FILMS & FILMMAKER BIOS
MY VIEW + YOU
After graduating from Temple University's Film and Media Arts program and African American Studies program, Lawrence Green held positions and worked as a freelancer at the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), The Feedroom, Murray Hill Studios and the Service Employees International Union. Currently, he's the Owner of Time Traveling Media and is a Communications Specialist at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
eRACISM
Producer/Director Ada Babino's docu-drama Middle Passage -N- Roots was selected as part of Showtime Network's 1998 Black Filmmaker's showcase. Ms. Babino is the owner of www.blackfilmmakers.net and founded Jezebel Filmworks, a production service company in Washington, DC, and Nommo Speaker's Bureau, a booking agency for Black independent filmmakers. She was Line Producer for the film, Sankofa. and worked as a Special Projects Producer at BET's cable jazz channel, BET On Jazz for the last four years.
Sowande Tichawonna is an award-winning, independent filmmaker from Washington, D.C. . He is the CEO of Race Man Tell-A-Pictures, LLC and co-founded the AIVF-DC salon of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers based in New York where he served as chair of the organization from 1994 to 2000. The salon hosted monthly workshops and screenings that covered all aspects of the film and television industry.
His credits include executive producer and director of photography for the documentary Straight Up Go-Go (1992), which received critical acclaim and garnered an impressive second place in the Nielsen ratings for its time slot during its 1992 television debut in the D.C. market and writer/producer/director of the short film Talkin’ Shop (2000) for which he won the 2000 Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist. The Mayor’s Arts Award is the highest honor the city of Washington, DC confers on artists. Recently, Tichawonna won the 2010 Larry Neal Writer’s Award for his screenplay, The New “N” Word. In addition, Tichawonna produced, directed and edited the short film, The New “N” Word starring Erik Todd Dellums, Rain Pryor and James “JJ” Johnson.
Miriam Machado-Luces, is the President & CEO of TVA Media. This madre of two is an award winning producer, director, writer y mas! She specializes in television programming, music & dance events, commercial ads and documentary film making. She is an Emmy & Telly award winning Producer, Writer, Director of documentary films, live television programs, health education films, television advertisements and television promotions.
NAPPY
Lydia Douglas Cordova is a fine arts trained photographer and independent filmmaker since 1980. Her area of interest is creating images of people of African Ancestry that are honest. Her photography has been published in numerous Fine Art photography books and magazines, The Face of Our Past: A History of Black Women From Colonial Times to the Present and Essence Magazine and displayed on the Oprah Winfrey Show in the “In the Spirit” segment in 2000. Exhibitions of note include The Smithsonian Institute and National Geographic Magazine.
In 1997, Ms. Douglas Cordova earned her MFA in film from Howard University. At that time, Nappy, her thesis film, was one of a few film and literary works that directly addressed the “politics” of black women’s hair. Nappy has been screened in Italy, Jamaica and the U.S. It received a standing ovation at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in 1998. The historic Rosebud Film and Video Festival in 1998 awarded it an honorable mention. Twelve years later, the timeless film is now part of a larger collection of works on the topic, however, Nappy distinguishes itself with it politically conscious interviews and its awesome cinematography.
HOPES AND SCHEMES
Byword Smith is a comedian, actor and filmmaker based in the Washington, DC area. Born to a single mother and raised between Brooklyn, New York and PG County, Maryland, a rich life experience provides the well of inspiration that Byword draws upon to entertain his audience. When not focused on comedy, Byword is spending time with his wife, LaToya, or engaged in various other projects. One of his most recent projects is called "Hopes and Schemes", and is a comedy about pyramid schemes
HARLEM’S MART 125:
THE AMERICAN DREAM
Rachelle Salnave-Gardner, a Harlem native of Haitian decent, graduated from Hunter College. While attaining a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Film Production, she also attended the University of Miami, where she created two films, “Unforgiven Sins,” (Super 8), and “Mistijah” (16 mm). “Unforgiven Sins” was chosen out of thirty undergraduate projects to participate in the University of Miami Film Festival.
Rachelle has managed to balance an extensive range of professional experiences working with key players in the film and music industry. Both on set and behind the scenes of media production, she has worked with the Blackfilm.com, the Queen Latifah Show and Columbia Records. For over a 10-year span Rachelle has documented her community by creating a film about the effects of the redevelopment of Harlem. “Harlem’s Mart 125: The American Dream” is currently touring film festivals, universities and community organization’s designed to discuss ways on preventing the plight of gentrification. Rachelle Salnave-Gardner is currently based in Atlanta, GA.
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU SHOESTRINGS
Lori Nelson Lee is the President and CEO of CharmCiti Entertainment, the film production division of Nelson Publishing. Her short film, When Life Gives You Shoestrings, was a finalist in the REEL Independent (2010) and KIDS FIRST (2010 - 4th Quarter) film festivals. Lee was also the 3rd place winner in the MY HERO International Film Festival (2010) and the winner of the Allstate Insurance "Be Reel" Community Voice Film Contest (2009) for her short film, Two Weeks.
