Film turns focus to Ukraine relief efforts
Filmmaker Alejandro Dehoyos carries cameras, but the smartphone in his pocket might be his most important piece of equipment.
When he traveled to Ukraine last year to document the mission work of Christian relief organizations in the war zone, he got most of his footage by shooting discreetly with his phone.
“Without my smartphone, I probably would not have been able to make this most recent Ukraine film,” said Dehoyos, a Sam Houston High School graduate who also works as a videographer for the Spurs. “The refugees, some of them would have mobile phones or flip phones, and they would take photos and film and nobody would tell them anything.
“So I was like, ah. So I would hang out with them — I would be in the queue or I would be on the bus, and I could film and nobody would give me any problems, nobody would tell me anything.”
Dehoyos will screen the film, titled “Passport Preachers: Ukraine,” Friday at Slab Cinema Arthouse, 134 Blue Star. Doors open at 6 p.m. The screening starts at 7 p.m. and Dehoyos will talk about it afterward. The suggested donation to attend is $20.
The screening falls on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The film is part of the series “Passport Preachers,” which Dehoyos has been making since 2017 documenting the work of Christian ministries working in troubled parts of the world.
“My idea was, let me use my camera to try to shed a little light in the darkness,” he said.
He has shot films in Kenya, Honduras and India, among other places. Shortly after he began making the films, he
decided that simply filming what was going on wasn't enough.
“The dynamic for me has changed,” he said. “Instead of film first, I serve first. Sometimes as filmmakers, as video guys, you feel like you want to get this shot, capture this, but at the same time, now that I've been to these places, you don't just get off the train or get off the plane and stick a camera in somebody's face.
“There's some diplomacy, there's some cultural linguistics.
You want to create bonds and friendships with these people. And then if they allow you, then maybe you bring your camera out. And I think that that approach has now helped the series.”
He also strives to be of service. In Ukraine, that meant transporting supplies to people in desperate need of the most basic things, such as diapers and water, as well as helping to tend to the needs of people seeking to flee the war zone. He also took part in prayer groups.
And Dehoyos has begun mentoring others who are interested in doing the same kind of work. Photographer Kelsie Parham started working with him because she wanted to pick up filmmaking skills and because she shares the evangelical part of his mission.
She joined him in Honduras and hopes to go along on a trip to Africa later this year.
“There's a lot of people in the Western world, specifically in the United States, who feel very comfortable with the idea of, ‘Let's stay here and help our neighbors,' and that is good and wonderful,” Parham said. “But there are people like me who were passionate about travel and culture from a young age who just need to be presented with the idea of, ‘You can go abroad and tell people about Jesus, this is something that's tangible.' ”
Dehoyos is hoping that people who see the films take note that there are a lot of ways for them to get involved.
“I think a lot of people want to help, they just don't know how,” he said. “And maybe there's people who want to go but can't, but they can still help from where they are — their prayers can go, their funding can go, and they can be a part of it.”