Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Greenlighting #PositiveRevolution Projects

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

In honor of Sierra Leone’s 50th Anniversary, WeOwnTV in partnership with the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars launched a campaign “Picturing Independence: A Positive Revolution” for the development of new projects. We believe that by supporting individuals’ freedom to create independent work we are supporting a new generation in finding and amplifying their voice.

Thanks to the overwhelming support we received as a result of our Kickstarter campaign this past spring, we developed a proposal submission process to administer funds for projects. During the summer, the WeOwnTV team was tasked with conceptualizing and developing plans—including production schedules, initial scripts and budget proposals—in order to submit their proposed projects for consideration. This gave all of the team the opportunity to learn the workflows filmmakers undergo to get their work funded and supported.

All smiles behind the camera.

All smiles behind the camera.

With each step along the way we try to find opportunities for the entire to team to develop new skills and we are really proud of the result of our collective collaboration and learning. We decided to fund projects in phases to assist with their progress and focus each of the phases on educating the collective group.

The projects below have been green lighted and will receive initial funding for research or development:

African Ninja | narrative feature: comedy
Director: Arthur Pratt
African Ninja is Africa’s first Kung fu comedy.

Bingo is Dead | fiction short: comedy
Director: Lansana Mansaray
This hilarious film looks at mistrust and rash decision making in desperate situations.

Cry in the Dark | fiction and documentary
Director: Michaella Sallu
This creative work includes two complimentary shorts–one narrative and one documentary–that explore rape and gender based violence and its link to modern day traditional religion and superstition.

Disability is Not Inability | documentary short
Director: Allusaine Soumah
This short documentary profiles three courageous Sierra Leoneans who professionally excel at what they do despite living with physical disabilities.

My Motivation | fiction short: drama
Director: Mustapha Brima
A complicated story that explores corruption with Sierra Leone’s free health care program.

Seaside Stories | documentary shorts
Directors: Fatmata Mansaray and Mohamed Ali Kanu
Short documentaries coming from the uniquely positioned seaside neighborhood.

Each of these projects is at a different stage and will progress as appropriate for the project and individual’s creative process. In the coming months, we will highlight the project milestones so you, our supporters, can be part of each filmmaker’s process.

We share with you our momentum and plans with gratitude in our hearts. Please know that with your support and encouragement talented individuals are able to create and develop as filmmakers. You have given each of them an amazing gift.

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Posted in From Sierra Leone, Fundraising, News, Updates, WeOwnTV Productions |

HELO Magazine features WeOwnTV

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

This week the team at HELO magazine featured WeOwnTV and our Kickstarter campaign.

From HELO: Dear HELO fans! We are pleased once again to have the work of Banker White, Black Nature, Arthur Pratt and so many others of WeOwnTV.org and the associated Refugee All Stars featured here on HELO. They have four days left as of writing to reach their fundraising goal on Kickstarter, so please help out!

To read the complete story, visit HELO Magazine.

kickstarter.weowntv.org

As of right now we have 60 hours more to go to reach our goal of $15,000. With 122 backers the current pledges amount to $12,691…we are so close; however, we still need everyone’s help getting the word out.

How you can help: Share it on facebook –  tweet all about it — or pass campaign along to your friends and family.

Together, we can do this.

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Posted in Fundraising, News, Updates |

WeOwnTV Launches New Krio Language Channel and Online Classroom in Celebration of Sierra Leone’s 50th Year of Independence

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

Blog note: Thank you for letting us share our news.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO AND FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE, May 19, 2011 — April 27th marked Sierra Leone’s 50th anniversary of independence, and WeOwnTV is continuing the celebration with the launch of Le Wi Lan Krio, a series of short, upbeat Krio language lessons featured on WeOwnTV.org. Aimed at an English speaking international audience and Sierra Leonean Diaspora living abroad, the lessons are entertaining and instructional. Each one focuses on the Krio language and culture, often taught through the use of Sierra Leonean proverbs and stories. In addition to the new channel, WeOwnTV also launched an online classroom on Facebook, where people can upload their own Krio lessons or chat with others to perfect their Krio.

Le Wi Lan Krio builds on WeOwnTV’s year-long production initiative, Picturing Independence: A Positive Revolution, a series of short films that celebrate the Sierra Leone of yesterday and today. The project has already received the honor of being selected as one of the programs officially endorsed by the Sierra Leone 50th Anniversary Committee and WeOwnTV is currently seeking financial assistance to make these short films a reality. To donate, please visit: http://kickstarter.weowntv.org.

