Current Programs + Conversations
HERE + THERE,
or frequencies of the everyday
Frye Art Museum Auditorium
Saturday, May 14, 2022
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
HERE + THERE, or frequencies of the everyday is a visual retelling of personal and creative responses to daily life in Colombia, Jamaica, and the UK.
Precious Hair & Beauty (2021, UK, 11 mins)
Directed by John Ogunmuyiwa
Produced by Sophia Gibber and Tony Longe
Film still courtesy of the artists
WALK GOOD (2021; South Africa, Jamaica; 13 mins)
Directed by Adriaan Louw and Roberto Colombo
Film still courtesy of the artists
Dulce (2019; USA, Colombia; 11 mins)
Directed by Angello Faccini and Guille Isa
Film still courtesy of the artists
ABOUT THE FILMS + ARTISTS
PRECIOUS HAIR & BEAUTY
Director: John Ogunmuyiwa
Producers: Sophia Gibber + Tony Longe
An ode to the mundanity and madness of the high street, told through the window of an African hair salon. It’s the everyday antics of a bustling high street.
John Ogunmuyiwa is an award-winning Nigerian-born London-bred filmmaker who works in both documentary and fiction. His work draws upon a constant questioning of what it means to be normal. Using daily observations as a base, he tends to bring a tinge of surrealism into his work, all with the aim of telling untold stories from a different perspective.
IG + Twitter: @johnogunz
Sophia Gibber is a London/Rome-based producer who enjoys unique ways of exploring the familiar. Films she has produced include feature documentary MCKELLEN: PLAYING THE PART and BIFA-nominated debut feature THE BIKE THIEF for which she was also longlisted for Breakthrough Producer. Obsessed with true crime, she also co-created THE DOODLER hit podcast series with the San Francisco Chronicle and Sony Music, which was nominated for an OJA award.
IG: @sophiainrome
Twitter: @__sophia
Tony Longe began his career producing music videos with some of the biggest names in the music industry; from international artists like Davido, J Balvin & Future to homegrown talents like Westlife, Aitch & Wretch 32. He most recently produced Random Acts’ THE GIFT, which premiered on Film4, short APPRECIATION, which played at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival, and PRECIOUS HAIR& BEAUTY, which has been nominated for a BIFA.
IG + Twitter: @producerlonge
WALK GOOD
Directors: Adriaan Louw + Roberto Colombo
A Patois expression wishing good fortune to a departing traveler, “Walk Good” is an abstract visual account of a Jamaican experience, documented through the lens of South African filmmakers Adriaan Louw and Roberto Colombo.
Opening with the recording of a young man singing a mournful song of goodbye to an unknown person, despondence and triumph live side-by-side, celebrating and mourning life lost through death, travel, and migration, which the filmmakers argue feel the same.
Accompanied by the voice of Jamaican dub poet, Sheldon R. Shepherd, the sometimes haunting silence which punctuates the film creates an air of weightlessness. The camera drifts as if from the view of a poltergeist, a ghostly presence exploring the theme of freedom in earnest. The raw street dance and serrated edge of dancehall contrast with the flattering Caribbean landscape..
With the simple joy of riding bikes —“once the bike is good, you good”—Louw and Colombo show us that the pursuit of freedom is persistent in the seeming chaos of Jamaican life. It parallels the Rastafarian lifestyle, and dancehall itself, as platforms for Jamaicans to express themselves, to experience a mental and spiritual freedom that the country’s independence has yet to grant its people.
“Walk Good“ captures the beauty and sadness of travelling to, falling in love with, and leaving Jamaica.
Words by Gladstone Taylor
Adriaan Louw (left) is a South African-born filmmaker and photographer who began his career documenting collectives and communities across South Africa with a focus on music, skateboarding, and fashion. He regularly works with other major brands such as Adidas, Vans, Puma, Vogue and The Fader. His sensibility and talent for creating hypnotic and cinematic atmospheres has attracted work from international artists including Major Lazer, Wizkid, Jess Glynne, Mabel, Black Coffee and Riky Rick. His work in music has won a number of awards, including MTV Africa’s music video of the year for Riky Rick’s “Nafukwa”.
IG: @adriaanlouw1
Roberto Colombo (right)
IG: @robocolo
DULCE
Directors: Angello Faccini + Guille Isa
In the coastal village of La Ensenada, Colombia, where digging for shellfish is a way of life, everyone must learn to swim eventually — even little Dulce. But as the effects of climate change, marked by swelling tides and shrinking coastlines, begin to threaten the village's livelihood, the carefree swimming lessons led by Dulce's mother take on a sense of urgency.
Guille Isa is a documentary filmmaker based in Lima, Peru. Half Japanese, half Peruvian, Guille has spent most of his career working with and filming different cultures in South America. His films primarily explore planet Earth in all its diversity, spotlighting craft, culture, belief systems, as well as environmental issues.
Angello Faccini was born in Bogotá, Colombia and studied filmmaking at ESCAC in Barcelona. He works as a filmmaker and cinematographer who actively balance narrative, documentary and commercial work. His short film DULCE (2018) released by NYT Op Docs was selected in Sundance, Toronto, IDFA, among other film festivals and won Best Documentary at Palm Springs Film Fest and Gran Prix at Tampere Film Festival. LAPÜ (2019) his first feature had its World Premiere at Sundance and the European Premiere at the Berlinale and won Best Cinematography at the Boston Film Festival. His latest feature film MILESTONE (2020) shot in India had its world premiere at the Orizzonti section at the Venice Internacional Film Festival.
This program was curated by Chile Dulce for Black Cinema Collective
in collaboration with the Frye Art Museum as part of their 2022 Spring Community Day.
Learn more about the full sleight of activities!
