In the shadows of the towering Andes mountains, Montana State University film school graduate Jason Burlage, 38, found the topic for his first documentary.
Now with "Mi Chacra" ("My Land") playing to sold-out screenings in the U.S. and South America, he may also have jump-started a successful career.
Burlage was in Peru working for a company providing community-service projects for students when he saw a group of porters from the Inca Trail washing their gear in the river.
He was told they earned a little more than $50 for a four-day trip carrying large bundles of food and gear for the tourists, toiling to 13,000 feet on the trail to Machu Picchu and back.
Meanwhile, families and fields were left behind.
"What seems to be a good job for them, is actually a fairly destructive force in their lives," Burlage said. "They slowly leave behind this traditional life they've always lived," seeking what they've been told will be a better life in the city.
The result worldwide is that by 2007 more people lived in cities than in the countryside. In Cusco, the nearest large city, that has led to sprawling slums.
Burlage will screen "Mi Chacra" at the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture Thursday, July 29. It's already been screened at the Denver Film Festival and Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula, and saw its international opening at the Sao Paulo Film Festival in Brazil.
Touching on such wide-ranging themes as a father's hope for his son, the disintegration of traditional cultures and global population shifts, "Mi Chacra" has struck a chord with a wide audience.
"In Brazil, people said this story could be anywhere -- the middle of Africa or China," Burlage said. "It's pretty elemental stuff."
Filmed between August and November 2007 and April and June 2008, Burlage framed the film with the planting and harvest seasons.
The story revolves around Feliciano, one of the Incan porters who is also a farmer, a husband and a father seeking a better life for his 3-year-old son Royer.
"You can't help but think about your own family, where you've come from, where you're going," Burlage said. "That's what their story made me do, made me examine my own motivations for what I was doing.
"His (Feliciano's) father had always told him you're not going to be like me," Burlage said, "'I'm going to take you to the city.'"
But, Feliciano had to stay on the land after his father died when Feliciano was still a boy.
"I grew up in Ashton, Idaho, which is a town of about 150 people. In a lot of ways that story is exactly how I was. When I was growing up I never once thought I was going to stay in Ashton."
Instead, he found himself at MSU, graduating in 1995, working on projects in Los Angeles and spending several years writing screenplays, just trying to make a living.
After settling on the project, the filmmaker's work started. With the help of an assistant who spoke Quechua, the Incan language, interviews began via a three-way conversation.
In the beginning, Burlage said, he was lucky to get more than the shortest possible answers to his questions. But eventually, Feliciano opened up, sharing everything. "It was one of the great things about the whole process," he said.
Film in hand, Burlage returned to the states to begin putting the film together.
With a tight budget, he relied on the goodness of friends.
He enlisted the help of fellow MSU film graduate Kevin Lockwood, a freelance editor based in Minneapolis.
"I thought he did a fantastic job shooting it," Lockwood said. "I was immediately moved by the visuals. Also, how he got the intimate moments with the family."
The haunting notes of a Peruvian flute lay the musical foundation. Master Peruvian musician Nayo Ulloa contributed some of the music after Burlage contacted him via the Internet.
"I got really lucky. People responded positively to the story and wanted to help out. I got two great composers to do what I think is phenomenal music. All along the way people helped out for nothing. This film is very low budget and a lot of people donated their time and talent to it."
The result has surpassed Burlage's expectations.
"Honestly, when I started the film, I thought this will be a sample piece that will get me work down the road. This will hopefully be the project that helps me transition into" full-time filmmaking, Burlage said.
Now, distribution and broadcast offers are coming in.
"I was with Jason at the Denver Film Festival," Lockwood said. "I think the reaction has been very good. It's a day-in-the-life type of documentary. It's not super high paced. People get into the life of this person."
And, this labor of love is more than that.
"I would hope it (the film) gets people to think about various things. I think it can be an inspiring story, to see how engaged this guy is with the life of his son and how much that thought of making his son's life better drives him," Burlage said.
"Then there's the whole situation with the porters on the Inca Trail. I think oftentimes for the tourists, the porters are just these quiet men who do this really difficult work. I hope it humanizes them in some way in this situation."
LuAnn Rod is at thisweek@dailychronicle.com
FYI
What: Screening of "Mi Chacra" ("My Land")
Who: Filmmaker Jason Burlage will be present
Where: Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, July 29
How much: $10 at the door or in advance at Cactus Records.
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