Produced by Cy Kuckenbaker, Gregory J. Wilson. Directed, edited by Cy Kuckenbaker.
With: Vitumbiko Jacklyn Khunga, Songwe “Chatwa” Nyimbiri, Jake Wilson, Mlawa Khunga. Narrator: Cy Kuckenbaker. (English, Malawian dialogue)
Afrika Post
November 1, 2010The internet is incredible. An editor from the Afrika Post in Germany found some of my photos from Malawi on flickr and asked to use them in print. It’s really neat to see them printed.
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Henry’s Wedding: funny ethics
October 29, 2010Last spring I was a guest in David Fenster‘s editing class at UCSD and as an assignment the students had to cut a short from some of the unused Bush League footage. I gave them two hours of footage from Henry Nyimbiri’s wedding, which they had to cut to five minutes or less (Henry is the captain of the rival team in Bush League).
One of the students, Bryce Kho, did something that illustrates just how much influence the filmmaker/editor can have on the “reality” of a documentary. It’s a great illustration of the function and/or disfunciton of ethics in doc filmmaking and it’s funny.
Variety reviews Bush League
October 28, 2010Bush League got a great write up in Variety this week:
Bush League
by Rob Nelson
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Scoring not just as a sports docu but as an ethnographic study, Cy Kuckenbaker’s “Bush League” is an entertaining, educational and immersive pic that portrays life in the Malawian village of Zolokere through a look at the ups and downs of its soccer team, the Tony Bombers. Shooting and cutting the film himself, Kuckenbaker catches plenty of action, from fiery debates over game play to the everyday struggles of villagers to deal with the specter of HIV/AIDS. If anything, “Bush League” is more interested in Southeast African culture than in soccer, which will frustrate some viewers and stimulate many others.
Shown losing their first game on a ref’s controversial ruling, the Bombers are sponsored by the U.S. Peace Corps, whose hotheaded rep Jake Wilson is building a school in a neighboring village that has its own soccer team. Rivalry between these two clubs is fierce and seems to sandwich Wilson in an uncomfortable middle. The docu’s other indelible subjects include the Bombers’ captain, Chatwa, an economically indebted farmer of maize and tobacco, and its head cheerleader, Jacklyn, an AIDS activist fighting both the disease and its stigmatized status.
Camera (color, DV), Kuckenbaker. Reviewed on DVD, Vancouver, Oct. 7, 2010. (In Vancouver Film Festival.) Running time: 80 MIN.
The Sharma Image!
October 27, 2010Maneesh Sharma who was one year ahead of me in the Film Direction dept at Cal Arts is finishing his first feature in Bollywood. Globalization is awesome and this movie looks awesome. Congratulations Maneesh!
From UNAFF: Indentured Premiere
October 26, 2010
It really shocks me every time an audience sees a film I made but I guess I’m extra shocked about Indentured since it’s so unconventional. It makes me feel really optimistic actually because as films go, Indentured asks a lot from the audience. There are long passages of text, and no sound/picture effects for fun or any moments of levity. So when people respond to it, it’s kind of proof to me that people are smart and that there are audiences with appetites for the tough stuff.
Hopefully, the film will clear the legal obstacles that remain and I can either put it on the web myself or try and get the story picked up by a media organization. UNAFF was really a great place for it to start. Thanks UNAFF, really.
If you saw the film or are interested in the subject matter please join the INDENTURED group on facebook.
If you’re a filmmaker, blogger or citizen journalist dealing with a legal question and you’re unfunded here are two amazing resources you should know about:
New Media Rights (In San Diego)
From UNAFF: Water Themes
October 25, 2010
It’s a rainy day in Palo Alto, CA. The United Nations Association Film Festival has a really nice, intimate atmosphere. I met a filmmaker tonight named Anjoo Khosla who made a short doc film called Wahid’s Mobile Bookstore, the URL is pasted below (10min). It’s about a charming little boy in India who reminds me for some reason of the boy in The 400 Blows – hmm. I guess it’s because they’re both charming self-sufficient kids.
It looks like Iraq is back in the news with the release of all those docs from Wikileaks. It’s good timing for Indentured to come out – I really hope it finds its place in the larger dialog about Iraq.
The rain, new surroundings and film festivities have got me slipping in and out of imaginary film tableaus. I ate dinner in an empty sushi place on an empty rainy street and swore I was in a Wong Kar Wai movie for a second.
Indentured screens tomorrow night at 920pm at the Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto, CA.
The INDENTURED group on facebook.
Watch Wahid’s Mobile Bookstore here:
INDENTURED
October 22, 2010
Indentured screens at the UNAFF on the Stanford campus next Monday night so I’ll be blogging from the road next week. If you’re on Facebook, please join the INDENTURED group at: https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=168400833252
The more people I can get in the group the easier it is for me to prove people care about this subject. I’d love to lay everything out about the film but it’s still under legal review. Here’s a synopsis of the film:
Indentured investigates the living conditions of South Asian laborers working on U.S. military bases in Iraq. Testimonials are presented along side the U.S. government’s guidelines to define human trafficking, which suggest that large-scale labor abuses are happening inside U.S. bases in Iraq.
10 minutes
Jehad Nga: a visual segway from Africa to Iraq
October 20, 2010I discovered Jehad Nga’s photography while I was in Iraq and became a fan. Take a look, I think his work is amazing.
Anybody else have a favorite photographer right now? Please share.
New Media Rights
October 19, 2010
Indentured, my ten-minute doc about labor abuse in Iraq, will premiere next week at the United Nations Association Film Festival. Yeah! But what I want to write about is not the film so much as the help I received to finish it – very important legal help.
San Diego, a city that is not famous for its art scene or progressive cultural movements does have some amazing things going on besides the tacos and weather (double rainbow!). One of those things is New Media Rights. For the media makers and filmmakers out there, bookmark their page because it’s an amazing resource. If you’re creating media, blogging, making video or you name it, sooner or later you’re going to have a legal question you’ll need to address. This organization is working really hard to make sure you know your rights. It’s also worth mentioning the man behind the curtain is a really smart attorney not just an advocate.
So thank you New Media Rights for the guidance through what could have become a complete personal and professional disaster.
Very Sincerely,
Cy
Links
October 18, 2010I have to get ready to shift gears from Bush League/Malawi to Indentured/Iraq, but before I jump off into that, here are some websites I follow for my Africa fix. Some are just curiosities but they’re worth looking at, at least once:
The Good:
http://chrisblattman.com/
http://waterwellness.ca/
http://barefooteconomics.ca/
http://www.buildafrica.org/
The Bad:
http://www.africom.mil/interactiveMap.asp?target=_self
And the money:
http://www.globalrichlist.com/
