Can Your Doc Really Change the World?

POV (US television’s longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films on PBS) recently hosted IDA’s Doc U on the Road to examine the question “Can Your Doc Really Change the World?” with a panel of documentary heavyweights and the conversation continued afterwards with a Q&A and reception.

The panel included Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence), Rachel Libert (Semper Fi: Always Faithful, Boomtown), Diana Barrett, founder of the Fledgling Fund, and Cynthia López, Executive Vice President and Co-Executive Producer of POV. Read more…

Tags | HBO, Oscar, POV, Roger Ross Williams, Unicef, Zimbabwe

Prudence gets Unicef position!

Prudence was appointed Unicef’s national Goodwill ambassador last Tuesday. She will be working closely with Unicef on advocacy to protect children from all forms of violence, particularly children with disabilities.

Unicef’s Dr Peter Salama said: “This appointment is in recognition of Prudence’s bold endeavors to use her vocal talent to speak on behalf of millions of Zimbabwean children.

“Her voice has provoked positive actions for children and has helped move Unicef’s work in Zimbabwe,” he said.

In a Press release, Unicef said Prudence has been given the befitting appointment in recognition of her genuine commitment to communicating strong and clear messages advocating for the rights of children with different forms of disability.

“In being appointed as a national goodwill ambassador, she joins local singer legend Oliver Mtukudzi, appointed three months ago as regional goodwill ambassador for Unicef, in using music to highlight issues affecting children in Zimbabwe and in the region,” reads the release.

“Her music reflects on the neglect she experienced by her parents because of her condition and encourages love and protection of all children regardless of their physical condition.

“In the Oscar-winning documentary film, ‘Music by Prudence’, Prudence relieves her many hardships in life to encourage and empower young people living with disabilities,” reads the press release.

Read more on Zimdiaspora.

Tags | Dr Peter Salama, Prudence Mabhena, Unicef

Nominated for an Emmy!

Music by Prudence has been nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Music and Sound! Congratulations to sound mixer Chris Bertolotti, music producer Ted Mason, and music engineer Joseph Colmenero, and of course to the musical geniuses of the band Liyana, and to their star singer, Prudence Mabhena.

The 32nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Ceremony will be held at September 26, 2011.

Click here to see all the nominations.

Tags | Chris Bertolotti, Emmy, Emmy nomination, Joseph Colmenero, Liyana, Prudence Mabhena, Ted Mason

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Docs Series travels to Zimbabwe

“Music by Prudence” and “Mugabe and the White African” will screen as the next installment in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 29th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, March 30, at 7 PM at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free.

The 29th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series continues through June 1, showcasing feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2009 Academy Award nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year.

All films will screen at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study on Wednesdays at 7 PM. Doors open at 6 PM. All seating is unreserved. The filmmakers will be present at screenings whenever possible.

For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.

Tags | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Linwood Dunn Theater

Prudence has spine surgery in America

Prudence Mabhena has had spine surgery in the United States to save her singing career!

In the past, Prudence could sing for one to two hours during a show without a break. But recently, she’s had to do shorter shows and take breaks in the middle and come back.

It became harder for her to breathe as a collapsing spine wore on her lungs. “I was getting tired. After doing anything, I was so tired,” Prudence, now 23, said from the Denver Children’s Hospital on Thursday.

On Jan. 24, she had a surgery there in which doctors put rods into her spine and were able to straighten it. And Mountainfilm, in large part, made that happen. Here’s how.

Read more…

Tags | David Holbrooke, Dr. Mark Erickson, Dr. Rick Hodes, Mountainfilm, Prudence Mabhena, spine surgery

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

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:

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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