Documenting the Globe
By Selim Algar

For Brian Quist, globalization means something more than free trade agreements. The 22-year-old documentary filmmaker and soon to be graduate of the Friends World program at Southampton College is the creative force behind Global Griot Productions, an internationally-minded film group dedicated to the promotion of perspective.

This week, Mr. Quist hosted a screening of his documentary, “We Are Refugees” on Wednesday at Duke Hall at Southampton College, which has been the international headquarters for the Friends World Program. The program’s main office will relocate to London at the end of this year.

Founded by Quakers in 1965, Mr. Quist’s roving alma mater requires classroom study, language training and fieldwork in at least two foreign countries. The Seattle native spent his sophomore year studying in India, where he developed an interest in the plight of Tibetan refugees. “We Are Refugees” shadows a monk and a young girl as they adapt to exile in India. Lobsang Chenjor is a former political prisoner who spent 11 years in prison before fleeing to India. Tsering Lhamo escaped to pursue an education unavailable at home.

“I wanted to present the issues that weren’t being exposed at the Free Tibet concerts,” he said in an interview last weekend. Using only a basic camcorder and a microphone, Mr. Quist captured countless hours of footage and honed it into a cohesive documentary. “At first I didn’t think it held weight,” he said. “But now that I look at it I really think it does. The simplicity of the technology is kind of appropriate because of the simplicity of the people and subject matter. The content carries it.”

The experiential approach of Friends World, according to Mr. Quist, thrust him into professionalism when most college students were still sifting through majors. “The program is basically about young kids getting out there and trying on different hats,” he said. “We used to say that people in the program started their careers before they even graduated. It really has a global context.”

After four years of scholarly globetrotting, graduates fan out into vocations as varied as the countries where they study. “People are doing everything, across the board,” he said. “Artists, poets, people in economics. Everything.”

This emphasis on diversity of perspective infuses Mr. Quist’s second major project, “A Day in the Hype of America.” While focusing on a domestic rather than an international issue, the piece follows the lives of four unique and very dissimilar Americans on the cusp of the new millennium.

The project was inspired by a chance glance at a photography book at a garage sale that presented the work of several photographers dispatched to various regions around the country to capture “life” in the span of 24 hours. “I thought of applying that concept to the millennium,” the filmmaker recalled.

To that end, Mr. Quist rallied 25 friends and filmmakers on a pro bono basis, divided them into six crews and dispatched them to six cities. The $40,000 project was financed by a group of investors with whom Quist entered into a future profit-sharing arrangement. They shot for one day, December 31, 1999. “We ended up with 110 hours of footage,” he said.

Though they whittled down the footage to coverage of four people from the six cities, they still faced a daunting editing process. “We wanted to really make it professional,” he said. “To take it out of the student movie category.”

Specifically, the film seeks to analyze the formation of and reaction to the American hype machine, millennium style. Reverend Billy is an anti-establishment Times Square street preacher. Keng is a backup singer for a New Orleans funk band who rings in the New Year by sleeping in and preparing for a millennium performance. Jacque is an Arizona environmentalist engaged in frenetic Y2K preparation. And Albert White Hat is a South Dakota Sioux Indian who is asked to host a millennium Pow Wow. “It is now in a beautiful 90-minute state,” said Mr. Quist.

The soundtrack includes the careening elegance of electronic music and the gritty minimalism of hip-hop. He is currently shopping the piece to film festivals around the world.

Satisfaction with the final product has obscured the $30,000 Mr. Quist owes in film costs. But with one film in the initial stages of distribution and a second one in postproduction, Mr. Quist must grapple with the stark realities of independent filmmaking. He continues to seek out investors. For those interested in supporting his projects, Mr. Quist can be reached at (718) 599- 9682.

“Global Griot has accomplished a lot more at this point than I thought it would have. I am just thrilled to be involved with film,” the documentation said.

“I think it is a young art form and I want to be a part of it.” Judging from the expansive breadth of his efforts and positive critical response, Mr. Quist appears poised to do just that.

—SELIM ALGAR

Reprinted with permission from The Southampton Press, 12/06/01. Copyright 2001 Southampton Press