› Watch Cody Stokes talk about his
movie and experience in Ghana. (Quicktime)

When most people would have given up, Cody Stokes just kept filming.

He lost his luggage, a would-be robber held him at knife-point, bandits forced his car off the road, police tried to extort money from him, the local school abandoned him and the expensive cameras he ordered never arrived.

None of it stopped Stokes.

The St. Louis native was determined to fulfill a pledge he made to film his senior thesis in the West African nation of Ghana. Stokes’ senior thesis, “The Loneliest Place on Earth,” premiered earlier this month at the Winifred Moore Auditorium.

“I spent every penny I had to do this,” said Stokes, who designed his own Independent Film Production and Management major. “I don’t know how I did it, but I did.”

Stokes ended up in Ghana partly by chance. When the West African nation was thrown out as a possible destination. “Why Ghana?” became “Why not Ghana?”

“I try about everything that comes my way,” Stokes said. “When would I ever have the chance to go to Ghana?”



All he had to do was come up with the money to pay for it. Stokes secured $2,000 worth of film from Kodak and an $8,800 grant from the Princess Grace Foundation. The foundation annually awards the money to a handful of the nation’s most promising filmmakers. Stokes was one of seven recipients. So off to Ghana he went.

Stokes’ plan was simple. He would teach part-time at Ghana’s National Film and Television Institute where he could recruit eager students to serve as his film crew. Unfortunately, nothing went according to plan.

The school blew off several scheduled meetings with Stokes and never allowed him into a classroom. The students he met seemed unwilling to help. “The only thing the students would ask me was ‘How much money would I make?’” Stokes said.

“It all fell apart so quickly. I knew the project was in jeopardy.”

When most people would only grow more discouraged, Stokes grew more determined. He maxed out his credit cards and sold personal items to purchase equipment. He persuaded a handful of locals to serve as his crew. And he dodged police eager to collect a fee for catching them on film.

“It was about the toughest two months of my life,” Stokes said. “Every bad thing that happened just made me more determined to stick it out.”



Life didn’t get any easier back in the states. When he returned, Stokes discovered a bug on the tape he made. While he could view the footage on the camera, he could not transfer it off. The entire film needed to be re-shot in St. Louis.

“Fortunately, the story is universal enough that it works in both places,” Stokes said. “I watch what I shot in America and I can see the little bit of wisdom I gained from my time in Ghana.”

“The Loneliest Place on Earth” follows the story of two strangers — a dying man who doesn’t want to die alone and the taxi driver he hires to drive him around town.

Looking back, completing the film is one of Stokes’ most proud accomplishments.

“Every single person I know told me to come home,” he said. “At that point, I wasn’t making the film for anyone but me. If I had to, I would do it all over again exactly the same way.”

Do you have a similar story to share? E-mail scan@webster.edu

Return to Top  

• Words from the Dean

• Julie Clark ’01
  Advertising
  and Marketing
  Communications

• The Film Must Go On: Webster Senior Rises
  to the Challenges of Producing a Film Abroad
• On Air: Student-Run Radio Station Returns

• Angela Cartnal ’03
  Video Production
• Kevin Niemeier ’03
  Broadcast Journalism
• Roberto Salas ’06
  Advertising and
  Marketing Communications

• Home Page
• About SCAN
• Become a GURU
• Send This to a Friend
• Contact Us
• Archived Issues
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Copyright
• SOC Home Page