Latest Tweets:
Casting Short Docu-fiction project.
Hello… so I am casting for the rest of my short docu fiction project in Atlanta (Shadow and Act so kindly helped me with casting for my lead character - http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/casting-call-atlanta-based-docu-fiction-project-in-search-of-african-female-lead)
Below are the details for the rest of casting.
LOGLINE: When a grief stricken freethinking ex-Corporal in an African army is unable to accept the acquittal of the man who murdered her daughter, despite the critical incriminating evidence against him, she and her oldest daughter track him down, and uses a reality show to document his confession and the retribution she will unleash on him.
MELANIE (MEL) ADEMOLA- CENTRAL CHARACTER
Age: 12
Ethnicity: African or African American
Flaw: Fear - Over protective Cynic
Dominant Attitude: Audaciously Sarcastic.
Catch Phrase: I’m the only kid in the world who wishes her mother would make her a healthy home cooked meal from her mother.
Description: Mel is beautiful young girl; very smart and observant. She goes to a nearby school and is doing pretty well in class. She has a few close friends but she tends to isolate herself sometimes because the kids in school ask her ridiculous questions about Africa, which sometimes irritates her. She is very impatient with ignorant people. She would prefer to read a book, browse the internet for interesting articles than go hang out at the mall. She is very confident about who she is and has perspectives on life that are much wiser than her years.
Mel came to America with her mum 5 years before and has some fading memories of her life back at home. She holds on to her heritage by keeping abreast of what is happening within the continent and loves to randomly quote little known facts about Africa revealing how proud she is and how much she misses it.
Her favorite hobby is still photography. She loves to capture moments in time mostly because it helps remember how she felt at the moment she took it. She has a digital camera and a Polaroid camera. Melanie loves dogs and would like one for a pet.
Obstacle: Overcoming her mother’s overprotective nature
THE PRODUCER/ INTERVIEWER: IYANA - SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Age: Late 20’s to early 30’s
Ethnicity: Any
Flaw: Overambitious.
Dominant Attitude: Domineering Manipulation.
Description: Iyana loves being in charge and is very ambitious. She is on a mission to produce the highest rated show on TV at all costs. She is vain and insensitive to some of her crewmembers. Her extreme formality leaves a cold bitter taste when one speaks to her and her favorite catchphrase is “Its business, nothing personal”. She will squeeze favors out of you and do it at the most minimal budget she can to save the network money.
She is the kind of person who will take credit for any great idea that comes her way from her subordinates. Iyana is fascinated by Max’s story and why she has created a show around her.
Obstacle:
Max’s evasiveness when on camera and asked a serious question.
THE PA: BILLY - SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Age: 23
Ethnicity: Any
Flaw: Diffident (Modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence.
Dominant Attitude: Apologetically nervous.
Description: Billy is an awkward looking and nervous PA who tries to please everyone but cant. He is always on the receiving end of Iyana’s rage.
Iyana finds his nervousness and insecure nature annoying and wants him to grow a spine yet at the same time keeps him around and her approach only makes him cower even more.
He hates being yelled at. The production team always misinforms him and when he carries out the wrong instructions he also ends up taking the fall.
He has a soft spot for Max and seems to connect with her subliminally.
Obstacle: His self confidence.
Interested actors should please email their headshots and/or demo reels to sankofapicturesllc@gmail.com for more information or questions on the project and casting. At this time we are ONLY looking for LOCAL actors.
Please have a subject line with the role you are auditioning for (MEL, IYANA or BILLY). Should read ATTN: “Insert Character name here” - Cooking Show
Production (3 Day shoot) will take place in Atlanta, GA Summer 2013.
There will be a small-deferred payment offer for the role as well as imdb credit, food and a copy of the film.
Thanks!
New Film Breathes Creative Life Into Old West African Fable
The short film “Kwaku Ananse” makes its World Premiere on February 12th at the 63rd Berlinale Film Festival in Germany, where it is competing for the Golden Bear Prize for Best Short Film. Written and directed by Ghanaian-American Akosua Adoma Owusu, it is a creative retelling of a West African fable about wisdom. Owusu puts her unique stamp on the story by weaving it with a semi-autobiographical thread that makes the story deeply personal.
The film opens with Nyan Koronhwea, the main character, arriving in a West African village to attend her estranged father’s funeral. She struggles to accept her father’s Ghanaian family or even mourn his death because she knows he lived a double life - having families in both Ghana and the United States.Rather than face the reality of the funeral, Nyan retreats into the spirit world, where she meets her father, Kwaku Ananse, confronts him about his deception, and has to decide whether to forgive him. The film’s quiet, deliberative tone draws the viewer into Nyan’s experience, inviting empathy, and encouraging each of us to consider the state of our own relationships. Owusu describes the film as “an intensely personal project” that is “a reflection of a broader truth about the human condition,” and “an effort to preserve a fable my late father passed on to me…” “Kwaku Ananse” is a Ghana, Mexico, United States co-production, and was produced by Julio Chavezmontez (of Piano Production Company in Mexico) and Lisa Cortes (Executive Producer of the award-winning film “Precious”). It was created with the support of Focus Features Africa First, Art Matters and The Sarah Jacobson Film Grant. It stars Jojo Abot as Nyan and legendary palmwine musician Koo Nimo as Kwaku Ananse. View trailer.
