ITVS Beyond the Box » Africa

Inside a Soccer Soap Opera in Africa

ITVS Staff — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:37:45 +0000

Patrick Reed, Director of The Team

With World Cup fever upon us, Patrick Reed, director of the upcoming ITVS International production The Team, describes filming the making of a soap opera about soccer in Kenya. The fictional program was intended to unite and distract Kenyans in the aftermath of violence following the 2007 elections. The film is still in production.

With the 2010 World Cup in full swing, the eyes of the world are on Africa.

Each morning — before rushing off to the edit suite in Toronto, Canada, where I live — starts with a guilty pleasure: eating breakfast in front of the TV and watching the early morning World Cup match with my 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

For my kids, the novelty of watching TV in the morning compensates for their difficulty following the action. Lots of questions, of course, such as: “Why do the players keep falling down?” And, “What’s happening?” when the referee brandishes a red card and sends a player off (something my kids keenly appreciate, as they are very familiar with the concept of being penalized for bad behavior).

Still from The Team (photo by Peter Ndolo)

Films I’ve made in Africa — including Shake Hands with the Devil and Triage — were neither easy to make, nor easy to watch. I was hardly suffering from “Africa fatigue,” but did want to explore a different side of the so-called African story: one that wasn’t about a Western outsider on a pilgrimage back to the past, or on a crusade into the future. Rather, a story set in the present where Africans played the starring role, active participants instead of passive victims.

So, I was immediately intrigued when I heard that a Kenyan production company — borrowing an idea from the innovative U.S.-based NGO Search for Common Ground — was creating a TV soap opera series called The Team, hoping to captivate an audience and compel their nation to confront issues like tribalism.

We started filming in December 2008 on our first of four shoots in Kenya over the period of a year. As a thousand aspiring actors auditioned at Kenya’s national soccer stadium — an appropriate location since the soap opera follows a soccer team composed of players from warring tribes — our crew was immediately struck by the idealism of the final cast. Some had never acted before and all were from different backgrounds in terms of tribe and class, but all seemed committed that the soap opera might just change their nation, and would undoubtedly change their lives. Finally, I thought, here was my positive “African story.”

Well, without giving too much away, that was a bit of wishful thinking on my part.

In soccer, as in life, it’s easy to celebrate a victory but the real test of character is how you react to a loss that’s as painful and as a kick to the head, and a blow to the heart. And that, more than anything, is what The Team is about.

ITVS Celebrates Black History Month

phil_zimmerman — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:17:06 +0000

Nine-year-old Pricilla from P-Star Rising, airing Feb. 9 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS.

Mine, premiering Feb. 16 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS.

ITVS and PBS offers viewers the opportunity to explore the rich and vibrant history and cultural contributions of African Americans throughout the year, but this month offers a special slate of new and encore programs in honor of Black History Month.

Independent Lens brings race to the forefront with four new films in February. Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness, debuting Feb. 2, explores the often-overlooked legacy of Jewish anthropologist Melville Herskovits, whose ideas in the 40s and 50s challenged the accepted assumptions about race and culture. Then, tune in on Feb. 9 for P-Star Rising, which looks at nine-year-old Pricilla who wants to be the youngest female rap star ever and her single father who is determined to help her make it big. This film also closes out the special line-up of compelling films as part of Independent Lens’s Music Month.

A third film, Mine, premiering Feb. 16, tells the poignant and powerful story of animals left behind during Katrina, and of the struggles of hurricane victims to reunite with their beloved pets. Finally, Behind the Rainbow, airing Feb. 23, unearths once-hidden realities of South Africa’s political obstacles on the path to democracy.

Other ITVS films airing this month on PBS include: February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four, which looks at the pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement when four college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960, and Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968, which investigates the continued cover-up of the tragedy of 1968 on the campus of South Carolina State University and follows ongoing efforts to seek justice.

Get local broadcast information >>

Thousands of hours of PBS programming are available on the PBS Video Portal, including a special collection for Black History Month.

Visit PBS Video >>

Watch these video clips of upcoming new Independent Lens programs (check local listings):

Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness, Feb. 2 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS

P-Star Rising, Feb. 9 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS

Mine, Feb. 16 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS

Behind the Rainbow, Feb. 23 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS

College Success Tips: Rocky Otoo From A BRONX PRINCESS Airing Tonight on P.O.V. on PBS

phil_zimmerman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:44:51 +0000

“Compelling… [A] coming-of-age documentary from filmmakers Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed,”
- Los Angeles Times

A BRONX PRINCESS, airing tonight, Tuesday, September 22 at 10:00 PM on P.O.V. on PBS (check local listings), follows Rocky Otoo’s journey as she leaves behind her mother in New York City to reunite with her royal father in Ghana, West Africa and reconciles her African heritage with her dream of independence.

Now in her junior year of college, Otoo discusses what she has learned and shares tips on how to deal with cultures shock, building relationships with professors, keeping your family informed and other advice. Check out the video below.

