Prudence’s amazing journey

So much has happened for Prudence, ever since Music by Prudence stole the hearts of so many people, and certainly after winning the Academy Award for best Documentary Short. After the media frenzy surrounding Kanye Gate whirled down, the focus was on Prudence, where it belonged. Soon after the Oscars, Prudence came back to the US for a whirlwind tour; Human Rights Watch teamed up, and with their generous help and support the film has become the cornerstone of an advocacy campaign, and Prudence a role model for many.

Prudence visited the White House, and overnight became a star in her home country, Zimbabwe, as well.

The most amazing thing that happened to Prudence, however, happened earlier this year. It had become harder for her to breath as a collapsing spine wore on her lungs, and she received spinal surgery in Denver, straightening her back!

Recently, the Denver Post portrayed Prudence and her amazing story, as she’s been in Denver for a number of months, rehabilitating from the major operation. Read her interview right here.

Tags | interview, Prudence Mabhena, spine surgery

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

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

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:

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

BBC Podcast: Ouch! It’s a Disability Thing!

Prudence and Marvelous, two of the film’s stars, where guests on Ouch!, the BBC podcast about the lives and experiences of people with a disability. They were on the phone from Zimbabwe, talking to the hosts in London, while director Roger Ross Williams joined in from the US. Yes, this was very international!

Listen to the interview right here:



Check out the Ouch! website. It has articles, blogs, a very busy message board and of course, the award-winning downloadable radio show – The Ouch Podcast.

Tags | BBC, disabled, interview, Marvelous, Ouch!, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams, singing, Zimbabwe

New York Times: A Night Out with Roger Ross Williams

The New York Times reports on hanging out with the Oscar winner for best short documentary, Roger Ross Williams, as he makes the obligatory first stop for Oscar winners and nominees.

Read the full article online, or read the print version, appearing on March 14, 2010, on page ST4 of the New York edition.

Tags | A Night Out With..., interview, New York Times, Oscar, Roger Ross Williams

The Full Speech on Larry King Live!

Tonight, Monday March 8th, 9pm ET, director and producer Roger Ross Williams will be a guest on Larry King Live! He’ll be able to give the Oscar acceptance speech that was interrupted during the ceremony. Go Roger!
CNN – Larry King Live – 9pm ET | 6pm PT

Tags | interview, Larry King Live, Oscar, Roger Ross Williams