My Interview with John Lavall

Before the last day of Roving Eye began, I got a chance to talk with John Lavall, who was showing clips from his upcoming documentary about refugees from Africa living now in Rhode Island.  He also talked about his other film about the dangers of LNG tankers in Rhode Island.

How long have you been working on the LNG project?

I have been working on the LNG project for six years now, making it the longest project that I have worked on.  I have 100 hours of footage but I'm just having trouble coming up with an ending to it.

How did you get involved with this project?

I was at a high school basketball game, when I ran into the Attorney General.  He wanted me to make a public service announcement about the dangers of LNG tankers in Rhode Island.

What are the dangers of LNG?

For an LNG tanker to come through Narragansett Bay, everything must shut down in the surrounding area for it to pass.  This could do some harm to the state's economy if everything has to shut down for them to pass.  LNG isn't compressed, so it can't explode but it is highly flammable.  If there was a leak and someone was smoking on the shore, you could get 2nd degree burn in a one mile radius.  Thousands could get burned if there was a leak. 

What are some possible ways to end this project?

It's an editorial decision to keep going.  You never know what's going to happen next in this case.  The last thing that I have shot is a protest on a boat in the middle of Narragansett Bay.

Tell me about the film were going to be previewed "Home Across Lands"?

I have just finished filming "Home Across Lands", which deals with refugees from Ethiopia and get to live in Rhode Island and start a new life.  It shows what it is like to live in one of these refugee camps and how bad they are.  It then shows the process of how those who get to live in Rhode Island adjust to living in the United States. 

Were there any problems tackling this project?

Yes there were some problems.  People in the Ethiopian government said I couldn't shoot it at first.  Even after they agreed that I could do this project, I still had problems getting into the camps.  The weather conditions also proved to be a factor, we could only shoot at certain times, because it would get too hot to be outside at certain times of the day.  We needed an umbrella over the camera just to keep it cool and not have it overheat.