Cinematographer Patti Lee used Panasonic's AG-HVX200 P2 HD handheld camcorder to shoot the documentary A Small Act. The documentary centers on Chris Mburu, an impoverished Kenyan boy whose life was changed when an anonymous Swedish woman sponsored his primary education. For the three-month, multi-country, single-camera shoot, Lee felt that the HVX200 was the best choice becaise of its quality, portability and cost-effectiveness.

“At the time [in 2007], tapeless production was not that common and, believe me, we had no easy access to electricity in Kenya, but to achieve the quality the HVX200 afforded, we would have needed a much bigger camera,” Lee said. She goes on to explain that the Panasonic camcorder fit within their budget, and most importantly, was lightweight and unobtrusive. "We spent considerable time shooting in a poor, simple setting in Kenya, often involving children, and the last thing we needed was a big camera as a distraction.”

In their travels from Sweden to Switzerland to Kenya, Lee and Director Jennifor Arnold carried their camera, sound gear and hard drives onto planes in two rolling backpacks. Though the airlines frequently lost the pair's checked luggage, the two-person crew could continue their shooting because they always had their essential equipment on hand..

Shooting 720/24pN, the filmmakers set up on location workstations to offload interviews onto a PowerBook G4 and backed up data onto buss-powered FireWire field drives. They pared 200 hours of footage down to 85-minute with Final Cut Pro. Carl Pfirman and Tyler Hubby served as editors while Colorist Andy Lichstein performed the color correct on a Baselight system at Chainsaw Edit in Hollywood, California.

Premiering in the U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance 2010, A Small Act tells the story of the adult Chris Mburu, now a Harvard-educated human-rights lawyer, who strives to replicate the generosity he received by founding a scholarship fund to aid a new generation of Kenyans. .

For more information about A Small Act, visit www.asmallact.com. For more information about the Sundance Film Festival, visit www.festival.sundance.org