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Sandra Jacobi
Poet Son
1. How did you come up with the idea for the film?
When I first heard “Brown Bag Daddy” performed, poet Dasan Ahanu had the audience entranced as he shared his story. I immediately thought of producing a documentary video.
2. How long did the production process take?
Poet Son took ten months to complete from the first day of taping to the final edit.
3. What challenges did you experience in the creation of the film?
The differences between Dasan and myself are many: race, gender, background, and talent. He is a black male in his thirties from the South who has a talent with words and performing, while I am a white woman from the North, a generation older, who balks at putting pen to paper and prefers editing images to editing words. The challenge was to work with and portray a person of a different race and culture with sensitivity.
Originally I intended to produce a video about the slam poetry scene in the Triangle area of North Carolina, but after Dasan’s mother agreed to talk about her experiences as a teen mother and her troubled relationship with Dasan’s father, I decided to change the project’s focus. Then there was a need to balance the video with views from Dasan’s father. Here was another bridge to cross. All I knew initially about this man was that he had abused the mother of his child and “kept his potential in a brown bag,” but we gradually became comfortable with one another and eventually did an on camera interview. Given time to reflect on the message of “Brown Bag Daddy,” Dasan’s father talks about the essence of poetry and the meaning of his relationship with his son.
4. What is your favorite memory from creating the film?
Favorite memories include going to poetry slams at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, and realizing during the interview with Dasan’s father that he has a profound understanding of poetry.
5. When someone has finished watching the film, what do you hope they take away from the experience?
I hope that viewers of Poet Son will be impressed with Dasan’s power as a spoken word artist and the honest way in which he, his mother, and his father face the past.
6. What type of reaction has your film received from viewers?
Audiences are impressed with the intensity of “Brown Bag Daddy.” Several people who work with teenagers use the video to show students how a person may use words to express, and move past, anger and disappointment.
7. What advice would you give to aspiring young filmmakers?
Three quick thoughts from my experiences:
- When you begin a project, think about the film’s audience, as that will help you decide what information or viewpoint you want to convey.
- For more options when you reach the editing stage, learn to shoot a sequence. For example, film an action from several different angles.
- To shoot the best footage, learn to edit: the more you edit, the deeper your understanding will be of the type and variety of shots you want to have in your work.
8. Please tell us about the next film you plan to work on.
Since completing Poet Son in early 2006, I have produced Never Too Late for the Durham Literacy Center; In the Pocket, a performance by jazz musicians and singers; and Images and Reflections, a personal family history. Most recently, I edited What Not to Wear, a film by Cagla Alkan about the ban of Muslim headscarves in Turkey. I am currently working on an audio project about a church community in Leasburg, North Carolina, a former tobacco producing area of the state.
9. What are your thoughts about the film industry in North Carolina?
North Carolina is a happening place and filmmaking is happening here.
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