The 60-minute documentary about the transformative project among children with additional needs in Mozambique was filmed in three weeks to “stir something that leads to action”, says its director, Eli Padilla.
An image of the Sekeleka documentary, by Eli Padilla.
A 60-minute documentary tells the story of a refuge for children with disabilities in Mozambique.
Sekeleka (which means “get up” in the Shangana language) is the location of the project led by Sara Marcos Velert, a Spanish missionary in the south-east African country, and the film directed by Eli Padilla takes its name from there.
The director learned about the transformative work on the ground as a Christian. With only a camera and a three-week stay, the documentary was post-produced in Spain and will premiere at the Lys cinema in Valencia in a single screening on Thursday, 29 May (times and tickets here).
“Valencia will be where we premiere the documentary film, but one of our goals is for it to be screened in other cities in Spain”, Eli Padilla told Evangelical Focus, because they want it to “reach many people”.
[photo_footer] Eli Padilla, the author of Sekeleka: City of Refuge. / Photo: Encarnita Taberner. [/photo_footer] Question. Eli Padilla, how did the idea for the documentary come about?
Answer. The previous year, I had made my first trip to Africa with Tino Soriano. We spent three weeks travelling around Benin, Togo and Ghana (the so-called Slave Coast), photographing those cultures and learning a lot on all levels.
I came back from that experience feeling that I wanted my photographs to be useful in some way, to be more than just pretty pictures, to focus on issues that I was really involved in, stories that mattered to me.
The idea of doing that first photography project in Sekeleka came up right away. I spoke to Sara Marcos Velert and she invited me to travel to Mozambique. Months before taking the first flight, a mentoring programme with Ana Palacios helped me prepare everything.Q. What has been the most interesting and challenging part of the project?
A. Without a doubt, the most challenging thing was deciding to do video and photography with just one camera, and doing it in only three weeks.
At first, I was only going to take photographs (in fact, we hope to be able to do a photography exhibition in due course), but I wasn't happy with travelling 15,000 km and not bringing back any images of the children in motion.
I looked for a quick videography course with a professional in the field (there wasn't much time) and halfway through the classes I asked him to be the person who would edit the material I managed to bring back and do the post-production. Little by little, the idea of telling a story with a film was taking shape. José Andrés (the editor) ended up being a key part of the project. Without him, the result would not have been the same.
Watch the trailer of Sekeleka: City of refuge here:
Q. What role have churches and missions played in this?
A. From the very beginning, the members of my local church, on Quart Street in Valencia, supported me in many ways. From the very first minute, they showed an interest in learning more about Sekeleka and seeing the images I was going to bring back. Because Sara is there, we feel a special connection to this project in Valencia.
Q. What would you like viewers to learn from watching “Sekeleka: City of Refuge”?
A. I would love to stir something inside each and every one of them, to provoke some kind of emotional reaction. I can't wait to hear what they say when they leave the theatre.
In reality, it is not at all a sentimental film or one that seeks easy emotion. But we need to be moved, to care about the issues, to have some kind of emotional reaction that can lead us to action.
Born in Switzerland to a Valencian mother and Andalusian father, she is the daughter of immigrants who left Spain in the 1960s and was raised in a Christian family. She studied piano at the Conservatory of Valencia but later prepared for a civil service exam to become an administrative assistant. “Photography was a virus that had been dormant in me since I was a child”, she says, “one day it reactivated and brought me here”.
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