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.

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.

WeOwnTV's Barmmy Boy at work behind the camera.

During this first year with a “roof over our heads,” there has been significant momentum achieved and the flames of inspiration are just beginning to IGNITE.

Highlights include:

* In late January we started producing In Focus, an hour-long program for the national television station (SLBC)

* In April we ran a successful local film festival in Freetown in conjunction with the country’s 50^th anniversary of independence

* In addition to funds received by our amazing supporters, we raised more than $18,000 with our first Kickstarter campaign and have implemented a production proposal process to produce “Positive Revolution” work as a result

* Partnering with the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars we campaigned in honor of the country’s 50^th Anniversary and launched the #positiverevolution as we promoted together Sierra Leonean culture

* We joined forces with Lawnfish productions to launch an international film festival in 2012 which received a $15,000 grant from IDFA and the Jan Vrijman Fund this summer

* August marked the first anniversary of the WeOwnTV Sierra Leone Media Center and the renewal of our lease at 20 Old Railway Line

* Screenings and presentations at multiple international festivals: South by Southwest (SXSW), The Sonoma International Film Festival and next up in November the San Francisco film Society’s Cinema by the Bay

* Freelance work continues to grow and projects have included work for: Hospitaalbroeders, Conciliation Resource and the Peace Project film

* Team is in post-production for They Resisted, launched the Le Wi Lan Krio channel and are in pre-production and development on a variety of new productions

* We launched a women’s producing initiative Woman go tok and appointed Michaella Sallu as its managing director.

* And those are just the highlights…

Michaella has a fan on set (future filmmaker in training).

The team is excited by the achievements to date. However, we believe this is only the beginning and as the support for our efforts continue to grow we look forward to the amazing opportunities ahead.

In a couple of days we plan to share the projects that are getting the “greenlight” for further development as a result of the funds raised from the Kickstarter campaign. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO AND FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE, May 19, 2011 — April 27^th marked Sierra Leone’s 50^th 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.

It has been more than two weeks since Sierra Leone’s 50th anniversary of independence, and the celebration is still going on. The band, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, just came through San Francisco and the band’s resident martial artist and wise man JahSon Gbesse Bull reminded me “When you enter your 50th year it’s not just that day that you’re 50, so we should expect a party throughout the year.” I like your style Sierra Leone and the team at WeOwnTV will do our part to participate.

In celebration and collaboration with the band, we launched the Kickstarter campaign, Picturing Independence: A Positive Revolution. There are 25 days left in the campaign.

Currently we have 60 backers—tenki padis; thank you friends—and are more than half way to our goal of $15,000. Together, we have made great progress…but, we still need your help spreading the word; and if you haven’t donated please consider donating today: http://kickstarter.weowntv.org, (no amount is too small and it all helps us reach our goal).

NOTE: If we don’t make our goal of $15,000 by Wednesday June 8, Kickstarter will not disburse any of the funds (and that would be no good); so tell all your friends, their friends, and their friends, friends.

Of course we know that a good party needs refreshments so we are not going to ask for continued support without giving you all something to celebrate. And in the spirit of Sierra Leone culture, we thought, what better way to have a good time than to help the world learn to speak Krio. That is why we are launching our new online Krio classroom: Le Wi Lan Krio.

Today is the Day. Le wi Lan Krio; Let's learn Krio.

Le Wi Lan Krio is a series of short, upbeat Krio-language lessons produced by the WeOwnTV team. Aimed at an English speaking international audience and Sierra Leonean Diaspora living abroad, the lessons are entertaining and instructional. Each lesson is about the Krio language and culture, often taught through the use of Sierra Leonean proverbs and stories. Perhaps one day we will be the Sierra Leone’s Sesame Street (good times).

If you want to read up on the origins of Krio, check out the wiki page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krio_language; AND if you want to start speaking come check out our new on line lessons: http://www.weowntv.org/authors/143/le-wi-lan-krio/. And better yet, if you want to talk Krio with new friends: join us on Facebook and upload your own Krio lessons or chat with others to perfect your Krio.

Proverbs are meant to be discussed and Krio is more fun when learning together, so comment and send us Krio lessons, proverbs and stories of your own.

OO, Wi de si bak; O.K. so long/we shall see you again.

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

In honor of our joint collaboration, today we launch a short-film produced by the WeOwnTV crew in Freetown featuring Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars as they prepare for their 2011 world tour.

In the film, meet the band as they greet fellow Sierra Leoneans and share their excitement and anticipation about the tour and the country’s 50^th Anniversary of Independence.

Join the #positiverevolution, and watch it now.

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.

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 50^th independence celebration and have a lot of great things planned between now and then.

More soon.

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: (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.

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.

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.