The Observer’s Best Water Cooler Moments

Oscar Kanye Gate has received quite some attention in the past year. The New York Observer presented a list of “Best Watercooler Moments of the Year”, and guess what’s on number 5?

5. “I’mona Let You Finish” at the Oscars

Short documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams humbly stepped onstage to accept his Oscar for “Music by Prudence” when out of no where the project’s estranged producer Elinor Burkett co-opted the mike for the sake of “the women.” Williams was later invited to Larry King to finish his speech, but was, ironically, rushed for time and once again couldn’t finish!

Find the full top 11 here.

Tags | acceptance speech, Elinor Burkett, New York Observer, Oscar, Roger Ross Williams

Blackbook Interview

Black Book’s nightlife guru Steve Lewis talked with director Roger Ross Williams, about their wild days in the eighties, and about Music by Prudence, the Oscar upheaval, and future projects. Here are some highlights from the interview:

First off, we all know you as that guy who got shoved aside while accepting the Academy Award. Tell us about making the film, getting it out there, and the award. What was in your mind up there?
There is nothing that really describes the feeling of winning an Oscar, but I will try.  When my name was called it was as though I had won a new car on The Price is Right. ‘Come on down!’ was all I could think as I raced to the stage.  When I arrived on stage I felt the weight of the moment, the silence, the pressure, the incredible spotlight that was on me. I also felt grounded and ready to speak from my heart. My desire was to tell the world about this amazing girl and her band Liyana, and how I was so happy that everyone could finally know and love them like I had grown to know and love them. Most importantly, I was there to honor Prudence. She was in the audience that night, and I had worked hard to get her there from Zimbabwe, secure her a seat, and make sure the cameras were in position and ready to film her if we won. Of course, that speech didn’t happen. Read more…

Tags | Black Book Magazine, interview, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams, Steve Lewis, Sundance

The most famous woman in Zimbabwe talks to ‘O’

Prudence and director Roger Ross Williams were interviewed by O, The Oprah Magazine:

Subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, singer Prudence Mabhena shows that “disability does not mean inability.”

Prudence Mabhena has a voice as sparkling as the bluest ocean, with a little sob of an undertow burbling beneath it. That voice pours out of Music by Prudence, a moving portrait of the 23-year-old Zimbabwe native, lead singer of the Afro-fusion band Liyana. Born with arthrogryposis, which causes severe deformation of the joints (doctors amputated her legs when she was a child), Mabhena weighs about 50 pounds and uses a 600-pound wheelchair. “When I see myself singing in the film,” Mabhena says, “I don’t know how I do it.” Read more…

Tags | interview, O Magazine, Oprah, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams

An Amazing Performance (video)

Last month was an amazing month in the history of Music by Prudence. The film premiered on HBO, and was seen at film festivals all over the country: in Telluride, Colorado; Silver Spring, Maryland; Mendocino, California, and many other places. But what made last month extra special was Prudence Mabhena’s return to the US.

One of the most special moment was the opening night of the International VSA Festival, held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on June 6. VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, was founded more than 35 years ago by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to provide arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities and increase access to the arts for all. Read more…

Tags | Amazing Grace, Kennedy Center, Prudence Mabhena, VSA

Radio Interview: the Jefferson Exchange

While at the Ashland Independent Film Festival in Oregon last April, director Roger Ross Williams was a guest at the Jefferson Exchange,on Jefferson Public Radio.

Listen to the very interesting interview right here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tags | Ashland, Jefferson Exchange, public radio, Radio interview

Huffington Post: voices to be heard, in harmony

Shantha Rau Barriga, a researcher and advocate for disability rights for Human Rights Watch, wrote this interesting piece on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), for the Huffington Post:

The documentary film, Music by Prudence, tells the story of a young Zimbabwean woman born with a congenital disease that twisted her body and led to the amputation of her legs. Prudence Mabhena was abandoned by her family and shunned by her community, yet through music, she found a way to share her story and advocate for change. In February, the film won an Oscar and Prudence became a national hero.

It would be nice to say that Prudence’s story provides a human face for persons with disabilities, a majority of whom – over 80 percent of the world’s 680 million or more persons with disabilities – live in developing nations. Certainly, the challenges faced by Prudence — stigma and discrimination, abandonment, barriers to education and health care – are often faced by persons with disabilities worldwide and are made even more difficult in impoverished countries that lack infrastructure and many services. Unfortunately her triumph is uncommon. Read more…

Tags | Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, Human Rights Watch, Shantha Rau Barriga

Interview: upstaged during his big moment with Oscar

The Philadelphia Inquirer published a recent interview with director and producer Roger Ross Williams, on his film, Prudence, and on getting Kanyed:

As Roger Ross Williams says, laughing about it in hindsight, he holds two records in the annals of the Academy Awards. One – and this is the important one – is that he’s the first African American to win a directing Oscar, for his documentary short, “Music by Prudence.”

And two, he is the first Oscar winner to be Kanyed when he stepped up to accept his award.

Sure, there have been random Oscar-speech hijackings over the academy’s 82 years – but they were before the verb to Kanye entered the lexicon, inspired by Kanye West’s obnoxious interruption of Taylor Swift’s Video Music Awards acceptance spiel last fall. Read more…

Tags | getting Kanyed, interview, Philadelphia Inquirer, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams

Review: Like Artie from ‘Glee’, ‘Music by Prudence’ star won’t bow to limitations when it comes to music

A glowing review for Music by Prudence appeared in New York’s Daily News:

“Music by Prudence,” which on the surface looks to be the story of a plucky African girl who loves to sing, turns out to be all that and a lot more.

If you love “Glee” and you especially love Kevin McHale’s Artie Abrams character, the one in the wheelchair, Prudence Mabhena is in several ways a real-life Artie.

She shares his exuberance, his love of music and his dedication to performing it well without bowing to physical limitations.

It’s only in all the other areas that Prudence’s real life differs from Artie’s life. Prudence has climbed mountains to get where she is today, and she will have to climb even higher mountains to get where she wants to go. Read more…

Tags | daily news, review

Prudence and Roger on NPR’s Morning Edition

A week after the Oscar event in LA, Prudence went back to Zimbabwe. But as the HBO premiere of the documentary is nearing Prudence is back in the US! She’s already been in Bethlehem, PA; Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; and New York City. And this morning she could have been in your car, on your way to work, anywhere in the US. Prudence Mabhena and director and producer Roger Ross Williams were guests at NPR’s Morning Edition. You can listen to Renee Montagne’s interview with them right here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tags | interview, Morning Edition, NPR, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams

Music by Prudence wins Audience Award at Florida Film Festival!

Music by Prudence is the winner of Audience Award for Short Film at the 19th Annual Florida Film Festival!

The Florida Film Festival, which is taking place from April 9 till 18 this year, has become one of the most respected regional film events in the country, developing a reputation for its Southern hospitality amongst visiting artists, special guests, and the local community.

Tags | Audience Award, Florida Film Festival