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| The Eye of the Hurricane: PJ Raval – Acclaimed FilAm filmmaker |
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On assignment
Raval, a nine-time award winning New Jersey born FilAm filmmaker raised in Southern California, admits that he didn’t know what to expect when he received the assignment to be the cinematographer for this film.
Based in Austin, Texas pursuing his graduate studies at the University of Texas, the 34-year-old Raval said it was only supposed to be a ten-day shoot. It ended up to be almost two years and a life changing experience he’ll never forget.
Raval said he was working on his own short film projects before he received the call to head to New Orleans.
Raval had been to New Orleans before as a tourist, enjoying the food, music and nightlife.
However, when he went to New Orleans only days after the hurricane struck the reality of the scene was in sharp contrast to his memory of the place.
“I don’t have the words to describe it,” he said. “I felt like I was in a war zone. It was apocalyptic like the end of the world. The streets were desolate and army humvee trucks passed the street. It was a lot to take in. As a filmmaker, I had the camera and I was supposed to be documenting it but where do you start.”
The Robert’s took Raval to their home. They retraced their footsteps from the very beginning.
“I remember the first time I set foot on their street corner,” he said. “I saw rose petals all over the ground. Every little thing around the area and me was torn apart. I couldn’t ever imagine that these rose petals were on the floor. It was like being in another environment.”
The oxymoronic symbolism was only the start of Raval’s journey with the Robert’s. For the next year in a half, Raval was like a “fly on the wall” following Kim and Scott as they located Kim’s uncle’s rotting corpse two weeks after the hurricane, the government’s slow response to the residents of New Orleans, the couple’s temporary move to Tennessee before heading back to New Orleans to start over.
Raval said that the film has so many multidimensional messages. It explores race, government bureaucracy, and the human spirit.
“We could have gone so many different ways with this movie,” he said. “We could have focused on what our government is doing because it is different than what the news report. [But] I was just focused on how to tell this couple’s story.”
“There’s so many amazing moments,” he added. “It was nice to know the importance of the movie. I’m just glad that I’m part of it.” (www.asianjournal.com)
(Published August 23, 2008 p.A8 LAWKND)
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