THE THIRD WAVE - Festival de Cannes

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Short Synopsis THE THIRD WAVE How do we cross that line from writing donations checks to actually volunteering? After the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster, four independent volunteers of divergent backgrounds, race off to Sri Lanka to see if they can help. With little money or experience they arrive in the main city, meet each other by fate, rent a van and drive off along the coast. They stumble into Peraliya, a tribal village which has been totally devastated by a 40 foot tsunami wave, leaving more than 2500 people dead. The volunteers set up a first aid station and quickly find themselves in charge of a refugee camp caring for over three thousand people. What was originally a two-week journey spirals into a year-long odyssey of hope, heartbreak and setbacks as the villagers slowly begin to rise up against them when the worlds’ donated tsunami money never materializes. The volunteers break every rule in the ‘Disaster Aid books’ and out of the rubble an entire village is re-born. THE THIRD WAVE is a roadmap for volunteering: it chronicles that in a world of increased natural and manmade disaster, Everyone is needed. No experience required.
THE THIRD WAVE DIRECTOR’S NOTES THE THIRD WAVE came about in an odd way backing up to the Sept 11 th disaster where I worked as a volunteer for 9 months. After that experience my life was changed forever and I had a deep desire to volunteer again. In Dec 2004, after watching the tsunami disaster unravel on television, I knew I had to go and help. I have a background in nursing and third world countries and felt that I could do something. My boyfriend Oscar Gubernati was also moved and we packed up and flew directly to the other side of the world to Sri Lanka. We gathered medical supplies, tents, sleeping bags, food etc. and also took along a small video camera to document shots of the destruction and maybe hold a fundraiser for them a few weeks later on our return. When we arrived in Sri Lanka, ten days after the tsunami, the devastation was so massive that there was no-one helping and no one really knew what to do. We met two other volunteers, Bruce and Donny at the airport and we rented a van, filled it with food and water and started driving down the coast, assisting people along the way. We stumbled into Peraliya, a tribal village where a train had been washed away by a 40 foot wave killing more than 2500 people. The entire village had been destroyed so we set up a first aid van in the only remaining structure left (which was the school-yard) and began helping people. What started out as a two-week journey turned into one long year, as we found ourselves in charge of a field hospital and refugee camp. We were so busy re-building the village that we didn’t have a lot of time to shoot footage. But in the back of my mind I knew it was important to keep filming, so we passed the camera around to ambulance drivers, kids or anyone else who wanted to have a go at filming and documenting the experience. At the end of the second month we met a local camera man named Sunil who said he would film for us so we just kept on running the refugee camp. We returned to New York 14 months later with over 250 hours of footage that we now had to edit down into 88 minutes. THE THIRD WAVE explores the complexities and joys of volunteering. It follows the first six months of our journey and leaves behind a roadmap for future volunteers. The title makes reference to the destruction and, ultimately, mankind’s response to it. The tsunami
Page 1: THE THIRD WAVE A Film Directed by A
Page 5 and 6: THE THIRD WAVE FILMMAKERS’ STATEM
Page 7 and 8: THE THIRD WAVE Cast and Crew Bios B
Page 9 and 10: Alison Thompson - Director Alison T
Page 11 and 12: Festivals. Recently, it was listed
Page 13 and 14: Editor: Cedar Daniels Co-Editor: Pe

THE THIRD WAVE - Festival de Cannes

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