Category Archives: Film

The Art that Binds: Idil Ibrahim on Film, Unity and Empowering Somalia

Posted on December 26, 2011 by liveunchained| 1 Comment

Idil Ibrahim, photo by Annie Escobar

Artists have restless minds. For many of us, it’s not enough for us to know what goes on behind the scenes of a film, but also what it arouses in the audience. The fear of not having our vision received the way we’d like stops many of us from continuing, or worse, even beginning our creative projects. Yet, when you know that your creative vision serves a larger purpose—perhaps, to heal, to unite, to educate—it’s easier to move past that doubt. I think Idil Ibrahim’s commitment to telling stories with these intentions has been key to her success as a filmmaker.

A member of New York’s tight-knit independent film community, Idil followed her passion to start her own production company, Zeila Films. The daughter of Somali Parents, raised in the United States, and having known many communities across the country and abroad, it became important for her to, as she says: “bridge cultures, communities and perspectives through art.” As executive of her own company and a contributor to Double 7 Images, while still working on local and international creative projects, Idil shows me that if your problem is too many creative ideas, you don’t have a problem, you have a gift; and it really is worth sharing with the world. Here, Idil discusses what makes film so powerful, contemporary challenges facing Somalia and how art and the Diaspora can help.

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What drew you to film-making?

I was always interested in film and television as a means of communication by sharing things like ideas, information and experience. However, I fell in love with film while I was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. I was inspired to be a filmmaker after taking a class with my professor, the late Loni Ding, who was an amazing Chinese-American documentary filmmaker based in the Bay Area. Loni taught us production but also analysis and I devoted all my time to the creative process. Soon, I realized that I was spending more hours working on my film classes than the rest of my academic coursework. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this is what I wanted to do in life.

What is special about what film can express?

I find film special because of how enchanted I become when I watch an amazing film and I would love to be able to have the same effect on others. I appreciate the way film transports viewers into another time and place. I love that film can educate, entertain, inform and potentially change the way people interact with reality. All art forms are powerful tools of expression with the capacity to connect and reach others.

Idil Ibrahim, Dadaab Kenya, photo by Brenda Phillips

Would you say your heritage inspires your work and what you hope your viewers will take away?

The name of our production company comes from Zeila (Saylac), a city of antiquity, is surrounded by the sea on three sides and served as a center for trade, intercultural exchange and the sharing of ideas for many civilizations. My parents are Somali and I grew up in the States in incredibly diverse areas so I had a multicultural upbringing. I have wanderlust and love meeting new people and connecting with others–which is always expanding and reshaping my personal views and life outlook. I value difference but try to find points of connection between people and places, so I approach my work as such, with an international approach focusing on personal stories, fiction and narrative, that resonates with others.

What do you think are the greatest challenges facing Somalia? What are the mis-perceptions? 

I think many people want to write Somalia off as a failed state, full of conflict, humanitarian disasters and disease. Somalia and Somalis worldwide have immense obstacles to overcome, but I believe that Somalia has potential. There are so many individuals within the country and abroad working day and night to change their current reality for the better.

There are many pressing issues in addition to the famine, such as the ongoing conflict and political instability, the threat of extremism, and so on, but I believe in our global society we must remain as engaged and emotionally invested in Somalia as we are in other places. My vision for a healed Somalia would be a place free from conflict and oppression and an end to the cycle of violence that persists in many parts of the country.

How do you think art helps?

Art is a form of expression and it is quite subjective and personal. Applying art to conflict and post conflict settings can help serve as a tool for dialogue, expression, awareness building and hopefully healing and peace-building.

As you know, our organization aims to unite women across Africa and the African Diaspora. How do you think people from across the Diaspora can get involved in helping Somalia?

I believe it is always important for individuals to foster ties with others regardless of background or location. There are many ways people from all backgrounds, Somalis within Somalia, and members of the Diaspora can get involved. The situation in Somalia is complex, so it’s important to understand the context and then find ways to engage, but any step made as an attempt to ease human suffering is crucial. Somalis are resilient and despite the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis there are numerous individuals forging forward with life and working towards the betterment of society.

Finally, what does living unchained mean to you?

