A Documentary About Language, Landscape and Idealism Lost — SIX MONTHS TO SALVATION by Lorenzo Benitez
(Read the full Q&A on FilmCourage.com here)
Film Courage: Where did you grow up?
Lorenzo Benitez: I was born in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, and lived there for the first eight years of my life before my family migrated to Sydney, Australia. I spent my entire adolescence in the latter, which is why I like to think of it as where I did all my real growing up. So despite being born in Manila, I’m much more inclined to call Sydney my “hometown.”
I am the eldest of three children: the other two are still in high school. We have a mother and a father who’re still together. Despite our atypical international upbringing, I’d say we’re otherwise a fairly nuclear family.
“In relation to the documentary I’m promoting, I think my preoccupation with the efficacy of charity, which heavily constitutes the film’s investigations, can be traced back to some of my parents’ more unorthodox rearing. While growing up as a kid in Manila, my parents allowed me to keep only two of the gifts I received each Christmas, while the rest were distributed to street children.”
Lorenzo Benitez — SIX MONTHS TO SALVATION
Film Courage: Did your parents lend support toward creativity or encourage another type of career/focus?
Lorenzo: My parents have always been supportive of my creative interests. For example, as a little kid, I used to write short stories — all of which if read today would embarrass me — that a lot of my classmates liked to read. One of my fondest memories from childhood is overhearing my mother proudly tell her friends about my stories. It’s an ethereal memory that still sticks with me to this day.
Film Courage: Where are you currently studying? What is your major?
Lorenzo: I’m currently at Cornell University, where I’m studying for a B.A. as a double-major in Philosophy and Economics. I initially contemplated studying film to some extent, but that probably would’ve been redundant. After all, I think it was Werner Herzog who said that making your debut film is as beneficial as, if not more educational than, any form of film school. Actually, it wouldn’t surprise if there’s a whole list of filmmakers who’ve said something to that effect.
Film Courage: Can you take us to events leading up to SMTS’ opening scene? Why does it set up the beginning of the film?
Lorenzo: The opening scene is actually a flash-forward to the Easter holidays, which chronologically fall in the middle of the film. Jonathon, one of the editors, was very insistent on starting the film with this scene, which shows me mocking a group of American teenagers who’re making a documentary about their own volunteer trip to Africa. I think it reminded Jonathon of scene in one of his favorite films, Man Bites Dog, when the filmmakers who’ve been making a documentary about a serial killer literally run into another film crew making another documentary about their own serial killer.
I’m glad Jonathon was so insistent, because I now appreciate how our opening scene not only previews the film’s substantive investigation into the impact of “voluntourism,” but also because it immediately complicates the distinction between Lorenzo, the character, and Lorenzo, the filmmaker. It contextualizes myself as a subject, as well as the director. Indeed, my commitment to directorial impartiality inspired me to be just as critical of my own perspective as I was of others.
It’s frustratingly didactic to begin a documentary with the director narrating as if they were a god-like presence, or staring straight into the camera with a sense of bloated authority. We therefore chose to open with that scene because it dismisses the myth of the completely-impartial director, which we felt was a more candid acknowledgement of my unique perspective as someone making a film meant to objectively analyze the impact of volunteering, who also signed up to be a volunteer himself.
