Dear Sarah Begum, before anything else, could you fill us in on your background please? Where did you grow up and how did this shape your life and career? Did you grow up watching David Attenborough and Michael Woods, for instance? I was born in Central London, opposite the Houses of Parliament so maybe this affected my later interests in life. I grew up as a tomboy and always felt my thoughts, interests and ideologies were very different to that of my peers although I mixed with friends of all backgrounds, faiths and cultures β this injected a curiosity about the world in me.
On this route, we passed through the Amish towns in Pennsylvania where I met people who till this day live without electricity, farm on their land and travel by horse and carriage. I was fascinated by what else could exist out there. I was always different. My passions blurred all stereotypes and I was on a journey to find out who and what I was. It was only when I embarked on the Amazon expedition to make my first documentary living with the Huaorani tribe deep in the jungle of Yasuni National Park, that I realised what my purpose was.
How many languages do you speak and how long does it take to get familiar with a subject and a culture? I speak several languages; English native tongue , Bengali mother tongue , Spanish conversationally fluent , French conversational , I can read Arabic and make out sentences in various other languages including Huao Tererro Amazonian dialect.
Without the openness, you cannot embrace the culture in all of its authenticity. Does having a Third World background, not being white, help when it comes to making anthropology documentaries? Are people more receptive and open and trusting? I have had many instances around the world where I manage to blend in, communities from South America, Asia to the Middle East telling me that I look like I belong to their race. This has been handy for me in many of my adventures and made it easier for me to gain access and trust when it comes to my investigative stories.
Is making an anthropology documentary different than a regular news documentary? I think making an anthropological documentary is different in the sense that you focus more on the culture so the observations will be specific, longer and detailed yet a news documentary can be about a certain issue, focuses on the highlights and can vary in length.
