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Eli and I just got back from 12 great days of shooting in Mali, where we are working on a new film about farming and agricultural development. We split our time between Bamako and the Office du Niger region, just north of Ségou, in the center of the country. Despite the incredible heat and dust, we got loads of great filming done, meeting farmers and touring the irrigation projects with the Minister of State, M. Abu So. Now we’re back in London and New York, editing our material and seeing what we’ve got…
Views of Bamako & Crossing the Markala Dam, near Ségou in central Mali
March 17, 2011
We’re working on a bunch of music stuff at the moment. One is for my old friends at Nonesuch on Jessica Lea Mayfield, who’s releasing her Nonesuch debut on February 8. We flew to Kent, OH in November to film her show at the Kent Folk Festival. The other two are both about Bill Frisell: one for Savoy Records, who is releasing the second 858 Quartet album, and the other for E1 Entertainment, who is releasing a devastating duet record with Vinicius Cantuaria. They should all be up online before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, we’re getting our work-flow in order as we collaborate on these projects across the Atlantic. Hugo is getting our London office set up, as well as his new life there. Here’s a picture of the Jessica Lea Mayfield edit in progress:
December 6, 2010
Burning a Field on Grindstone Island
In April I shot this short film about burning a field in the St. Lawwrence River to restore habitat for migrating Bobolink birds. The burn was supervised by Fire Management Services of Athen, VT. The field belongs to Martin Kenner and Camilla Smith!
Burning a Field on Grindston Island from Normal Life Pictures on Vimeo.
June 15, 2010
“Jack”, an intensely moving short film about 7th Cav Vietnam-veteran & Lakota warrior Jack Menard, won 1st Prize at the Smithsonian Museum’s Veteran’s Day Film Festival. Congrats to Jeremy, Tom, Eli and the whole team!
Jack from Normal Life Pictures on Vimeo.
May 6, 2010
Market Maker Washington Screening
The Market Maker screened on July 24th at the Sheraton Hotel in Washington DC. The event was organized by The Ethiopian American magazine. There was a great turn-out and here you can watch the intro speeches and Q&A with the subject of the film and Ethiopian Commodity Exchange CEO Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin (she gets into some useful details that we didn’t have time to include in the film!)
August 11, 2009
Screening Party for the Market Maker
Thanks to everyone who came out to watch the first screening of ”The Market Maker” at 310 Lounge on Bowery and Bleecker last Wednesday night. It was a great evening and the perfect way to celebrate the beginning of what we hope is a long life for this film. Eleni Gabre-Madhin (the subject of the doc) graced us with her presence, as did all the ladies from WNET and Wide Angle, and loads of others as well who all contributed to making this film a reality. Thanks for coming and see you at the next one!
July 30, 2009
Rocky Dawuni – Ghanaian Roots-Reggae Master, Red Campaigner, Independence Splasher – enjoys the last few minutes on stage at this year’s 50th Independence Splash at La Beach, Accra, Ghana. He worked hard to put it together… congratulations are in order.
October 17, 2007
Eli Cane and I were filming in Accra, Ghana in March, as Ghanaians celebrated 50 years of Independence. We’re now working on a longer documentary project about the revolutionary political movements that led to Independence in many Africa states, the cultural revolutions that followed, and how contemporary notions of ‘Africa’ are defined by this radical period. This is a promo video that we cut as soon as we returned to NYC in March 2007.
October 17, 2007