In addition, Lee was a finalist in the Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship Lab Competition during the 2008 American Black Film Festival for her Samantha Who spec script, the director of What's Missin', a music video for recording artist Tracey Lee, and is a talented children's book author whose book, Hillary's BIG Business Adventure has appeared on CW, CBS, CBN, NBC, FOX, ABC, and WBAI 99.5 FM's The Wakeup Call Morning Show (New York City).
Lee received her B.B.A. from Howard University, her M.S. from the University of Maryland University College, and is a member of The Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and the Organization of Black Screenwriters. She is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, but resides in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.
RAYMOND & LINA, 2010
Mark Pagán (Director, Writer) has worked in film, television, and theater for 10 years, beginning as an assistant editor on Sesame Street. Following his time with Children's Television Workshop, Mark worked as an editor, producer, and cameraman for various documentaries, feature films, and video news releases in New York. 2004 marked Mark Pagán’s first directorial efforts, the cult film, “Heaven’s Hands,” co-directed and written with Eric Soussanin, and the documentary short, “By George.”
Mark changed vocations in 2004 to pursue social work and educational advocacy for underprivileged families and youth. Following work with at-risk youth in Chile, Perú, Bolivia, New York, and Montreal, Mark returned to his home in Washington DC to work as an educational director and advocate for homeless families.
Mark’s fourth film, "Raymond & Lina," marks the narrative concentration of his work within the last four years- bringing voice to underrepresented voices in film.
Mark is currently working on drafts of the feature version for "Raymond & Lina” while acting as an ensemble director with Washington Improv Theater and running educational programming for our city’s youth. In the future, he would like to find time to sleep.
MAESTRINA DA FAVELA, 2010
Falani Spivey - For as long as I can remember I’ve had a connection with Africa. Raised in the inner city of Washington, DC, I attended Nation House Positive Action Center, a private African centered institution. Surrounded by culture, I wore African clothing, spoke Kiswahili, sang the South African national anthem and learned the history of Africans throughout the world. At the age of seven, my dreams of Africa began to shatter as I learned that mainstream society rejected anything that was African; my homeland was viewed as being “the Dark Continent.” It wasn’t until my sophomore year in college in that I began to embrace my African culture again. During my adolescent years I rebelled against my parents’ strict cultural upbringing and began hanging out with the wrong crowd. Growing up in Washington, DC, I was naturally attracted to its native music Go-Go, a fusion of African percussion with hints of Latin, jazz, funk and soul. Oftentimes, go-go clubs are accompanied by violence, drugs and gangs. I began to sneak out to the club to listen and dance to this infectious music. By the age of sixteen, I had already lost seven friends to guns and stopped attending go-go’s. My friends’ deaths were a turning point in my life; I started observing my environment and became disenchanted with my lifestyle. It was then that I became more focused on my education and getting into college. At the age of seventeen, I entered Howard University studying Political Science and graduated Cum Laude at the age of twenty-one in 2007. Today my passion is to document, in my small way, the developing world. I’ve traveled to Brazil, Ghana, Jamaica, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago to document on film my encounters with Africans in the Diaspora. I aspire to become a revolutionary filmmaker, bringing the most dynamic untold stories to screen. Without a doubt, my trips have had a profound impact on my life and have been divine inspiration for me to not only to give back to my community, but also to make contributions to the global community through films.
DISCUSSION MODERATORS
Chris Haley - A DC native, serves as Director of the Study of Slavery in Maryland at the Maryland State Archives, was featured in the PBS special, Partners of the Heart, as the central figure, Vivien Thomas. He also appeared in episodes in seasons #2 and #3 of HBO's, The Wire. He co-founded and hosted the community access tv and radio series, UNDISCOVERED, which debuted in 2004. The radio version currently airs on WRYR-LP 97.5 FM out of Sherwood, Maryland. His short movies, The Studio, and, B&B, premiered at the Greenbelt Utopia Film and Video Festival and Annapolis Film Festival, respectively, in 2005.
Talaya Grimes is the owner of T Muse Media and is the Communications & Program Manager for Africa Grantmakers' Affinity Group. She has worked in a variety positions in media/entertainment, education/culture and international development for non-profits, media companies and government, educational and cultural institutions. Her expertise includes project, event and media production and management, public relations, fundraising, and grants management.
As consultant to the Africa-America Institute she produced videos of U. S. and Africa-based meetings and coordinated conferences in Windhoek, Namibia on Sustainable Agriculture and in Lusaka, Zambia on HIV/AIDS. She also coordinated the forum on “The Bush Administration and Africa” held in Washington, DC and aired on C-Span. She served as Director of Communications and Development for the Humanities Council of Washington, DC (a council of National Endowment of the Humanities) where she raised funds, coordinated programs, produced local Council public TV programs, and handled public relations and marketing.
Talaya’s work in video and television production includes documentary, reality television, interactive training and non-profit video. She worked on projects or shows for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Smithsonian Networks, PBS, and a variety of independent video production companies and independent documentary/fiction filmmakers. Talaya earned a B.A. from University of Maryland in Government & Politics and M.A. in Media Studies from The New School of Social Research (The New School University). She is former Board Member of Women in Film International and Women in Film and Video of Washington, DC and continues to advocate for women and professionals in media, arts, culture and entertainment.
Sowande Tichawonna – SEE eRACISM