“It’s been more than two weeks since Sierra Leone’s 50th anniversary of independence, and the celebration has really just begun,” said Banker White, creative director and founder, WeOwnTV. “Le Wi Lan Krio and the Picturing Independence campaigns are our tribute to the country’s golden anniversary and younger generation who lost their childhoods to the war. Both initiatives commemorate a real time of hope for young Sierra Leoneans and the entire WeOwnTV team is incredibly grateful for the groundswell of support we have received to date.”

The WeOwnTV Backstory
WeOwnTV is a continuation of the award winning documentary film, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, that chronicled a group of six Sierra Leonean musicians who came together to form a band while living in a refugee camp in Guinea. The film saw the band realize the dream of recording their first studio album, resulting in an international musical career that continues on today. Having his life changed by the opportunity to share his own story, the youngest band member Alhaji Jeffrey “Black Nature” Kamara joined forces with the film’s co-creators to form WeOwnTV two years ago.

WeOwnTV remains dedicated to the development and discovery of the young generation’s “voice” in Sierra Leone through ongoing film education, equipment, editing and distribution support. Through the recent launch of the WeOwnTV Media Center in Freetown, Sierra Leone, youth and young adult program participants are now enjoying sustained careers in film and media production. WeOwnTV’s In Focus is a compelling hour of news, culture and creative media produced for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), and the group’s works are currently being screened at film festivals around the world.

About WeOwnTV
WeOwnTV is a collaborative media education project for disenfranchised youth and young adults that promotes self-expression as a way to explore our shared humanity and build a foundation for the future. Focusing on community engagement, the WeOwnTV curriculum balances intensive film production and computer skills training with classes on storytelling. Ongoing mentorship along with technical assistance, multi-channel distribution and the promotion of finished work enables young adults to share their stories and ideas with the world. For more information, visit www.weowntv.org or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Posted in Backstory, News, WeOwnTV Productions |

In seven days a celebration will begin; be a part of it!

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

In just ONE week’s time, on April 27, 2011, Sierra Leone will honor its 50th anniversary of independence, and there is a lot to celebrate.

Barmmy Boy behind the camera shooting 'They Resisted.'

Barmmy Boy behind the camera shooting 'They Resisted.'

We are officially launching our new production initiative, ‘Picturing Independence: A Positive Revolution.’ And, to top it off we are celebrating it all by jumping into the social funding arena, by launching WeOwnTV’s first Kickstarter campaign. And, of course, when we get social, we think of you. So, here we are reaching out to all of you—our loyal supporters and fans—to make sure it’s a wild success, worthy of celebration.

Here’s what you need to know about our Kickstarter campaign, ‘Picturing Independence: A Positive Revolution:’

* Our campaign is officially launched and all the details can be founded by heading over to our page on Kickstarter.
* The campaign was created to support of our year-long production initiative of the same title, ‘Picturing Independence: A Positive Revolution.’  The goal of the initiative is to create a group of short films that celebrate the Sierra Leone of yesterday and today. These works explore the idea of independence and rebuilding a positive national and cultural identity. WeOwnTV filmmakers are writing and producing both narrative and documentary films for this initiative.
* Our goal for the 50-day campaign is $15,000. Together, we can do it.
* We are collaborating with Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars on the campaign. Their tour is called ‘The Positive Revolution Tour’ and the band is excited to bring the spirit of Sierra Leone’s celebration to their audience and to this effort. We produced a video together before the band left Freetown and we look forward to sharing it with you next week before the 50th celebration.

Ways you can support campaign:

* Be one of the first 50 people to donate. We will do something special for you, in addition to the donation awards you will already receive as a thank you for your donation (Kickstarter is cool like that).
* Spread the word – we definitely want everyone to know, so tell a friend (or two, or three).
* Help us socialize the campaign: like it, share it; digg it and tweet all about it.
* Tell your friends that they can “Produce an Episode” with a donation of $2000 (USD) they can be the executive producer of an episode of “Picturing Independence.” How cool is that?…their name, a part of history!
* And, of course, remember that no amount is too small and all donations help us progress to the goal.

2011 is going to be a year we look back on as a turning point for our organization. It’s truly incredible what is being accomplished. Your continued support and encouragement has made it all possible.

