The Other Side of the Water
The journey of a Haitian rara band in Brooklyn
The journey of a Haitian rara band in Brooklyn
The journey of a Haitian rara band in Brooklyn

A DOCUMENTARY BY JEREMY ROBINS
AND MAGALI DAMAS

Rara group in an early morning performance
Rara group in an early morning performance


synopsis

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producer bios
clips from doc
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NEWS:

1.18.09 So much has been said about the scale of the destruction on Haiti and the magnitude of the disaster, it doesn’t need repeating. On a personal level, co-producer Magali Damas finally contacted her family last Friday and found they were all alive and up in the hills outside the capital. In terms of the band, most were able to contact immediate family and found they were okay. However Leslie, the graj player, learned that he lost ten members of his family - three of them still buried under rubble - and three more are badly injured. A number of other band members have still not been able to make contact. Almost everyone has lost extended family and lost homes.

Upcoming Events:

 

Saturday 2.6: Brooklyn Museum of Art: Target First Saturday

Free screening at 7pm
DJARARA Performing in the Glass Pavilion 9:30pm
Location: 200 Eastern Parkway (by Washington), Brooklyn, NY
Tickets available at Visitor Center 6pm on day of event
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/visit/first_saturdays.php

Friday 2.12: Screening and Performance at Downtown Community Television

Date: Friday 2/12
Film Screening: 7:30
DJARARA Performance: 8:30
Sliding scale donations: $10-$20
Location: DCTV 87 Lafayette Street (Betw Walker and White) NYC
Proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders and musicians families.
http://www.dctvny.org/

Sunday 2.14: Pan African Film and Arts Festival - LA

Date: Sunday 2/14
Screenings times: 12pm and 3pm
Location: Culver Plaza Theatres
9919 Washington Boulevard Los Angeles, CA
(310) 836-5516
http://www.paff.org/

 

Past News:

Sunday 1.24.10 Horns for Haiti Benefit

DJARARA closed out this amazing line-up including Rev. Billy,
Mikerline Troupe, Hungry Marching Band, and more.
Link to Facebook Event

Thursday 1.28.10 Lomax Party - Part 2 becomes Earthquake Benefit at Barbes in Brooklyn

In collaboration with the Alan Lomax Archive we held
a special party/performance/screening to celebrate the
release of the Haiti Box Set. This time we've made it into a benefit event.

Sunday 1.31: DJARARA and Makandal at The Livingroom, NYC

Also in collaboration with the Lomax, this event will raised money for Hospital Albert Schweitzer and the musicians.

12.13.09 Release Party with Alan Lomax Archive

In collaboration with the Alan Lomax Archive and La Troupe Makandal we held a special party/performance/screening to celebrate the release of the Haiti Box Set - a massive compilation of film and audio Alan Lomax recorded in Haiti from 1936-7.
The event was held at the Livingroom in NYC.

Read Sasha Frere-Jones recent round table discussion in the NEW YORKER MAGAZINE about rara music, featuring Edwidge Danticat

11/24/09 "Cultures on Parade" at the New School

"Cultures on Parade" was a special screening and discussion on at the New School featuring "The Other Side of the Water" and "Play Mas" by Michelle Stephenson. Info here: http://www.newschool.edu/eventDetail.aspx?id=36435

 

9/7/09 Return to BAM

On Labor Day, September 7th, we returned to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was a wonderful day of screenings, which we attended while running back and forth to the Eastern Parkway Carnival. Thanks to the Creatively Speaking series and everyone who came out!

September Screenings:

*September 17th and 28th Trinidad & Tobago Film Fest
*September 30th-October 4th International Festival of the Haitian Film of Montreal
*Date TBD: Caribbean Creativity in the Netherlands

 

7/12/09 Screening at the Caribbean Tales Film Festival
Toronto Canada. More information HERE

6/6/09 Screening at The Hollywood Black Film Festival
Info HERE and link to radio interviews on Sak Pase California

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5/09 "The Haitian Rara Experience" in Miami

From May 21st-24th Miami hosted "The Haitian Rara Experience": a 4-day festival of film screenings, workshops, parties, and music events. The main event was the Theatrical Premiere of "The Other Side of the Water" at the historic Colony Theatre on Miami Beach, followed by a live performance of Brooklyn's DJARARA.

Thanks to our presenting partners: Miami Light Project, the Backyard Movement, Change Charity, Inc., Moksha Family, and HaitiXchange.com.

(Click for larger image)
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1/09 Obama Trip Special Series


The musicians from DJARARA went in force to DC for the Obama Inauguration
. Check out their full historic journey HERE
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12/08 Re-Launching Educational Workshops:

This year we're re-launching our educational programs in high schools and universities. Over the past few years the filmmakers and the musicians of DJARARA have teamed up to create workshops, presentations, and cultural events across the country. We toured NYC high schools through Carnegie Hall's educational program (photos here), presented to musicology and sociology classes from Amherst to Bard College to Connecticut College, and worked with Haitian Student Associations at schools including Columbia University and SUNY Binghamton. If you're interested in finding out more or hosting an educational event, contact us at othersideofthewater@gmail.com

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9/08

Festival Premiere at Urbanworld Film Festival - September 12th, 2008.

