Kieran Hodges, interviewed by Toby Brockelbank
Toby interviews Kieran Hodges, Kez, who he’s been lucky enough to meet. Known in the local skate community for filming down in Palmy, Kez went from building film sets in the UK to travelling the world making documentaries. We discussed how skating relates to doco, his recent projects from the Middle East to West Africa, filming in Palestine, Kez’s upcoming films, and advice for wannabe filmmakers. Check it out!
How has skating affected your filmmaking?
Filming skateboarding was always about the people. It was about friends coming together to have fun, push each other to do things they’ve never done before, no matter how good they were. It was all about a creative energy and environment that everyone could have fun and bring the stoke – whether that be a brick-factory ghetto spot we’d build, a mini-ramp in someone’s back yard or a street spot. The camera was always there as an observer to the scene and what was going down.
Documentary filmmaking is very much the same. It’s about people. Usually we’re filming human-stories of people doing extraordinary things, so again it’s about connecting with the people you’re filming and letting the camera be the observer, not staging things and letting the action unfold naturally in real time.
What projects have you worked on recently?
As I am writing this I am on a very interesting project, filming in 3 countries about 3 different organisations who are using technology to save lives in remote communities, so we shot in Rwanda for 3 days, then jumped a 30-hour flight to the Colombian Amazon to do a story about mosquitoes and early detection, and now I’m en route to Sao Paulo Brazil where we shoot for another 4 days before we wrap. I’m going to take a week off at the end of the trip to hang out in Rio, skate, surf and keep it all chill.
What has it been like travelling around the world?
Travelling for these projects is really a dream. I started doing this for a job around 15 years ago when I transitioned from being a builder into the film industry. I’ve had some extraordinary experiences over the years, filming in over 80 countries and all 7 continents. I’ve certainly seen a lot of good and bad! What’s made this recent trip extra special, is that I took a team of friends and filmmakers who had never been to South America or the Amazon before, so seeing them react to a trip of a lifetime was really special. Trips like these really do change your life. For me it gets quite emotional as it was my third time in the Amazon, so when I was there it was a nice time to reflect on my own personal journey but also get excited to the journey the team is on.
Was it hard getting into Palestine?
Palestine was interesting. I have so many Palestinian friends, they’re all such great people. But I don’t think I ever truly understood the issues they face there, and to be honest I still don’t truly get it, but now I have a better idea of what’s going on. Getting in was quite easy for me, our client really helped get us through the VIP terminal in Israel then we drove into Palestine – but what I saw with all of the road blocks and treatment of the everyday citizens of Palestine was hard to watch.
Where did you go in Palestine and what was it like on the ground?
One of our sub-stories was shot in Gaza, about an orphan programme there, so we had a local filmmaker Khaled film that section for us – he’s lived through the war and conflict, which as you can imagine isn’t easy to say the least. He’s a very talented filmmaker and the footage he sent us was awesome. I spent time going to Nablus, West-Bank and Jerusalem.
What have you noticed about surf and skate culture across the globe?
Everyone is bound by the same stoke – It’s universal. Whether it’s skateboarding in the slums of Uganda, or surfing in remote fishing villages of Ghana.
What project was the best to work on and which are you most proud of?
Such a tough question – There have been a lot of great projects over the years, but I could probably rattle off top 3 in no particular order! Justice Brothers – A self-funded passion project documenting the surfing community in Western Region in Ghana which went on to be an official selection at Raindance Film Festival and shortlisted for Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.
Feeding Hope – One of the most recent ones where I flew to Lebanon and made a film about a Lebanese/Armenian Chef who lost her restaurant in the Beirut Blast in 2020 then rebuilt it and now cooks for people in conflict zones who need it most.
National Geographic – Connecting Cultures – This one was over a decade ago but it was one heck of an adventure, we traveled to 5 countries around the planet as we followed a Nat Geo journalist as he immersed himself in a different culture in each country – Canada, USA, Thailand, Georgia and Sweden.
Any advice for students who want to be filmmakers?
Buy a small camera and go and hone your craft, it’s not always about having the fanciest camera. Passion projects; go shoot them, edit them, make mistakes, experiment, win awards, fail… Do it all, each step will help you grow.
Any projects in the works or things we should look out for?
I’d love to make the film about Chef Aline in Lebanon into a feature documentary, we’re currently exploring this so hope we can make it happen before the end of the year.
Where can we find your films?
These can be found on my Vimeo – www.vimeo.com/kieranhodges
What is the festival circuit like?
The film festival circuit is truly awesome, I was amazed how well the surf film justice brothers did. I used Film Freeway as a platform to enter into festivals and it got picked up by about 10. And I personally travelled to a few of them and it was so great to meet people in person and see people react to your film in a cinema setting and come up to you after they watched it to say what they enjoyed it. Again – Bringing people together! So much better than only sharing films on instagram!
