What is it about Spain’s 1200-year-old Camino de Santiago trail that lures people from all over the world to spend a month or more walking the 500 miles with little more than a backpack and a pair of boots? Take this life-changing journey yourself with this award winning documentary with award-winning producer/director of “Walking the Camino”.
Nancy Ferrari’s featured guest on The Nancy Ferrari Show on February 17th, 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET is producer/director Lydia B. Smith, who makes her feature film directorial debut with “Walking the Camino.”
The veteran documentary filmmaker had previously lived in Barcelona for six years, where she worked as a production coordinator for Spanish, Dutch, English and American television shows and commercials. Over the past two decades, she has also produced hard-hitting specials for CNN and PBS, as well as directed her own educational short on the positive impact that disabled children can have on those around them.
She had even walked the Camino, all 500 miles of it, giving her the perspective that can only come from actually experiencing the range of emotions and physical challenges that travelers undergo as the miles roll by. I can honestly say that it is impossible to do the Camino, putting one foot in front of the other for 500 miles and not come out of it she says.
It was during her own Camino adventure that someone suggested the idea of making a film. At first, Smith resisted. “I said, oh no, I can’t do that. It’s too sacred. How could anyone do it justice?” But by the following spring, she was back in Spain, accompanied by an award-winning international crew that included acclaimed Chilean cinematographer Pedro Valenzuela and ace Producers Sally F. Bentley and Theresa Tollini-Coleman (who also served as the second unit director of “Walking the Camino.” )
The team also included two longtime collaborators back in the state: Jacoba Atlas, a former Vice President of Content for PBS, where she was responsible for more than 300 hours of programming that had produced 30 Emmys and three Academy Award nominations, and Kyra Thompson, whose body of work had brought her both the coveted Directors Guild and Peabody Award, along with multiple Emmy nominations.
“A Brilliant Documentary” ~ Martin Sheen, The Way