"The Other Side of the Water" was proud to be a part of the 12th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival in NYC - presented by BET and HBO. Stay tuned for information on our upcoming festivals and theatrical premiere in NYC slated for February 2009.

Thanks also toHaitiXchange.com, Brooklyn Papers, heritagekompa.com, Caribbean Life newspaper, this Prospect Park Blog as well as Radio Soleil and Radio Pa Nou for the great shout-outs.

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8/08

Sneak Preview at Brooklyn Academy of Music BAM Rose Cinema. Afterparty featuring DJARARA and Master Drummer Fritzner Augustine - August 28th, 2008. Click HERE for link to BAM page...

 


Photos from our Sneak Preview at Brooklyn Academy of Music
visit our Flickr Photostream Here

Thanks also to HaitiXchange.com, Brooklyn Papers, this Prospect Park Blog as well as Radio Soleil and Radio Pa Nou for the great shout-outs

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1/08: We've finally picture-locked the documentary! The Other Side of the Water is now in the finishing stages and we're excited to be working with graphic arist Ben Fine (visual effects editor for Oscar Nominated "Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room") and sound mixer Anne Pope (sound editor for Oscar winner "Born into Brothels"). Stay tuned for our launch this spring and summer...

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7/07 The Backyard Show comes to Brooklyn

Host Nati Dred of The Backyard Show with DJA-Rara [photo: Johny Jacques]

In July a crew from The Backyard Show flew up from Miami to New York and taped two shows on Haitian roots culture in Brooklyn. The first show focused on DJA-Rara and our documentary, the second on other Haitian roots musicians. The Backyard Show is an great new arts and culture talk show that’s making a lot of noise in Miami [Look up their recent article in Miami Herald or link to their site here]. It was a hectic but fun taping – with a live audience and all! Five Myles art gallery provided the space, HaitiXchange came by, as well as come great artists and Brooklyn culture heads. Check out pics here, and the show should be up on the Backyard website in a few weeks…

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4/07 Clips from doc being shown at Brooklyn Historical Society:

photo:Delphine A. Fawundu-Buford

Clips from the documentary were featured in an exhibit called "A Drum Beats in Brooklyn" at the Brooklyn Historical Society. The exhibit focuses on drum-based and African-influenced cultures in Brooklyn, and runs from February 14th to May 13th, 2007. Info at the BHS website .

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4/07 Short-film in Festivals:

In 2005 we made an 11-minute work-in-progress that we called "Brooklyn Racine." Soon word got out, and the short was requested by a number of film festivals. Here's the list to date:

September 07: Women in Film LA - evening of Haitian Filmmaking http://www.soleilfilms.com
October 07: Montreal International Haitian Film Festival:http://www.festivalfilmhaitien.com/programme_en.html
November 06: the Guelph International Film Festival,
http://www.girc.org/giff/
Deceber 06: Festival Film Jakmel (our premier in Haiti!) in Jakmel, Haiti - just south of the capital:http://www.festivalfilmjakmel.com/

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3/07 Recent Screenings and Presentations at Universities:
The filmmakers have teamed up with the musicians of DJA-Rara to give a series of presentations at colleges and universities in the Northeast.

April 07: Connecticut College
February 07: Columbia University

October 06: SUNY Binghamton
September 06: Amherst College
April 07: Connecticut College

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2/07: BAND NEWS:
DJA-Rara's latest studio track "Zwazo Vole" was singled out by Afropop Worldwide as one of the top Carnival songs for 2007 (click here for the link ), and has been on dozens of top-10 lists by critics and fans. For other info on performances and events by Djarara and Friends, click HERE

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4/06 Through the Carnegie Hall Global Encounters Program The Other Side of the Water and DJA-Rara visit high school classrooms in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Manhattan. We screened clips from the documentary, talked about the history of rara, and taught students to play drums and kone horns. SEE PHOTOS HERE.

April 28th, 2006: Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series presents a screening of 10 minutes from Other Side of the Water and a performance by DJA-Rara at CUNY's Caribbean Studies Center. SEE PHOTOS HERE.

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1/06: Kurt Engfehr joins team as Consulting Editor. Kurt Engfehr was editor and co-producer of “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 911.” He was awarded the American Cinema Editor’s award for best documentary editing in 2002 for his work on Bowling for Columbine, and we’re excited to have him on board.

PAST WORK-IN-PROGRESS SREENINGS

April 28th, 2006: Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series- screening with performance by DJA-Rara at CUNY Caribbean Studies Center

February 21st 2006: Rough-cut screening at Brooklyn Public Library's "Documenting Brooklyn" series.

September 1st and 2nd, 2005: Work-in-Progress screening at Brooklyn Academy of Music's Caribbean Diaspora Film Festival

December 2nd 2006: WIP at "Homegrown" community film event sponsored by the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association

February 28th, 2005: Presentation at the Community School for Social Justice, Bronx, NY

At BAM: Filmmakers with staff of the 18 Mai Committee, HaitiXChage.com, and Michele Montas - widow of slain journalist Jean Dominique from "The Agronomist"

 

 


 

 

 

  

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