About Akosua Adoma Owusu:
Akosua Adoma Owusu is an American filmmaker of Ghanaian descent, who received an MFA from CalArts in 2008. One of ArtForum‘s Top Ten Artists, Owusu’s award-winning short films “Drexciya” and “Me Broni Ba” (My White Baby) have exhibited at MoMA, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Rotterdam Film Festival, and London Film Festival. “Me Broni Ba” won Best Short Film prizes at Athens Film and Video Festival (2009) and the Chicago Underground Film Festival (2009). Owusu was a featured artist at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in 2010, and has served on the jury and screening committees for Festival 3 Continents and AFI Silverdocs. In 2012, she was the youngest recipient of the Creative Capital Foundation
grant. View her full portfolio at www.akosuaadoma.com.
Go Adoma! I hope you win!
(via philomenakwao)
(Source: betweenlegs, via tobogganeer)
![victoriamahoney:
Dear Artist of 2013, “What If?”By Victoria MahoneyWhat if, you did it to feel? What if, you did it to learn? What if, you did it to expand? What if, you did it to fly? What if, you did it to explore? What if, you did it to breathe? What if, you did it to connect? What if, you did it to give?What if, you didn’t do it to be liked? What if, you didn’t do it to get accolades? What if, you didn’t do it to get your next job? What if, you didn’t do it to get a date? What if, you didn’t do it to please your parents? What if, you didn’t do it to piss off your nemesis? What if, you didn’t do it for profit? What if, you didn’t do it to prove a single thing? What if, you didn’t do it to get anything external?What does it mean in today’s society to create without aim toward personal gain?We exist in a time, where profiteering drives every corner of what was previously described to a culture, as ‘artistic expression’.In these hours, preceding the marker, of a New Year; I ask in tender sincerity; Dear Artist of 2013, would you be working on the painting, sculpture, novel, short story, script, tv show, photograph, drawing, mixed media, poem, stanza, architecture, stencil, animation, graphic, coat, dress, hat, shoe, ring, bracelet, earring, faucet, armchair, wall, ceiling, floor, recipe, story, idea, notion, wish, wonder or curiosity, if the only gain—was a private connection to humanity?If the only thing you carried to your end, was an intangible connection to humanity; Would you still, wake up early the next three hundred and sixty five mornings?Would you still, go to bed late the next three hundred and sixty five evenings?Would you still, hold equal measure of hunger for creative manifestation?Would you still, agonize to the core over a creative birth?Would you still, ache in solitude with an inconsolable creative need?Would you still, permit a “concept” to haunt your every breathing hour?Would you still, sacrifice time away from family, friends, loves, holidays, dinners, birthdays?What if, there were no financial gain, group applause or career elevation-would you still, die to manifest the creative expression living this precise moment-inside of no other person, except you.In a culture that has always reared their young to regard ‘artists’ as insane and ‘bankers’ as stabile, how many of you out there, have decided this year—to leap unaccompanied, into your darkest depths, on a bleeding wish to participate in reflecting the human condition, during this time and space, where-you-are-alive-to-canvas-the-Earth…Here’s to an expressive New Year, yours, mine, theirs, ours.-Victoria Mahoney
[PHOTO: Andrew Dosunmu]
Remember Remember….](http://25.media.tumblr.com/3dc78f7ce4bc221caca4b911ba41a343/tumblr_mfx70pv1do1qeb1pro1_500.jpg)
Dear Artist of 2013, “What If?”
By Victoria Mahoney
What if, you did it to feel? What if, you did it to learn? What if, you did it to expand? What if, you did it to fly? What if, you did it to explore? What if, you did it to breathe? What if, you did it to connect? What if, you did it to give?
What if, you didn’t do it to be liked? What if, you didn’t do it to get accolades? What if, you didn’t do it to get your next job? What if, you didn’t do it to get a date? What if, you didn’t do it to please your parents? What if, you didn’t do it to piss off your nemesis? What if, you didn’t do it for profit? What if, you didn’t do it to prove a single thing? What if, you didn’t do it to get anything external?
What does it mean in today’s society to create without aim toward personal gain?
We exist in a time, where profiteering drives every corner of what was previously described to a culture, as ‘artistic expression’.
In these hours, preceding the marker, of a New Year; I ask in tender sincerity;
Dear Artist of 2013, would you be working on the painting, sculpture, novel, short story, script, tv show, photograph, drawing, mixed media, poem, stanza, architecture, stencil, animation, graphic, coat, dress, hat, shoe, ring, bracelet, earring, faucet, armchair, wall, ceiling, floor, recipe, story, idea, notion, wish, wonder or curiosity, if the only gain—was a private connection to humanity?
If the only thing you carried to your end, was an intangible connection to humanity;
Would you still, wake up early the next three hundred and sixty five mornings?
Would you still, go to bed late the next three hundred and sixty five evenings?
Would you still, hold equal measure of hunger for creative manifestation?
Would you still, agonize to the core over a creative birth?
Would you still, ache in solitude with an inconsolable creative need?
Would you still, permit a “concept” to haunt your every breathing hour?
Would you still, sacrifice time away from family, friends, loves, holidays, dinners, birthdays?
What if, there were no financial gain, group applause or career elevation-would you still, die to manifest the creative expression living this precise moment-inside of no other person, except you.
In a culture that has always reared their young to regard ‘artists’ as insane and ‘bankers’ as stabile, how many of you out there, have decided this year—to leap unaccompanied, into your darkest depths, on a bleeding wish to participate in reflecting the human condition, during this time and space, where-you-are-alive-to-canvas-the-Earth…
Here’s to an expressive New Year, yours, mine, theirs, ours.
-Victoria Mahoney[PHOTO: Andrew Dosunmu]
Remember Remember….
