In the Heart of Darkness To shoot DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE we used a minimalist unit: my faithful travel companion Sandor, my small camera and I. We had to be very close to our "characters" and follow their lives over long periods. I feel like they are an important part of my existence now. When you look out for contrasts and contradictions, reality can become "bigger than life". So in a way it was easy to find striking images because I was filming a striking reality. But it was also easy to get into trouble. On location in Tanzania we could never really show up as a regular film team. In order to fly with cargo planes we had to disguise ourselves as pilots and loadmasters and carry fake identities. In villages we were mistaken as missionaries, and in fish factories managers feared we might be EU hygiene inspectors. We had to become Australian businessmen in the fancy hotel bars, or just harmless backpackers in the African bush, "taking pictures". Many many days were lost in front of sweating, confused and questioning police officers, on checkpoints and in local prisons. A good part of the filming budget was wasted just paying for our freedom in bribes and fines. The national newspaper headlines and even the BBC in London declared, "French and American journalists kidnapped by bandits on Lake Victoria". Since the writer Nick Flynn from NY was travelling with us, the US embassy in Dar es Salaam started franticly ringing the alarm for their lost citizens. There was no kidnapping, however, but once again we had been held back on a remote fishing island - this time accused of shooting "blue movies" with naked girls. Forced idleness became a dull routine. We would sit in the merciless equatorial sun surrounded by a million Nile Perch skeletons, the local’s food, trying not to go mad.

"It was easy to find striking images, because I was filming a striking reality. But it was also easy to get into trouble."