“The first time I got the script and mood board in my inbox, I felt that I needed to do it. I felt really attracted to the possibility of shooting and recreating the situation in Africa observed by the eyes on a MDM doctor,” Vellas commented.
“I think the biggest difficulty was to be as close as possible to the reality, without getting into the African cliché. At the same time, to shoot something violent and visceral but not disgusting. I wanted to convey the life of those guys, who travel to somewhere Google Maps has no idea where it is, and spend days/weeks in tents, camping, with improvised hospitals and trying to help as many people as possible.
“My idea then, was to tell the story from the subjective point of view of one of those doctors.
“It was all shot in Brazil over two days. Brazil is full of African culture. The idea was to shoot three long sequences and make the story fit on this. So we shot one day at an abandoned factory in Sao Paulo, where we recreated a bit of a city/war zone. Then we shot another half day in a favela in Cubatao and also half day in a very old hospital in Sao Paulo. Crazy days.”