Post your own video responses and start a conversion with Rocky Otoo about college and the film.

Visit the P.O.V. Web site to learn more >>

Q&A With END OF THE RAINBOW Filmmaker Mitzi Goldman

phil_zimmerman — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:28:49 +0000

Airing this Sunday at 10:00 PM on Global Voices on PBS World (check local listings), END OF THE RAINBOW explores the human dimensions of industrial gold-mining in two remote locations: Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo and Guinea, West Africa. We recently spoke with filmmaker Mitzi Goldman about the challenges of making the documentary and her style of filming. Learn more about the film and get her take below:

Q. What were some of the challenges you faced in making this film? What were some of the lessons you learned in making END OF THE RAINBOW.

Mitzi Goldman: Making a documentary in Africa is always going to present challenges, especially if the country is undergoing some political strife. In our case, we were lucky to have the access and cooperation of the mining operation. They helped enormously with logistics and accommodation as well as power and transportation. This is due to the director’s excellent relationships with the mine.

The translations were quite challenging and time consuming. It was expensive to find translators in Australia who could speak the Malinke dialect and be able to transcribe the interviews. We didn’t really find them, and so we had to do the labor intensive typing as they were translated from the screen.

I learned that sometimes being in the right place at the right time can make your movie. It’s important to grab opportunities as they present themselves and make the most of the moment. Sometimes, one scene can make a film. For us, it was the pit bust scene. When we had that scene and the following events, we knew we had a great film.

Always go that extra mile.

Q. How does END OF THE RAINBOW fit in the Australian tradition of documentary?

MG: Rob Nugent, the director, is very influenced by and enamored with ethnographic documentary. Australia has a great tradition of documentary and some legendary figures in the tradition of ethnographic documentary, such as David and Judith MacDougal, Gary Kildea, Dennis O’Rourke—all of whom have had an influence on Rob’s work. I have always been a director as well as a producer and trained as an assistant editor with great documentary filmmakers such as Tom Zubrycki and Gil Scrine. We both love the tradition of political and social issue documentary filmmaking and have come from that legacy. We also have a strong interest in stories with international significance that tell of human struggles, dignity and the everyday occurrences that link universal stories. I think END OF THE RAINBOW sits firmly within this tradition. It has something of an essay style: it is not a polemic, it is more gentle and poetic while being accessible and revealing.

Visit the Global Voices Web site to learn more >>

Watch END OF THE RAINBOW on Global Voices on PBS WORLD

phil_zimmerman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:39:56 +0000

“A refreshing change from hardline documentaries about foreign capital wreaking havoc in Third World countries,” Variety

END OF THE RAINBOW explores the human dimensions of industrial gold-mining in two remote locations. As the mine’s structures and equipment are dismantled in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, then transported and reconstructed to begin gold processing in Guinea, West Africa, what unfolds is an elegiac portrait of the changes brought by the mine and of the universal human desire for a better life.

Watch a preview below:

END OF THE RAINBOW airs Sunday, August 30 at 10:00 PM on Global Voices on PBS WORLD (check local listings).

Free Screening of BRONX PRINCESS This Saturday in Little Ghana Neighborhood

phil_zimmerman — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:19:19 +0000

BRONX PRINCESS tells the true story of Rocky Otoo, the Bronx-born teenage daughter of royal Ghanaian parents. With freedom in sight, this sassy, college-bound overachiever rebels against working at her mother’s beauty shop moves to Ghana, West Africa, with her royal father and reconciles her African heritage with her dream of independence.

Funded by ITVS and airing next month on P.O.V. on PBS, the film will have a free screening at 9:00 PM on Saturday, August 29 at Mullaly Park, Bronx, NY.

After the screening, Otoo, her Ghanaian family and filmmakers Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed will answer questions from the audience.

This outdoor screening will be in Little Ghana––a neighborhood just blocks away from where it was filmed. Starting at 6:00 PM, there will be a block party, which will feature live music and poetry performances by West African artists from the film as well as hands-on arts activities for children and college resources.

Learn more about this free screening >>

Visit P.O.V. for more information about the upcoming broadcast >>

Community Cinema Screening of TAKING ROOT at Whole Foods Market

phil_zimmerman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:05:40 +0000

Read about the special upcoming Community Cinema screening of TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, which tells the story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a global movement. The screening will be at Whole Foods Market Briarcliff in Atlanta, GA, on Thursday, July 2, at 8:00 PM. Amy Wheeler of Whole Foods Market explains her interest in Community Cinema.

I am so excited to bring Community Cinema to Whole Foods Market Briarcliff in Atlanta, GA. After serving one year with AmeriCorps and having the privilege to work with ITVS and Community Cinema, I hoped that my move from the non-profit sector to Whole Foods would provide me with an outlet for my passion for community and volunteerism.

While in Boston with AmeriCorps, our film screenings went from having no more than ten attendees to well over 100 attendees once we partnered with ITVS. The excitement and passion that came with this success was overwhelming. ITVS’s films ignite conversations and bring people of all cross-sections together to meet and discover ways to improve the community. It is an amazing and inspiring thing to be a part of.

