DOCUMENTARY

hallelujah! [2008]

This film presents an African talking drums version of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Hallelujah chorus, as staged and performed by legendary drummer Ghanaba together with the Winneba Youth Choir. Ghanaba's unique approach to Händel mixes elements of African, Christian, and Islamic ritual with formal European concert performance, Ghanaian ceremony, and improvisation. The performance is followed with a conversation with Ghanaba about jazz, European, and “world” music. The film was released in Ghana by the Goethe Institut on Ghanaba’s 85th birthday, May, 4, 2008, to honor one of the country's best known musicians.

accra trane station [2008]

This film distills three years of video conversations with Nii Noi Nortey, the Ghanaian sculptor, instrument inventor, and avant-garde instrumentalist. Nortey discusses the African legacy of John Coltrane, and how it inspired invention of his "afrifone" instruments, and a series of twenty Accra Trane Station sculptures and four CD recordings. The recordings and film also feature his longtime percussionist Nii Otoo Annan, "the Elvin Jones of West Africa." Included are scenes of Nortey creating sculptures live at two Accra art exhibits, and performing with Accra Trane Station in recording studios and in concert in Ghana and the USA.

a por por funeral for ashirifie [2009]

Por Por is a style of music uniquely played by a union of truck and bus drivers from the township of La in Accra. It features antique circular squeeze-bulb truck horns, together with bells, percussion, and voices. Por Por is uniquely performed for funerals of prominent drivers, and its practice has resonances to the legacy of the New Orleans Jazz Funeral. In March 2008 the La Drivers Union Por Por Group lost one of its longtime members, Nelson Ashirifie Mensah. This film follows the honk horn funeral the group performed in his honor and memory.

 

EXPERIMENTAL / VIDEO ART

shibuya [2008]

There's something about Japan that had always appealed to me: the Zen landscapes, futuristic technology, sushi, and what I would find to be a colorful, relaxed, yet distinct sense of style. I had made a decision not to bring a video camera, mainly because my new one was too big, my old one, too old to survive the adventure. New focus: photography. I managed to fit a Canon Rebel and an old Nikon Coolpix into my carry on and was on my way. I didn't remember at the time but the Coolpix shoots video. Certainly not the best quality but I couldn't stop myself from using it. It was so small and convenient to carry with me that I ended up shooting quite a diverse range of activities, walks, and train rides. This is part 1 of 4.

i am a visitor &
i am a visitor revisited [2006]

This piece was made in collaboration with Kori Alexander Girard. The one thousand, three hundred and twenty nine still photographs were taken with a Nikon D200 over the period of about half an hour. The project was spur-of-the-moment as Mr. Girard and I sat in his gallery space a few days after his art opening. He decided to paint part of the wall that had nothing hanging on it and I asked him where his camera was...The result is seen here in I am a Visitor.
I never felt the project to be fully complete so months later I made I am a Visitor Revisited by adding layers of filters to create a cartoon like effect. I still feel there is something missing: perhaps a third installment to come...

trouble finds you [2004]

"The opening soulful lament of the lyrics, "Some say I have devils, Some say I have angels" sets a stage for the video. Glimpses of experience cross the screen. Stormy skies in sepia tones, temples, large Buddha statues, prayer bowls, abstract colors all convey a picture of the world. These images filmed in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia engage natural beauty, spiritual power, mystery, creativity and the changing sense of our emotional lives. The name of the trouble that finds you is life." - Donald Fineberg, MD.

 

SHORTS

the days between [2003]

"The Days Between uses engaging visual images and the compelling beat of its soundtrack to expose an ordinary day in the life. Each cut displays the mundane events that create our days: from opening our eyes, to showering, getting dressed, eating, working, and drinking coffee: all parts of our lives we hardly notice. Yet, shown at a fast pace, the film reminds us that these events are in fact life. The film entertains and leaves us with a powerful message. Modern life pushes us to pay attention to what we have to do and robs us of the essential experience of what we are doing." - Donald Fineberg, MD.