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LMGI COMPASS
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Fall 2021
"Each episode was special, and each had things that made me
weep," admits Friedberg. "All of the episodes were graphically
striking. The yellow fever episode was especially difcult."
In a visually dramatic scene, the slave catcher and Cora, who
is bound in a horse-drawn wagon, ride through a smoldering
landscape. "The whole world was on re, and the painters had to use
a lot of black paint for re to be created out there," recalls Friedberg.
"I learned so many interesting things," adds KALM Martin,
"including how to grow cotton and, for the 'Tennessee' episode,
how to burn elds. Farmers do that to help renew the soil."
"Valentine's Farm in 'Indiana' had a whole different kind of
energy," says Alison. "Black people working and living and feeling
free. We lmed that on an old plantation, but it didn't feel anything
like the plantation in the rst episode. We played it as a successful
cooperative farm with a beautiful vineyard. These are scenes of
happy people. It offered a promise of hope."
To KALM Travell Blake, this idyllic location meant "orchestrating
building roads. There was nowhere to put base camp, so we
CORA'S JOURNEY CONTINUES ON
Alison recalls one of the more difcult locations to nd—a town with
a very specic physical layout that was important to what would
happen there and visually reect the beliefs of a cult-like community.
"We were trying to nd a town with an amphitheater in the middle
of the town square where all the houses faced each other. That was
really complicated. Someone would say, 'Oh, this is it,' and someone
else would say, 'No, it won't work.' The idea was to have this central
area where neighbors were spying on each other. We needed Cora,
who was hiding in an attic, to see the square in a direct line from her
peephole in one of the houses.
"Eventually, scout Angie Dean Morrison found the perfect place.
There were trees and all the houses were in a circle. The moment I
saw it, I said, 'This is what Barry is looking for.' You don't have to
explain it. It was so eerie and perfect—an incredible nd. All these
wooden houses surrounding that central meeting area where
they would go to perform their rituals. There were no secrets
there because you could see everybody from your porch."
Charlottenburg Town Hall
Clockwise from top left: Caesar (Aaron Pierre) in Griffin dorm
Photo Kyle Kaplan/Amazon; Savannah City Hall stands in
South Carolina. Photo Kyle Kaplan/Amazon; Savannah City
tower becomes a skyscraper from the future.