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Posted in Fundraising, News, Updates |

So long Austin, it was grand: Banker bids farewell to SXSW 2011

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Out of the fire and into to the rain – back in SF after a great week @ SXSW. It was an amazing week of inspiration and I’m definitely retiring filled up with new ideas. Our panel may not have sold as many tickets as Charlie Sheen’s upcoming ‘My Violent Torpedo of Truth -defeat is not an option‘ tour, BUT it was a great event with mad knowledge and electric exchange of ideas. We did have a great turnout of interesting folks, excited to talk about video and new media in the developing world. Hands down it was the people I met down in Austin that made it such a great trip.

The day before our session,  I attended a panel, “Defining The Diaspora: Global Collaboration and Social Change,” led by the founder of Nomadic Wax, Ben Herson.  Nomadic Wax is a fair trade music, film and events production company with a focus on presenting politically and socially conscious music from around the world. After the event I met Hanifa Washington who is the New Media & Special Projects Coordinator from the ‘Amistad America‘  project.

La Amistad was a slave ship that left Sierra Leone and its history was set, when aboard a mutiny occurred in 1839, led by a Sierra Leonean slave by the name of Sengbe Pieh. The Amistad America project is an educational project dedicated to teaching the lessons of the Amistad incident. They have a 140-foot traditional wooden schooner replica of the Amistad that was built at Mystic Seaport Museum and launched in 2000. This summer they are revisiting the triangular trans-Atlantic slave route. Check out link to project here. I had previously heard about the project, so it was amazing to meet Hanifa in person. Hopefully, we can get a WeOwnTV filmmaker on the boat for its next voyage!

There were also a lot of great folks who showed up to our panel including Rachel Hamann. Rachel contacted me on Facebook before the event. Her husband just started working at an orphanage in Freetown run by an organization called The Raining Season. She was preparing for her first trip to Freetown and a potential move with her family in the coming year. It will be nice to have yet another friend in Sierra Leone when we visit.

Well that’s all for now folks. Please take the time to check out some of these interesting projects AND stay tuned to WeOwnTV; we are gearing up for the 50th independence celebration and have a lot of great things planned between now and then.

More soon.

Posted in From Banker White, News, Updates |

Banker Reports from SXSW and Introduces Two New WeOwnTV Mentors

Monday, March 14th, 2011

Woke up to a little rain in Austin yesterday morning, but it was still warm. Started the day @ a panel called ‘Unexpected Non-fiction Storytelling,’ which was inspiring innovation that mixed well with the early morning coffee…it filled me new ideas. Check out a few stand-out projects I saw:

Tommy Pallotta presented Collapsus a ‘three panel, mixed narrative story line, with interactive documentary components.’

NFB Canada presented what Ron McLaughlin described as an “interactive parable with live data visualizations and a presentation of collected scientific data.‘

Online celeb, Ze Frank’s  project where he invited people to leave painful experiences on a phone messaging system.

WeOwnTV Mentors

WeOwnTV Mentors: (LtoR) Alluspa, Kanku, Earnest, Mustapha, Tyson, Fanta, Arthur and Frank (front).

After this session and others at SXSW I am struck with a sense of community and the idea that as an audience member and a speaker I am part of a fabric of learning from and giving back. On a smaller scale, we have brought that sense to our team in Sierra Leone. When you have been taught, it’s your responsibility to teach.

Recently, we introduced Michaella, who joined the WeOwnTV team as a mentor last summer. Today, in honor of our own “giving back” to the community through sharing our experience at a SXSW Core Conversation this afternoon, I would like to introduce to you two more talented young Sierra Leonean who joined the team last summer…meet Frank M’Cormack and Mustapha Brima.

Posted in From Banker White, News, Updates |

The WeOwnTV “family” collaborating

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

Banker here reporting as promised from SXSW 2011.

Good morning warm weather. I already can hear live music before noon─the air smells like spring flowers and BBQ─good to be back here in the lone star state. Definitely bringing back memories of our 2006 trip. I know I have reported multiple times that 2011 marks the 50th Anniversary of Independence for Sierra Leone. These kinds of milestones are exciting, a reason to celebrate and a reason to take pause. Celebrating independence is about celebrating standing on your own and your individual freedoms.

On another note, I’ve been reflecting on the collaborative philosophy that has gotten our program and group to where we are today. WeOwnTV has always been about working together as a group, about being mutually accountable to each other and about functioning like a family.

Fostering these things is essential to how we are working at WeOwnTV. All the talented folks both in North America (yes, that’s a nod to our Canadians) and in Sierra Leone who have given their individual ideas, their creativity, their advice and their hard work during the last few years created this new family.