Moving back to Atlanta, I could not have been any luckier to transfer to a store where the leadership has great passion for food, community and local farmers and producers. This passion can be seen throughout the store where local farmers and vendors are highlighted, discussed in our educational classes and featured in front of the store with a garden that is thriving with tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, jalapeños and pepper plants. The message is clear––we are not only here to provide wonderful food, but also provide a space where community members can learn about where their food comes from, how to cook it and how they can get more involved.

I was thrilled when given the opportunity to bring Community Cinema to Whole Foods Market. This is just one of many steps we have taken and will continue to do to be a positive force in our neighborhood.

Our first film screening TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai will be at 8:00 PM, Thursday July 2, at Whole Foods Market in Briarcliff, GA. Beginning at 6:00 PM, food will be served hot off the grill and information will be available from Oakhurst Community Garden, Georgia Organics and Farmer D.

I hope to see you there.

- Amy Wheeler
Whole Foods Market

For more information and to sign up please email:
amy.wheeler@wholefoods.com

Ithaca Community Cinema Reports on TAKING ROOT

phil_zimmerman — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:26:07 +0000

Ithaca Community Cinema recently held a screening of the Independent Lens film TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai at S.T.A.M.P.‘s Guerrilla Griots Human Rights Media Arts Center. TAKING ROOT tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a global movement. Afterwards, a discussion was led by the film’s musical composer and two sisters from Kenya who participated in the Green Belt Movement. Read more about this event and its impact in the report below from the Guerrilla Griots blog.

The Ithaca Community Cinema screening of TAKING ROOT.

TAKING ROOT music composer Samite of Uganda with the one of the Kamau sisters of Kenya.

S.T.A.M.P.’s Guerrilla Griots Human Rights Media Arts Center is one of over 50 venues throughout the United States who participate in a free, monthly screening series in partnership with ITVS and PBS. Community Cinema is a monthly screening series which creates accessible opportunities for civic engagement and public education around important social issues.

To bring in Spring, Community Cinema featured TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. TAKING ROOT tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights and defend democracy––a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration. On March 20, over 100 people from the greater Ithaca area packed a small screening room downtown to watch the film; listen to the inspiration of TAKING ROOT musical composer Samite of Uganda; learn from two sisters from Kenya who participated in the Green Belt Movement; and share local, fair-trade and organic fare courtesy of GreenStar Community Projects.

The post-screening community discussion focused on Samite’s inspiration to create the music featured in TAKING ROOT, in addition to the challenges he faced in being an Ugandan who only briefly lived in Kenya and was not fluent in the native language. “Never give up,” he repeated constantly regarding all the magical moments that helped him surpass the hurdles in creating his first film score. He remarked that he was “truly inspired” by the film and the work of Wangari Maathai with whom he is friends.

The Kamau sisters spoke passionately about their involvement in the Green Belt Movement, and the power of the people to make change. Guerrilla Griots is all about challenging the status quo, so we were in excellent company to celebrate the Spring Equinox–the energetic embodiment of change! Refreshments for the evening (both pre/post screening) were provided courtesy of GreenStar Cooperative Market’s not-for-profit Community Projects initiative.

Elizabeth Karabinakis coordinated local, fair-trade and organic fare for all to enjoy––with the support of Ithaca Bakery, Moosewood Restaurant and the following family farms: Cayuga Pure Organics, Finger Lakes Farmstead, Kenyan Highland, Littletree Orchards, Lively Run Goat Dairy, Organic Valley Northeast, Remembrance Farm and Silver Queen Farm.

Watch AFRICAN SCHOOL on May 19 on Link TV

phil_zimmerman — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:13:21 +0000

A series that captures the daily lives, concerns and personalities of young Africans and their teachers in Masindi, Uganda. AFRICAN SCHOOL tells the stories of two schools and gives and uplifting look at what life is like in Africa today with students who strive for education, despite such challenges as poverty, high HIV rates and local conflict.

Check out the clip below:

AFRICAN SCHOOL premieres on May 19 on Link TV at 4:30 PM (check local listings). This film received ITVS International funding.

In the News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

phil_zimmerman — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:57:16 +0000

Stacy Peralta, director of CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, answers questions on the PBS Engage Blog.
Read more >>

“African-American students protesting a segregated bowling alley on Feb. 8, 1968, in Orangeburg, S.C. would be fired on by police, leaving more than 27 students wounded and three dead. Many Americans don’t recall the incident, but a powerful documentary called SCARRED JUSTICE: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 recounts this little known piece of history…”
Read full review >>

“Before the curtain comes down on this daunting documentary, expect to well up while watching emotional tableaus of grieving mothers burying their babies at funerals and simply staring blankly into the camera with tears streaming down their pained faces.”
Read full review >>

Dr. Wilmer Leon discusses CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America on Independent Lens with Director Stacy Peralta and ex-Slauson gang member Kumasi.
Listen to the interview >>