The term “living unchained” symbolizes my personal effort to live free—free from social expectations and conditioning. It reminds me to embrace similarities among people as opposed to focusing on difference, and encourages me to be true to myself, living with integrity and remaining passionate about life and work.

I love Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” I know that may come across as really cliché, but I honestly strive to live my life as the quote suggests.

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Be sure to visit Zeila Films online and stay in touch with them via Facebook and Twitter.

Also, learn more about Somalia and what the Diasporan community is doing to help with the issues Idil discussed at Soobax Blog, The African Future and I Am a Star.

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Posted in Creativity, Film, International, Somalia, Travel

Dark Women Awaken

Posted on June 30, 2011 by liveunchained| 1 Comment

Guest post by Freya Mórani

Links of videos and other online content pass like roaring forest fires via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. I myself noticed that the Dark Girls preview, a film by Bill Duke & D. Channsin Berry, was constantly showing up in my Facebook feed. The film reports to delve deep into the plight of dark-skinned Black women in the United States. After being so disappointed with Good Hair, I’m really just kind of over movies that seem to say: “let’s examine what’s wrong with Black women”–over it.

Still, I wanted to look at it just to be able to be able to engage in conversation around the piece. As I had suspected, it was a huge let down. In fact, from the preview, I can definitively say that I am not looking forward to the full length documentary and will likely not watch it.

My issue with this preview is that it focuses all the negativity on Black women, as if we created the problem around skin color. The Facebook comments that I have seen around folks posting it has trended along the lines of – look at what’s wrong with us, look at how messed up we are. All this negativity is being looked as an internal problem–an African-American woman induced problem.

Analyzing the skin tone issue in this manner is problematic for many reasons. It distracts Black women in the US from understanding and dealing with the real issue at hand – global racism. It gives a pass to the current oppressors that control the images of mass media, the world’s resources and so much more because we are taking full responsibility for what is going on. It focuses all the attention on what’s wrong with us and leads us to believe that we are inherently inadequate, have brought the oppression on ourselves and perpetuate it ourselves. This is not helpful in any way in getting more Black women on the screen, getting more Black women to love the skin they’re in, and heal our community in general; Black women bashing is just not the way.

Black women are not the only casualties, however. The preview vehemently spotlights a Black man who supposedly doesn’t want his dark-brown women. Hashing this out is something I feel we need to do amongst ourselves, not on the world’s stage. Crying on screen about how horrible Black women are so that we can take on all the blame and Europeans can feel free of responsibility for their privilege and inherited debt to us is not helpful at all.

Alek Wek--Dutch Glamour

If time and money are finite resources, we must examine closely how we invest it. What are we planting in the minds and hearts of our people through media. I strongly believe that the money spent on this documentary would have been better spent on a slamming film featuring the darkest Nubian queens among us. Show her in her multifaceted glory. Show her in complex and vast array of states of being, doing and creating. Let her be the leading character. Let her save the day, love her children, care for her men, and nurture her community. You know, all the stuff we’re currently not seeing on the big screen.

On the surface, Dark Girls seems rather “revolutionary” and “educational.” Yet we have to ask the tough questions of what is the purpose of this media, how is it to build up our community, what are these images and plots inciting in people. It’s obvious that if Black people are walking away after viewing this preview convinced that “we’re messed up,” it’s not cultivating pride, reverence, or Black liberation.

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Posted in Black Women, Color, Dark Girls, Documentary, Film

“The Call to Create”: Sam Kessie on Artistry & Empowering Oppressed Youth Through Film

Posted on May 27, 2011 by liveunchained| Leave a comment

–DONATION LINKS @ BOTTOM OF POST–

Guest Post by Sam Kessie of Tomorrow’s Kaleidoscope of Artists Foundation (TKAF)

Sam Kessie

I’ve told people from time to time that it’s taken me quite a long time to finally accept and proudly call myself an artist. For the last 6 years, I have had to figure out if I was really making the right choice in pursuing this passion. There’s been the ups and downs, the harsh realities of the entertainment industry (and life in general), the picking up of myself and starting this vicious cycle all over again.

But the good days have come. These days remind me that my work has paid off–work that has moved people, intrigued people, and confused people in important ways.

