October updates
Dear readers,
This month is a crucial one. Elections in the U.S. and Ivory Coast are right around the corner, and it feels like the course of the next 20 years could be decided in the next 30 days. Covid rates are going up again in NYC and we are entering what looks like an unforgiving winter.
Despite all the different negative stimuli, this month is an important one for my and Ladan’s work. I want to share a few bits of news for you to look out for in the coming days/weeks:
Our four-part documentary series that Ladan directed and I photographed, “The Ascendants,” will release on Topic.com on October 22. "The Ascendants" profiles four supremely talented artists from Chicago: J Bambii, Christian JaLon, Akenya, and Jean Deaux. With distinctive styles ranging from rap, jazz, gospel, and celestial house, each artist grapples with industry obstacles and traumas as they dream of reaching wider audiences. Here is the teaser, and here is a clip from the first episode. This was the most ambitious film project I’ve worked on to date, and I can say with confidence it is the best documentary series of the year. We will be releasing clips and stills over the next two weeks.
My photography work with Abdou Ouologuem on Mansa Musa will be exhibited in this year's 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London from October 8-10. I am extremely grateful to Marie Gomis-Trezise at Galerie No. 8 for including this work in the show, and her years-long dedication to the Mansa Musa project.
Sun of the Soil: The Story of Mansa Musa, the documentary short I directed and Ladan wrote, will premiere on October 25 at the Festival International du Film Panafricain in Cannes, France. The screening will be at 8 pm in the Espace Miramar, which is in central Cannes on the Mediterranean. The film has also been accepted into the NY African Film Festival, the Nice International Film Festival, and ARFF Amsterdam. Here is the trailer in case you haven’t seen it yet.
I’ve been continuing my journalism coverage of African detainees in ICE detention, and did an interview about the African ICE detainees who went on a hunger strike to protest their racist detention conditions on CBS News’ national morning news show hosted by Vlad Duthiers. The interview was based on this article I wrote for The New York Review of Books. I also wrote this article for The Intercept on Pauline Binam, one of the women who was operated on against her consent at Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia.
Ladan will release new poetry videos that I collaborated with her on soon. They are really beautiful, and I will post the links on Twitter and Instagram when they come out. Ladan is nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy award for poetry, and the ceremony will be held virtually on October 16.
And finally, Sahelien.com will releasing our documentary “Les Oubliés” in English and French on YouTube on Monday, October 12. We will simultaneously release an in-depth expert report on Mali’s security crisis by researcher Baba Dakono on our website. Both the documentary (which I executive produced) and the report are years in the making, and we are happy to present them just as the new transitional government takes office. Both the film and the report were supported by the Open Society Institute for West Africa. The documentary was screened on the French-German station Arte in April (and can still be seen on their website).