Free with RSVP
Genre: Education
Career Panel, Conversation, Film, Past Event
Overview
Cinematography has always had the power to make people believe; to transport them to new worlds; to give them a new perspective and enable the sharing of stories. During this unprecedented time, there has been a rise of new media documenting the human experience, adding to the cinematographer’s toolkit. This Apollo Education career panel will explore how filmmakers and cinematographers are using smartphones and other innovative tools to tell and share their stories as they maintain social distance.
Panelists
Ayana Baraka
Ayana Baraka
Ayana Baraka is the Cinematographer for Behind the Curtain: Eclipsed, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira, which documented the ‘herstoric’ Broadway production of Eclipsed. She is also a cinematographer for the Oscar hopeful, The Hunting Ground, the Emmy nominated film, United Skates, and Giving Voice, which premiered at Sundance 2020. Baraka was named a ‘person on the rise’ in Hollywood by producer Mel Jones. She’s a winner of the 2016 award for Best Cinematography at the Victoria TX Independent Film Festival and the 2019 Culture Catalyst award recipient at the Digital Diversity Network’s Innovation & Inclusion Awards.
Baraka is also the content creator for a virtual reality experience about Black Wall Street and the Race Massacre of 1921 called Greenwood Avenue. Baraka’s foray into immersive storytelling came while attending USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for her MFA in Cinematic Art, Film, and Television. She joined a team of innovators at USC’s Mixed Reality Studio, a Siggraph winning team for creating photo-real animation in virtual reality. Baraka went on to become a 2018 YouTube VR Creator Fellow, 2018 Oculus Connect Fellow, and a 2019 Black Public Media 360+ Incubator Fellow.
Glenn Cantave
Glenn Cantave
Glenn Cantave is an activist, performance artist and social entrepreneur who uses immersive technology to highlight the narratives of the oppressed. Through his non-profit Movers & Shakers NYC, he organized a pop up slave auction performance piece/AR exhibit, ran the NYC Marathon in chains, and is creating AR educational content focused on highlighting the narratives of marginalized communities.
He is also the Creator and Executive Producer of We the People, a 360 documentary focused on activism in the age of Trump. His team has documented the actions of several New York based activist groups and captured footage from events such as the Trump Inauguration, Charlottesville Riots, and a White Lives Matter Rally in Tennessee.
He is a TED Resident, artist in residence at Eyebeam NYU Something in Residence and a member at New Inc, an arts/tech incubator with the New Museum. He will be speaking about his work at TEDx in Ghent, Belgium this December.
Christian Epps
Christian Epps
Christian Epps is the Founder/CEO Of Lights, Camera, Diaspora!, a Los Angeles, based social enterprise nonprofit that bridges the gap between the African and African-Diaspora entertainment industries. His career as a lighting designer has spanned more than three decades covering the range from major motion pictures, broadcast television, commercials, live theater, dance, music videos and special events. Directors include Ava DuVernay, Spike Lee, Hype Williams, Andrew Dosunmu. Talent includes 1st Lady Michelle Obama, Pres. Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Nick Cannon, and Kevin Hart. Recently he served as the gaffer for the critically acclaimed and award winning film, “Selma”, featuring Oprah Winfrey and lensed by Director of Photography Bradford Young.
Emir Fils-Aime
Emir Fils-Aime
Emir Fils Aime is an artist and a cinematographer, from Queens, New York. Informed by a diverse set of past experiences- from working in an ER to teaching middle schoolers how to debate- he weaves a sensitive and intuitive approach into the image making process. Recent contributions include serving as the Director of Photography on a series of installation visuals for the 20th anniversary tour of Jill Scott’s seminal Who is Jill Scott? album and serving as an additional Director of Photography on the feature documentary Two Gods (DOC NYC 2020, Blackstar Film Festival 2020).