WISDOM IS IN THE BLOOD 

“Wiseblood” is a film that explores the people of Senegal in their working environments and the visions they generate in their mental environments. It is a dismemberment and recreation of the world they inhabit in the day into the visions they dream at night.

The film will contain several vignettes of people as they work herding animals, sewing clothes, repairing cell phones, and working in public transit and showing their stoic and even joyful pride in the face of harsh realities. The people of Senegal have a connection with primal human need that give them “Wiseblood”, a survival intuition we all too often ignore and forget in the West. This film will also capture Senegal’s own departure from this intuition as it modernizes. Cell phones, computers, and technology are cultural invaders. Embraced by the people and rejected by the elements. This film will interpret Senegalese interpretations of contemporary Western culture. 

The video we have posted above is a smattering of clips I've shot with consumer SLRs and "point and shoot" cameras in order to show the feel that Wiseblood is going for. I am beyond confident that when Jule Fontana, our camera man, comes here to shoot this with a Red Epic we are going to have some beautiful imagery. 

The funds will be used for the creation of the Wiseblood trailer. We will need to hire a car and a driver to transport us and the gear. We will hire "fixers", locals on the ground to help source materials, talent, manage crowds, and get us out of sticky situations. We will also spend money on hardware to mount our camera on top of cars, motocycles, and donkey carts. 

The idea is that when we've finished shooting in July I will return to the U.S. in September for my home leave to edit the film in L.A. and then promote it to potential investors and partners to help us make the full length film in 2013. 

I have spent a lot of time here getting to know the working class of Senegal: the farmers, herders, masons, tailors, drivers, merchants, and the beggars. I've found the working environments of Senegal to be captivating. Having photographed and filmed these scenes for some time now, I've noticed a grander narrative and theme underneath. Magic, Islam, and materialism coexisting. All three have their light and dark sides and I can see it in the people and places here. It is in the markets, the fields, and the garbage heaps. This film will offer a glimpse of Senegal that mainstream media does not believe to exist. This film is a part documentary, dream sequence, and critical yet celebratory look on contemporary West Africa.