy that it took him that long to get the go ahead to bring clean water to the region. There's a huge lack of accountability in this region of eastern Panama because a lot of these contractors will get a contract with the government and go up there to build an aqueduct or a road and they'll just pay someone to sign off on it and then once they do that they get the money and they pocket a lot of it. And who suffers the most, right, it's the people of the area and the poor just continue to get poorer. And that's one huge issue that has a ton of different facets to it. It's the roads, it's the aqueducts, it's anything that's being built as far as infrastructure. Okay now tell us about these generous people that helped and sent equipment down there. I mean that was free of charge, right, and the workers, was it the same workers every year that came down to help? Yeah, there was a lot of people that have gone down year after year. I think Robin Wollenfang. Wollenfang. Wollenfang is-- how many years has she gone down? It's at least. 12 probably. There's a core group I would say that kind of regularly go down and help because of specific expertise. There are people that go down for painting projects. There are engineers who go down for electrical. There's contractors who go down who help really survey and make sure the dam is up to their code at least. There's no OSHA but...

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and then we got up at 6

Right. These contractors who go down, are they giving their time or is it the company they work for is paying them to be down there. Where is the generosity or is it just the volunteer issue, corporations? It's all volunteer-based as far as labor and a lot of the funding is coming from private donors, it's coming from church donations, separate collections, but also Rotary International has been huge in offering money and doing matching grants and things from the local chapters in the Wisconsin but also internationally, Rotary International has helped with that. There have been, Villanova University offers engineers, engineering students to help with their water initiatives. So he has a lot of support and most of it's volunteer and charity. I know he pays his workers, the locals who are there for work get paid but all the support internationally is volunteer. Let's take another look at a clip from From Mass to the Mountain.

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and then we got up at 6

Talk about your music a little bit. Great music there. Did you guys do that yourselves? Did you hire a composer? Yeah, we're not that talented. Yeah we got a great sound person that I've worked with freelance in New York. Brian Flood did the original mix and all original music. So he recorded that with his guitar in his room and then added strings from sound libraries and things and got people to play live recordings and he's the master behind all of it. And with a name like Flood you gotta bring him into the. -

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and then we got up at 6

Hands were tied at that point. The dam project, yeah. So did any of these locals express any desire to come to Wisconsin and see Ripon or is that... Yeah, it's kind of become almost a sister city or sister community. There's a shared comradery and a few Panamanians have come to the states for study and things like that from that area but I don't think any have been up to Ripon.

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and then we got up at 6

I think Nelson has. Has he? Yeah, I think Nelson, and we follow him a little bit in the film, he's come back with Padre once I believe. Yeah 'cause I asked about that. So what are things like now in that region? Have they just sort of acclimated to, are they used to having clean water now? Is there more to be done or is it, are they in good shape? Well there's, unfortunately there's always something to be done. This is, according to Padre, it's the largest rural aque-system in Central America and because of the environment and the challenges there there's always maintenance to be done so. This past January we were down there working on the tank that the water from the dam goes down 23 km of pipe to these cisterns that you see in the film and so settling issues, they're built on clay, things like that, they have to be re concreted and patched up and so there's always little projects of maintenance and things like that to be done. And are you surprised he still calls? Do you ever get the call from Padre Pablo and you're like, "Ah, come on, hello. What now?"

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and then we got up at 6

We have about 30 seconds left. What's next for Padre Pablo and what's next for you guys? Padre is still for all intents and purposes working on water projects down there. It's always a challenge. And I'm going back to Brooklyn and working on other films, but hopefully. Yeah, I think it's a growing population in Panama so the need for water is gonna be coming ever more present. -

Pete

and then we got up at 6

It's a full time job for him, yeah. And so I think he's worried about what's gonna happen after that and once he passes away and I know he thinks about that. Someone's gotta carry the torch. Well it was great having you guys. Nice work in the film and thanks for being here today. Thanks for having us. - Yeah, thanks. You got it. And thank you for watching Director's Cut. For more information on From Mass to the Mountain please go to wpt.org and click on Director's Cut. While you're there send us an email or find out how to submit a film. Also, don't forget to like WPT on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. I'm Pete Schwaba and I don't even drink tap water. We'll see you next time on Director's Cut. Water, a gift from God that we gotta fight to preserve. And if you don't have anything to die for, do you have anything to live for?