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Today, Women Make Movies‘ feature, Sarabah, is being broadcasted on Link TV.
To complement this broadcast, we bring you an exclusive interview with the Director.
Telegraph21: What inspired you to make Sarabah?
Maria Luisa: Meeting Fatou (aka Sister Fa) was the biggest inspiration. Anyone who meets her can attest. We met her at the UN Day Concert (where she performed with Niles Rodgers) in 2009, and the next day we talked about doing a short piece on her for a series we were producing at Link TV. But she started talking about all the causes she cares about, the things she is fighting for, her beliefs about grassroots change – and we were hooked. Steven Lawrence (my co-producer and the Executive Producer on the film) was there with her that day, and in the car afterwards we were in complete agreement that we had to do something more with her story. So, we decided to kick into high gear. Steven started raising money to finance it more fully, and I went to Berlin to start filming her; the money Steven raised allowed me to go to Senegal with a micro-budget to join her on tour. It all happened very quickly.
Telegraph21: What do you want viewers to take away from the film?
Maria Luisa: The most important thing to take away is that an individual can make a difference, and that activism can take many forms. Sister Fa uses her talent and her popular appeal as a vehicle to get an important message across; it takes a lot of courage to do that, to risk offending people when you depend on people buying your music. It’s also really important for people to perceive that this movie is about an African making a difference in Africa. These are the kinds of stories Americans don’t usually get to see because our media gives preference to activism stories about celebrities like Bono and George Clooney. There are plenty of people like Sister Fa who need our attention and support.
Telegraph21: How did you first connect with the Sister Fa?
Maria Luisa: Steven, Gloria Bremer (my co-director) and I were all working on a series for Link TV called “Rappers, Divas and Virtuosos,” featuring dynamic musicians from Muslim cultures. We wanted to do the last piece on Sister Fa, so we made a point to connect with her at the 2009 UN Day Concer, where Steven had arranged for her to perform.
Maria Luisa: Steven, Gloria Bremer (my co-director) and I were all working on a series for Link TV called “Rappers, Divas and Virtuosos,” featuring dynamic musicians from Muslim cultures. We wanted to do the last piece on Sister Fa, so we made a point to connect with her at the 2009 UN Day Concer, where Steven had arranged for her to perform.
Telegraph21: What can be learned from her experience?
Maria Luisa: I think what can be learned is that it’s worth taking the risks. She takes a lot of risks in this film. She takes time away from building her musical career in Germany. She takes her whole family and band to Senegal. There is no major funding, and that’s also a very deliberate choice, but obviously one that augments the challenges. She is talking about something that a lot of people would still rather not talk about. She’s doing this in a village full of family and lifelong friends, and she doesn’t know what their reactions will be. But she believes in her cause and she believes in her message. That makes the choices very simple.
Telegraph21: What have been some of the successes of the “Education Without Excision” campaign she started? Has there been change in Senegal?
Maria Luisa: The change is coming slowly. Sister Fa’s campaign is one part of it. This is a huge cultural change that has been in process, and will continue to be in process. The effect her campaign has had is to broaden the dialogue a little more, and that is a really important component. No one’s going for an easy win here – easy wins usually end up being temporary. This is something that takes patience work at the roots. Tostan is a big factor too – their approach of respect-based communication and general education has proven very effective. So, luckily there is steady change happening, and there’s every reason to believe the practice could be almost completely eradicated in Senegal by the middle of this decade.
Telegraph21: What is the potential of music as a tool for activism?
Maria Luisa: I can’t say enough about this. There are a lot of people who could articulate this much better. Let me just say that music has enormous potential because you are communicating on many levels. You are getting at people emotionally, and then you can also get strong message in there. Look at what Ramy Essam has done for the Egyptian protests – I can’t get those songs out of my head, they’re so beautiful and they express such a longing and such a desire to commit to the cause. You can see the difference music makes when Sister Fa gets on stage. People’s ears are more open. They are woken up on many levels. So, the dialogue that comes after is more charged. Music electrifies.
Telegraph21: Your favorite thing about Senegal?
Maria Luisa: That’s a nice question. The music is one sure thing to absolutely love. But I’d have to say the thing that really struck me is the pace of life and the quality of human interaction. Her band members are all German, and we talked about this a lot. People really take time with each other, if they stop to say hello they stay a while, there’s no rushing, there are no deadlines. The next appointment can wait. People care about the conversations they’re having in the moment. It all creates a completely different state of being for the time that you’re there; you don’t notice the change at first, but after a few days you notice that your whole perception is totally changed. I’d like to go back soon and enjoy it when I’m not trying to get a movie made!
WOMEN MAKE MOVIES:
Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Women Make Movies continues to achieve international recognition through its distribution and Production Assistance programs, with films acknowledged by the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards and Peabody Awards, as well as at Cannes and the Sundance Film Festival. In 2012, WMM will be screening films around the world at 40 events, reaching over 40,000 women and young girls.
By Julia Knobloch
In Thom Zimny’s documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce Springsteen looks back with fondness on a crucial chapter of his career.
“Darkness on the Edge of Town is a meditation on where you are going to stand.” This Springsteen quote, half way into the documentary, sums up what the film is about. It is a portrait of the artist as a young man struggling to ground himself, and his creative values. While there are snippets of music throughout, this is no classic music documentary. Rather, the film is about the importance and power of lyrics, and the tedious yet gratifying process of making art.
In the mid 1970s, after his breakthrough success with the legendary Born to Run album, Bruce Springsteen was in crisis. He was afraid that stardom would alienate him from his New Jersey roots. Also, a lawsuit with his then-manager Mike Appel bound his hands, since it prohibited any follow-up recording for 1 ½ years, which seriously endangered his rising career. Thom Zimny, who wrote, directed and edited the documentary that aired on HBO in the fall of 2010, conveys the brooding impatience and the intensity of those months that were ruled by uncertainty, hard work and discipline. Springsteen had written approximately seventy songs eligible for Darkness. Eight made it onto the landmark album when it was finally recorded.
“I stripped the record down to its barest and most austere relevance. Read the rest of this entry »
The Latest from Saul Williams
February 16, 2011 in Commentary, From the web, Uncategorized | Tags: Artists, music, Music Video | Leave a comment
This afternoon I happened upon Dazed Digital´s article regarding the video for the track “Explain My Heart” from Saul William’s forthcoming album Volcanic Sunlight. It premiered a month or so ago, but thought it was a good one to share for these long winter afternoons. The interview is worth reading, but you might just want to turn the volume up, stand up and dance around your apartment or office with the windows and door wide open. And check out the video imagery projected on Saul’s body parts.
Enjoy! – Steffie, currently in Barcelona.
Here is a short excerpt from the Dazed Digital interview:
Dazed Digital: It’s interesting you make a military analogy as sonic weapons are very much being talked about in warfare…
Saul Williams: Fela Kuti said, ‘Music is the weapon of the future.’ It’s true. There are soundwaves that can make the earth vibrate and respond the same way a piano cord would if you plucked it. If we have the capacity with technology to create earthquakes with sound, then we can have the psycho-equivalent of that in music – you can make someone laugh, you can make someone cry and you can help someone get it. You can flick that switch on that helps them look at their life in a different way.