Filmmaker Georg Koszulinski tells us his inpiration behind documenting the lives of migrant farmworkers in his film which premieres July 13th on DOC 

 

I studied film and media at the University of Florida.  My education was largely an interdisciplinary one, combining film theory and history, visual anthropology and film/video production.  It was then that I was first exposed to alternative forms of filmmaking, like film essays and experimental films/videos.   Cracker Crazy is mostly influenced by my background in found footage filmmaking and Immokalee U.S.A. my interest in visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking.

Immokalee U.S.A. is mostly about the people who harvest our fruits and vegetables.  It’s also about their families, their children, and their communities.  Taken in a larger context, the film is also about the people and corporations who profit from their labor, like the farm owners, the landlords, and all of us, who consume the fruits and vegetables of their labor.

After doing the research for Cracker Crazy, I learned a great deal about the forced labor, various forms of slavery, and economic peonage that existed in Florida from the 1st days of the Spanish conquest all the way to the present day.  The issues migrant farmworkers in the U.S.A. deal with are very much a continuation of this history and the primary reason I wanted to make Immokalee U.S.A.  As an artist/activist/filmmaker, I take it as my responsibility to find these points of contact between history and the present, and to examine them carefully.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle with any documentary, including Immokalee U.S.A., deals with the fundamental challenge of representing reality.  For us, representing the everyday experiences of migrant farmworkers posed its own set of challenges, and representing the experiences of their employers (the farm managers and crewleaders who hire them) a whole other set of challenges.  Of the hundreds of migrant farmworkers we came in personal contact with, many were afraid to speak with us outside of the larger group because of the repercussions they might face.  Their crew leaders (the men who employ them on a day-by-day basis) often threaten the workers with deportation, withhold pay, or simply avoid hiring them if the workers don’t meet their demands.   So the migrant farmworkers we met had nothing to gain from sharing their personal lives with us and everything to lose.

It was also very difficult to represent the community from the perspective of the crewleaders and the farm managers who hire the workers.  In terms of representing the crewleaders, the farm managers, and the larger corporate entities that employ them, it was difficult because they are almost universally unwilling to allow anyone but the workers onto the farms where the work is done.  I don’t think their concern is with a filmmaker misrepresenting them so much as representing them.  The montage of no-trespassing/violators will be prosecuted signs at the beginning of the film is an introduction to these complex issues of representation, to impart from the onset that the space we are interested in studying is being concealed from us.

How did the subjects / community react to the finished film, where is it being shown, any plans for distribution?

The individuals who were part of the documentary and that have been able too see it have all expressed their approval with the way their lives, and in some cases, the lives of their families were represented.  There has yet to be a formal screening in Immokalee but I’m told that many folks have seen the film in and around Immokalee and the documentary is being used as an educational tool within the community.  The film continues to screen at film festivals, universities, and microcinemas worldwide.  Often times, I’m invited to present the film to students and discuss the issues raised by the film.  The primary purpose of Immokalee U.S.A. is to educate and inform audiences – to raise questions and incite a discourse that goes beyond the actual film, so I’m especially pleased about the wide distribution through universities and educational institutions.  Having Immokalee U.S.A. screen on the DOC Channel is another positive direction, since I imagine it will reach an altogether different audience.  As for public distribution, all my films as well as the work of a handful of micro-budget filmmakers are distributed through our independent DVD label, Substream Films (www.substreamfilms.com ).

I just completed a narrative feature called Dead Buffalo, about a terminally-ill father and his wayward son.  It’s very much an inquiry into North American cultures and values and I’m looking forward to presenting it at film fests beginning next month.  I’m also presenting a touring workshop called, “no-budget filmmaking as a subversive art.”  Part of my mission as an artist/activist/filmmaker is to bring my model of micro-budget filmmaking to anyone who has an interest in creating audio/visual work.  Immokalee U.S.A., for example, didn’t take fancy equipment or a large budget to make, which is part of the reason I was able to produce it.  My mission is to work outside of an economic model that puts profit before the interests of the audio/visual artist and to share that model with others.

I would urge folks to learn more about the issue and get involved.  Research or visit the migrant farmworker communities in your State and find the activist groups who are working to protect the rights of those farmworkers.  I can be reached at if there are specific questions or concerns I might be able to address.