Today I do smile and call myself an ARTIST :-) because through it all, I am still here, living my daydreams and trying to do what I can to help use my talents and gifts for good. I am proud to have listened to my true calling in life; the call to create.

As a child, I experienced wanting and needing a creative outlet, especially in a place where people just don’t understand the true magic of art; where it’s never encouraged or addressed. At Tomorrow’s Kaleidoscope of Artists Foundation (TKAF), our mission is simple: We help children believe that to love art isn’t shameful, to love art isn’t weird, to love art isn’t to be stupid–To love art is to be unique!

The Foundation’s 2011 charity of choice is AKOSIA, a non-profit organization that develops and facilitates creative projects for underprivileged children and women all over the world.

For the past two summers, the AKOSIA team has been in Accra, Ghana working with the students from the Street Academy – a school that provides free education to children aged 6-18, as well as uniforms, books, and a decent meal each day for Ghana’s abandoned and homeless youth in Accra. During the summer, the school is shut dow. As a result, these youth find themselves back on the streets peddling until school resumes.

The aim of the summer month long filmmaking program is to provide 45 children from the Street Academy a creative filmmaking journey bringing storytelling to life by having the kids write, create, direct and produce their own two short films. The aim is to let the children produce the films as independently as possible, providing them with creative tools and technical skills where necessary. This way, we hope that the children will get the chance to see themselves in a different light and that this will inspire them to become more confident in their creative abilities. At the end of the summer, a mini film festival will be held in order to bring the community together, help impact the less fortunate and less encouraged through something as magical as art.

The TKA Foundation for the 2011 summer project will join the cause to provide an engaging and safe environment where underprivileged children’s natural
 abilities can be expressed and nurtured. At the same time, we aim to show a way out of poverty with useful skills in an ever growing African Film Industry that has rebuilt itself from the ground up. This growing industry relies on local skills and funding to create an internationally recognized multi-million to billion dollar industry within the last decade.

TKAF has had fundraiser events to help a team of eight volunteers, all of different backgrounds and walks of life, go to Ghana this summer to provide the arts program for its third consecutive year.  We are extremely excited about this opportunity to make the summer dreams of these kids come true.

We are still working towards our fundraising goal, so we are planning one last small get together for a one-day informational session and 10-part short film series, with films (10 mins or less) from the team members going to Ghana, as well as two past shorts from the kids of the Street Academy. The event will be sometime late June or early July, so stay tuned for more information on that.

If you are interested in making a donation that could empower and change the lives of these youth, please visit the following links.

http://ulu.ly/hg1Ssa

http://tkafoundation.org/sponsorsdonors/

Words can’t even begin to say how grateful we are to everyone who has helped us by supporting our commitment to AKOSIA.  AKOSIA, TKAF and the Street Academy say a giant THANK YOU!

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Posted in Africa, AKOSIA, Film, Ghana, TKA Foundation, Youth

Responding to inspiration instantly–and having fun =)

Posted on August 25, 2010 by liveunchained| 1 Comment

We shot this music video entirely on an HTC Evo. We are both big fans of Lauryn Hill and got the inspiration for making this short after hearing Lauryn Hill’s “Repercussions.”  Moments later, Miriam said: “We have to make this movie tonight!” So we did.

We shot this in about 2 hours and pulled an all-nighter editing it–once we got into it, we couldn’t stop working, laughing at ourselves and having fun.

Miriam introduced me to Lauryn Hill’s repercussions last night. Afterwards, I said: “I liked the song, but I’m not sure I would want to be driving in my car saying to myself: Repercussions! Repercussions! Repercussions!

Then, we bounced ideas off of each other about examples of repercussions. Your credit card gets declined–repercussions. Your car gets towed–repercussions. Your phone gets stolen–repercussions.

We also wanted to poke fun at bad music videos with some of the effects.

Fun is powerful.

We know this project isn’t perfect, but it wasn’t meant to be. “Repercussions” was fun to make, that’s why we made it.

This project showed us the importance of not taking yourself to seriously and appreciating inspiration when it comes.

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Posted in Acting, Creative Process, Evo, Film, Humor, Inspiration