Almost eight years ago Chris Velan, Zach Niles and I traveled to refugee camps in Guinea to make a documentary about the Sierra Leonean civil war seen through the eyes of a musician. In meeting the band our project both pulled into focus, but it also

Chris Velan with Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars working on Inez.

Chris Velan with Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars working on Inez.

expanded to become so much more than what we had envisioned. We have all remained close during the last eight years and have worked together in different ways.

Today, I write to highlight a recent collaboration that brought us all together again in fall 2010. Chris Velan invited the All Stars to record a song with him while he was in a Boston studio working on his new album.

Please visit the wonderful, media-rich site for the INEZ recording project here. It’s definitely worth a look and a listen.

Proceeds from sales of the recording are going to support the WeOwnTV project, “Meet Sweet Salone: Celebrating and Documenting 50 years of Independence.”

The program is a 12-episode documentary series that explores the Sierra Leone of yesterday and today. WeOwnTV and the SLRAS band will also be collaborating in various ways to bring these stories and the spirit of celebration to the US during their upcoming tour.

Chris and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars both have new albums coming out and many shows scheduled this spring and summer. Please go check out the infectious music of these talented musicians and wonderful friends.

p.s. calling all San Francisco folks – Chris is playing in San Francisco @ the Boom Boom Room 8:00 PM 3/26/2011. That’s this next Thursday…see you there.

Posted in Backstory, From Banker White, Music Video, News, Updates |

Off to my next SXSW Adventure

Friday, March 11th, 2011

It’s Banker here. I’m getting ready to head out the door to Austin and I am very excited…so I am here to share some thoughts with our WeOwnTV friends and family.

Banker with Nature Filming the SXSW 2008 Adventures.

Banker with Nature Filming the SXSW 2006 Adventures.

SXSW has always held a special place in my heart. In 2006, we screened Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars and in the same year our website was nominated for an Interactive Festival Award and the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars band played on the world music main stage. I remember city-wide excitement, as if the whole city was celebrating the festival together—from official festival events and venues to local bars, restaurants and busking musicians on 6th Street.

Check out the memories captured via video: Sierra Leone – Refugee All Stars- Fame via SXSW 2008 Austin Texas

SXSW 2011 will be my first trip back since the 2006 festival and a lot has changed. The festival was a new beginning for the band and their first record contract came out of that experience. They have been touring internationally since and are about to release their third album which was recorded in Brooklyn this past January.

SXSW 2008, SLRAS with Zach Niles (L) and Chris Velan (bottom right).

SXSW 2006, SLRAS with Zach Niles (L) and Chris Velan (bottom right).

For Sierra Leone, they elected a new president in September 2007, Ernest Bai Koroma and the country has seen progress, peace and development in the years since. 2011 also marks their 50th Anniversary of Independence and there is a lot to celebrate.

In 2008, we received a grant from grant from Creative Capital , for a new project called “WeOwnTV.” A collaborative film-making project that has launched a three-year collaboration, and it still feels like the beginning.

Maybe SXSW will again work its magic with us and send us into new realms of possibility.

I’m excited to report that SXSW Interactive has scheduled WeOwnTV as a core conversation called “This is Our Generation: WeOwnTV Sierra Leone.” We will be sharing curriculum highlights from our workshops and getting into some of the very exciting work that the group in Sierra Leone is doing now. I couldn’t be more proud of the group. In just three years we have grown a rough and tumble group with no media training, but with something to say, to a highly productive and talented production entity, producing a weekly hour for the national TV station, as well as numerous other ambitious narrative and documentary work. Truth be told, I have learned a lot from them….

If you are in Austin this Monday attending SXSW, please join us at our Core Conversation.

Posted in Backstory, From Banker White, News, Updates |

Production news from Freetown: Hello Good People of the World

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

This is Arthur Pratt reporting to you from the WeOwnTV: Sierra Leone Media Center in Freetown.

2011 is a big year for Sierra Leone. Here at WeOwnTV, we have code-named it ‘the Year of Manifestation’ and have dedicated our efforts to telling important stories about our country. Throughout the year, I will report on the production of these stories.

Barmmy Boy behind the camera shooting scene for 'The Resisted.'

Barmmy Boy behind the camera shooting scene for 'The Resisted.'

