The Creative Process
As many of you know most creatives have multiple outlets for their creative interests and expressions. Writing is one of mine. Photography and film are others.
What you might not know is that I studied history and cultural anthropology in college. I have always loved learning about history and believe that the best way forward is by understanding our past.
For a number of years, I’ve been working on different film projects in multiple capacities as I learn the “business”, including on the set of Z Nation as a refugee extra (aka future zombie), working as a script supervisor on smaller projects, and now as a co-producer on the new full-length documentaries on Southern History: The Yard (2018), and the award-winning Door Ajar – The M.B. Mayfield Story (2019).
UPDATE: Congrats to my director husband John Reyer Afamasaga, winner of the coveted 2019 Best Mississippi Feature Hoka Award at the Oxford Film Festival!
I’ve been blessed with an amazing husband who also happens to share my passion and love for filmmaking. When we moved to the South, we began hearing all these important untold stories (at least untold as far as we were concerned growing up non-Southerners).
The Yard: My husband, who directed the film, and myself had a front row seat as we followed the journey that Dr. Tim Huebner, a Rhodes College history professor, took to assure the sins of the past were not glossed over. It was nominated for the John E. O’Connor Film Award of the American Historical Association.
Door Ajar: This is the story of the Southern African American rural painter M.B. Mayfield who, in 1950s segregated Mississippi, listened to and learned from the art lectures of Prof. Stuart Purser through a cracked door of a janitor’s closet at a large university. Winner of the coveted 2019 Best Mississippi Feature Hoka Award at the Oxford Film Festival, and the Opening Night selection at the Tupelo Film Festival.
NMA: Nothing Matters Anymore – When a bartender introduces a film producer from New Zealand to a work colleague and his dysfunctional family, it sets off a deadly sequence of events. An official selection at Indie Short Fest – Los Angeles International Film Festival.
Recovery Inc: A Clean Start – When he ran out of options, he cleaned himself up. Now he helps others get clean. At the height of the opioid epidemic, clean-cut and well educated Ryan, from a conservative background in Mississippi, got hooked on his pain meds. He was forced into cleaning houses. It was the start of a journey of redemption for Ryan and others. An official selection at the Virtual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium. Also an official selection at the Oxford Film Festival.
If you want to learn more about these great stories you can find out details here: http://3times.org
Working on these documentaries is an experience that can never be recreated. I’ve learned so much, and highly recommend everyone take a moment to discover another facet of history. As uncomfortable as it may be at times, it’s important to study the past as a way to make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes.
The Yard (2018)
Nominated for the John E. O’Connor Film Award of the American Historical Association.
A history professor in Memphis Tennessee discovers that the parking lot of the church he attends used to be a slave yard belonging to a Confederate army general.
Door Ajar (2019)
Congrats to my husband John, winner of the coveted 2019 Best Mississippi Feature Hoka Award at the Oxford Film Festival!
Opening night film at the Tupelo Film Festival.
From inside a broom closet through a cracked door, an African American janitor listens and learns art in segregated Mississippi.
NMA (2019)
An official selection at Indie Short Fest – Los Angeles International Film Festival
Ocumentary – Media in the form of a documentary which raises awareness about its subject.
When a bartender introduces a film producer from New Zealand to a work colleague and his dysfunctional family, it sets off a deadly sequence of events.
Recovery Inc – A Clean Start (2020)
When he ran out of options, he cleaned himself up. Now he helps others get clean. At the height of the opioid epidemic, clean-cut and well educated Ryan, from a conservative background in Mississippi, got hooked on his pain meds. He was forced into cleaning houses. It was the start of a journey of redemption for Ryan and others.
Official Selection by the Oxford Film Festival 2020
Official Selection by the Virtual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium 2020
Once Upon a Time in Tupelo – Happy Birthday Elvis (2020)
On January 8, 2020, a New Zealand filmmaker went to Tupelo, Mississippi, via Graceland to find out what Elvis means to people in his birthplace 42 years after his death. This is a shortened version of what he experienced.Short documentary – 15:55
Premiere: Tupelo Film Festival – 2020
