Get Ready for Me, Hollywood!

er Paris?


How about La Belle Bourgougne?

Ok, fine, Thies!

So a few weeks ago (err 2 months ago now), I was at my office and totally bored to death and frustrated by the lack of anything to do while awaiting two sets of needs assessments in the field.  I was flipping between my gmail, BBC news, and various blogs (I blame Katie!) without purpose until an interesting email from the PC Training Center manager (and former Safety and Security Officer) mentioned something about a film being shot in Thies and in need of “European” extras!  Yes please!  I didn’t know any details, except there was a scheduled fitting in a few weeks, so I called the number and signed a few fellow PC people up!

A little info on the movie:

The film is a "tele-film," or TV movie, entitled “Les Pirogues des Hautes Terres,” about the pre-colonial railroad strikes that took place in the Thies area from 1938 and 1947 and affected the Dakar-Bamako train line.   It is loosely based on Ousman Sembene's book God's Bits of Wood (or Les bouts de bois de Dieu en francais), which I am just starting to read.


For the francophones:
Le 10 octobre 1947, les cheminots de l'AOF (Afrique Occidentale Française) et en particulier ceux de la gare de Thiès, deuxième ville du Sénégal, cessent le travail. Les responsables blancs du chemin de fer, accompagnés de leurs vigiles armés, ont beau ordonner la reprise immédiate du travail, les hommes refusent de regagner leurs postes. La grève durera cinq mois et dix jours. Cette grève est racontée à travers l'histoire de Pierre Marie, un jeune médecin militaire fraîchement affecté à la régie des chemins de fer, et la liaison amoureuse entre Sokna et Abdou.  
from Casting info

More info en francais: Character Info


And the facebook page: Click Here, I think




This film was honestly one of the coolest/most random things I have done in recent memory and so.much.fun!  (ew, I can't believe I just used a period as emphasis...time to go back to school!)  Anyways, I had never ever been part of the filming of a movie and have only by accident seen rando filming (Transformers and some Jen Aniston movie, both on various trips to Chicago), so it was freakin' cool to be apart of the experience.  We were just the little people, just the extras, but we still had costumes, hair, makeup, directions, and a small per diem!  Whoa! 

We spent one afternoon, a few days before fiming, have costume fittings (and Mike got a free haircut) and I must say, all 4 of us PCVs just had the biggest, stupidest smiles on our faces as they gave us silk slips, vintage dresses, old shoes, and fun bags to try on and then get our pictures taken for the director.  We were such huge dorks and loved every minute of being part of a "period film."  [Being an extra in a period film is so much cooler than a modern-day film because you get fabulous vintage clothes and the crew yells at you to take off any piece of jewelry or anything that is not "authentic" to the period!]


We shot 3 scenes over 2 days.  The first day had a 5pm call, meaning we were filming until 4am (!) and we shot a party scene.  For the party scene, there was a reception, discussion, and dancing, and we all had to learn to "faire la poisson", meaning look like we were speaking French without actually making a sound, yet also look believable like we were at a party and enjoying ourselves.  Hysterical!   Unfortunately we forgot our cameras for the party scene or I would have shots of the beautiful colonial house (the old governor's house?) and enormous spreads of mini fruit tarts and pastries and "wine" that we had to consume as part of the filming.  The second day had a noon (or 1pm?) call and we shot until after 10pm, filming a scene celebrating the arrival of the train inspector and another celebrating Christmas Eve mass inside the Thies Cathedral.  There was a lot of waiting around, refilming, and "Bienvenue! Bienvenue Monsieur!" that we had to exclaim.  Then there was an awkward and quasi-chaotic dinner break that found the Americans (and some Frenchies) accidently showing up at the fancy dinner for the cast and crew instead of the sandwich dinner for the extras.  Oops, but it was delicious and no one asked us to leave!


Here are some pics to enjoy!

 Getting ready for the first night of filming: the party scene: Claire getting dolled up, Eric and I showing off our nice party clothes!

 Claire and Eric before we head off to film the party scene at night (cameras were sadly left in the dressing room so we don't have any shots of the beautiful house).  Then Claire and I showing off our fabulous hats and hairstyles before the "arrival" scene.  The director LOVED the way we look and said that we were basically cast as "sisters" in the movie, hence why we were constantly dressed similiarly, haha.  Everyone else laughed at the giant hats :)

 Day 2 Crew: Claire, Mike, and I, waiting at the church to film the arrival scene

 Filming the arrival, complete with a band!

 A great French-Senegalese cast and crew!

 Everyone ready for Christmas Eve!  Our new French friends, Klara and her mother

 Klara, boy whose name I forget, and Elodie, then Ann Sophie getting a scarf touch up during mass filming.

There are no words to describe how much Mike loved his safari-esque costume!



And there you have it, time for me to get myself an agent!  I'm ready for my close-up!