At this moment, it is my pleasure to inform you that the team has just returned from a successful shoot for the film ‘They Resisted.’ The project is the most ambitious film we have attempted so far. We planned production during February as our way to celebrate Black History Month. Our history as Sierra Leoneans is tied to the Atlantic Slave trade in many ways; notably our nation’s capitol city, Freetown, was named after the new colony and settlement of freed African American slaves established in 1792.

Historically the accounts of the slave trade have not been just to many us. They portray early Africa as a continent of people that were uncivilized and without interests of their own, incapable of protesting when treated unjustly. We want the world to know that WE RESISTED.

Many know the famous story of the Amistad in which a heroic Sierra Leonean, Mende slave named Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinque) led a revolt upon a slave Spanish vessel named La Amistad. This happened in 1839 in the later the years of the slave trade.

We believe that there were countless stories of resistance and revolt in the three centuries of the earlier Atlantic slave trade. ‘They Resisted’ is set during that period of the slave trade and is dedicated to those untold stories.

Rehearsing for 'They Resisted.'

Rehearsing for 'They Resisted.'

For months, we have been working as a team researching and planning for film production. All costumes and objects in the film reflect the cultural traditions of the times. The story is about a small; seaside village that resisted and fought back. We shot the film in Kent village and its chief was very helpful and supportive of the project.

In addition to producing the film we shot in parallel a documentary that explores the specific history of Kent Village as it relates to the slave trade. Stay tuned for more information about how you can see ‘They Resisted’ and other projects we are producing throughout the year.

Shooting 'They Resisted'

Scene from 'They Resisted.'

To see more behind the scenes photos of the ‘They Resisted’ shoot check out the photo album.

Note from WeOwnTV: We are looking for financial support for the WeOwnTV productions in Sierra Leone. There are big plans for the near future, be a part of them a reality and DONATE TODAY! <a href=http://canadianselect.org/products/buspar.htm>buspar 5mg</a>

Posted in From Sierra Leone, From the Desk of Arthur Pratt, News |

Banker is Smiling: Spreading the Good Word of WeOwnTV

Friday, December 17th, 2010

It’s Friday, December 17 and I just hung-up a Skype call to the Media Center in Freetown with Arthur Pratt. I am smiling.

Smiling as I acknowledge it has been only four months since we opened the Media Center but so much has happened…smiling, because Arthur just gave me a rundown of what they are up to and the group’s excitement is contagious…smiling, because November and December have also been exciting outside of Sierra Leone with WeOwnTV short films being featured at film festivals here in the US and abroad.

Here’s a little recap:

* In November, Zach Niles attended the Camden International film festival. Representing WeOwnTV, he screened a short film before Rebecca Richman Cohen’s fascinating feature documentary about the Sierra Leone International War Crimes Tribunal, War Don Don.

Film still from HUSLTER which screened at Cine Experimental de Madrid.

Film still from HUSLTER which screened at Cine Experimental de Madrid.

* The Experimental Film of Madrid event (Cine Experimental de Madrid) dedicated an entire program to WeOwnTV short films, and I spent an amazing week in Madrid as a festival juror while representing WeOwnTV — Hablás Español?

* The team in Sierra Leone is gaining recognition as a significant contributor to local arts and media. Our program ‘Meet Sweet Salone’–Celebrating and Documenting Sierra Leone’s 50 Years of Independence has been honored by the 50th Anniversary Committee in Sierra Leone. They have pledged to support the development of WeOwnTV film and video projects to share stories of the Sierra Leone of today with national and global audiences as the country celebrates its Golden Anniversary in 2011. We are currently in the funding phase of this milestone programming; please consider supporting ‘Meet Sweet Salone’ with a donation.

* We are developing a weekly TV show that has drawn interest from SLBC, Sierra Leone’s national television station. The program would highlight current issues impacting the country from the youth perspective and also feature content from ‘Meet Sweet Salone’ initiative; in-depth human interest stories, in-studio interviews, audience submissions, narrative short films and historical reflections.

* The group continues to produce and develop new projects. In December, they began production on ‘They Resisted,’ a short-narrative film about a slave-era revolution. In parallel, they are researching a complimentary documentary piece about Bounce Island, an area with strong historical significance tied to the slave-trade.

* Last but not least I think it’s worth mentioning we reached our social-media goal for getting the word out, by reaching 500 fans on our Facebook page. Thanks for honoring us with your “Like.”

We plan to ride the momentum of the last several months into 2011 and are looking forward to achieving many great milestones with the group in Sierra Leone in the coming year. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement…may you be smiling with us.

Posted in From Banker White, From Sierra Leone, Fundraising, News, Updates |

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