Toni Kamau is the youngest female African documentary producer to be invited as a member of the Academy for Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences - Documentary Branch, class of 2020. 

As a creative producer, director and founder of "We are not the machine", a Kenyan based production company, she tells stories of outsiders, rebels and change makers. Her past credits include half hour documentaries for Al Jazeera, MTV Europe and BBC Africa.  

The Sundance special jury prize winner Softie, produced by Toni and directed/produced by Sam Soko, premiered at Sundance in 2020 in the World Cinema Documentary Feature Competition. I am Samuel, a feature directed by 2019 Rory Peck winner Pete Murimi recently had its world premiere at the 2020 edition of Hot Docs. Toni was also a producer for a Kenyan episode on Earn A Living, an interactive documentary.

In today’s episode we talk about the challenges of producing impact film in East Africa, pushing against boundaries to get stories told and the process of becoming a member of the Academy for Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences - Documentary Branch class of 2020. 

See Toni’s work:

Website:  https://www.wearenotthemachine.com/

Connect with Toni:

•  Instagram @tonisnap
• Facebook @toni.kamau
• Twitter @Toni_Producer

In this episode, Zephrine meets with Grenadian-American filmmaker and entrepreneur Meschida Philip  to talk about about Scars of our Mothers’ Dreams, her touching short film that tells the stories of now-grown children “left behind” by migrating mothers, accepting her calling and the birth of the 1261 Film Festival in Grenada.

Meschida Philip is a Grenadian-American filmmaker and entrepreneur. She founded Mprojekts Creative Productions to tell stories that inspire, preserve legacies while encouraging diversity and equality on set and on-screen.  In 2018, Meschida founded the 12ºN 61ºW Film Festival (1261 Film Festival) in Grenada. 

Her work focuses on social impact issues,  documenting unique experiences to Grenada and, by extension, the Caribbean region, and communities throughout the global Diaspora. 

Directing/Producing/Writing Credits include Scars of our Mother's Dreams; and Searching for Crystal; Miles, directed by Cyrille Njikeng, written by Meschida Philip and Za Keeyah Abdul Salam.  

Currently In Development:  Canary documentary, and Blue Light District feature film.   

She received her MFA Master of Arts degree in film from the City University of New York, concentrating on Documentary Filmmaking.

In today’s episode, we talk about Scars of our Mothers’ Dreams, her touching short film that tells the stories of now-grown children “left behind” by migrating mothers, accepting her calling and the birth of the 1261 Film Festival in Grenada.

See Meschida’s work:

Website: https://meschidaphilip.com/   

Connect with Meschida:

• Instagram @meschidaphilip
• Facebook @Meschida Philip

In this episode, Zephrine sits with Jasmin Mara López to talk about Silent Beauty, her poetically beautiful autobiographical exploration of her family's history with child sexual abuse and a culture of silence. In today’s episode we talk about revisiting the past through archives, telling an intimate story and finding strength in isolation.

Jasmin Mara López is an award-winning journalist, radio producer, youth media educator and filmmaker that works in the U.S. and Mexico. Born in Los Angeles with familial roots in México, her childhood was impacted by issues experienced on both sides of the U.S.- México border. This instilled in her a strong passion for immigrant rights, youth empowerment, and social change.

In 2007, Jasmin founded Project Luz, an organization that empowers youth to share stories within their communities utilizing audio and photojournalism techniques. The following year, she moved to México where she collaborated with journalists and researched for published documentary projects, including coverage of communities affected by the H1N1 influenza and the disappearance of the Colorado River. Her collaborative audio work surrounding the Colorado River was shared at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, LookBetween Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville and Exposure Gallery in San Francisco.

Jasmin returned to Los Angeles in 2011 to lead a reporting project that introduced adverse health effects caused by air pollution weighing heavily on the historic and predominantly Latino community of Boyle Heights. In that time, she founded Listen Up, Los Angeles – a growing community of over 600 audio producers in the Los Angeles area. Her audio work on noise pollution in Boyle Heights was featured in the first Listen Up, Los Angeles group show in 2012. Before leaving Los Angeles, she worked for USC Annenberg’s Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative and coordinated a program that trains young adults in journalistic ethics and practice, multimedia storytelling skills, and how their local government works so that they could report on their community while addressing issues they have experienced as immigrant youth.

Jasmin’s clients and collaborations have included Audible, Al Jazeera, Brandon Thibodeaux Photography, Brian L. Frank Photography, HealthyCal.org, Hechinger Report, El Tecolote Newspaper, Folger Shakespeare Library, Immigrant Defense Project/Indefensible Podcast, KALW, KCRW’s Sonic Trace, KPCC, KPFA/Cronicas de la Raza, KQED’s The California Report, KUSP, Marketplace, Lantigua Williams Co., Monocle Radio, Newsdesk.org, New Village Charter School, North Carolina Public Radio, NPR, NPR’s Latino USA, Scalawag Magazine, Southern Poverty Law Center, The Times-Picayune, Voice of Witness, WWNO, and Zackary Canepari Photography.

Jasmin was selected to participate in the 2018 UnionDocs Documentary Lab, 2017 New Orleans Film Society Emerging Voices Mentorship, 2017 Third Coast Radio Residency at Ragdale, 2015 American Society of News Editors’ Minority Leadership Institute, 2012 Association of Independents in Radio New Voices Scholarship, and the 2012 Society of Environmental Journalists “Translating Science/Telling Stories” Fellowship. Jasmin was awarded the 2015 Society of Professional Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism Award for her documentary Deadly Divide: Migrant Death on the Border, and the 2014 Pacific Media Workers Guild Freelance Student Journalism Award for her feature on an undocumented student and activist in Boyle Heights.

Jasmin is working on her first film, Silent Beauty, about her family’s history with child sexual abuse and their culture of silence. Jasmin disclosed abuse she endured as a child in 2014.

See Jasmin’s work:

Website: https://jasminlopez.wordpress.com/

Connect with Jasmin:

• Instagram @jasminmara
• Twitter @jasminmara
• Facebook @jasminmara