On the outskirts of Monrovia, a film crew knuckled down to work. Beyond the urban sprawl, they were distanced, if not safe, from the Ebola crisis playing out in the city. Liberia was already on a path to becoming the worst-affected nation in the West African epidemic, and nearly 5,000 lives would be lost by the time the World Health Organization gave the all clear. It was September 2014, and the end of the outbreak was not yet in sight.
For almost a month the crew stayed away from their family and friends, camped between a hotel and a house in the suburb of Virginia. The set was on lockdown. They were living in each other's pockets but remained at arm's length -- necessarily so. Diluted bleach was used to wash. There would be no shaking hands or high fives for a job well done. Bodily contact was a potential death sentence, and fear abounded in this pressure cooker environment.
