Shawn Willis

Promo video for The African Dream Initiative The African Dream...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:28:11 -0400

Promo video for The African Dream Initiative

The African Dream Initiative is revolutionary in its approach to serving the youth of Africa. In giving them the best education possible; filling them with love, confidence, and support at home, and instilling them with leadership skills, these children have all the resources they need to lift themselves out of poverty and into prosperity.

Music: “Almost Everything” by Wakey!Wakey! | “Lights Dim” by The American Dollar

Director / Editor Shawn Willis

Cinematographer Jonathan Austin

Ascension Entertainment

Promotional video for L.E.A.D Uganda, now known as The African...

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:07:00 -0400

Promotional video for L.E.A.D Uganda, now known as The African Dream Initiative.

Fay Simpson & The Lucid Body are currently in development of...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:19:00 -0400

Fay Simpson & The Lucid Body are currently in development of a Social Change Theatre piece that focuses on Veterans who have come home from war, and the disconnect that exists between those who have served, and those who have not. Trying to bridge the gap. This film serves to tell the story of their work.

During the historic Somali famine during the summer of 2011, I...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:32:29 -0400

During the historic Somali famine during the summer of 2011, I spent time in Dadaab Kenya, working with FilmAid International. Ryan Jones and I created this film to show FilmAids unique roll during the crisis there.

IT'S NOT CHARITY. the documentary film

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:22:13 -0500

IT'S NOT CHARITY. the documentary film

SARAH NISCH // JUST SO U KNOW Off her new album #BY...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:45:00 -0500

SARAH NISCH // JUST SO U KNOW

Off her new album #BY HEART.

check her out

http://www.youtube.com/nischthedish
http://www.facebook.com/sarahnisch
http://www.twitter.com/sarahnischmusic
http://www.soundcloud.com/sarahnisch

“ITS NOT CHARITY” The official title of our...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:11:00 -0500

“ITS NOT CHARITY” The official title of our documentary, formerly “Transforming Lives” examines the shift in how aid is being done around the world.

For generations the west has given handouts to those in need with little lasting results. Today, organizations are rising up, implementing a new model. One of sustainability. One of EDUCATION. One based on the belief in the potential of all human beings, rather than pity for a people we wrongly perceive, as inferior.

It’s been two weeks now that We’ve been in Uganda....

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:06:05 -0500

Ojok Arthur during his break from school

DUSTY ROADS

CHILD IN A ROCK QUARY

"I JUST WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL"

FILMING IN "PADAR" NORTHERN IDP CAMP

HIV WOMAN PICKING COTTON FOR $.40/DAY

INTERVIEW

It’s been two weeks now that We’ve been in Uganda. Traveling the country asking what Ugandan’s want for the future of their country. The resounding answer is the same every time, Education. We’ve been asking children, parents, teachers, doctors, politicians why the plethora of NGO’s putting children in school hasn’t helped. The answer is they don’t do enough and don’t seem to care enough. Over 50 percent of the children in Northern Uganda who are not in school were once sponsored by various NGOs in the area but have since been dropped. We find more and more that LEAD Uganda is truly a revolutionary model and is making an undeniable impact in the lives of children and communities all over this wonderful country. I cant wait to finish this film so the word can hear this story. It needs to be told.

BACK TO AFRICA

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:28:14 -0500

Hey friends,

Ascension is traveling back to Uganda to wrap up photography on the doc, “Transforming Lives” Jonathan and I leave on Tuesday January 3rd, 2012. It should make for an excellent kickoff for the new year. Thanks for your continued support!

CLICK & MEET LAMEK!

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:44:19 -0500

CLICK & MEET LAMEK!:

This boy is incredible, he inspires me to try harder. He is consistently at the top of his class at Uganda’s number one primary school . I IMPLORE you to check out LEAD Uganda and set up a monthly donation to help these kids. It will be on of the best investments you’ll ever make.

This looks amazing!!

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:49:40 -0500

This looks amazing!!

"SOME THOUGHTS ON FAITH AND DOUBT “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my..."

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:12:06 -0400

“

SOME THOUGHTS ON FAITH AND DOUBT

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” – Paul

My faith is a dirty thing.
Literally.
I have fought and rolled around with her (it’s definitely a she in my life) in the back alleys of my sanctification. With every punch I have thrown, she has thrown a stronger one back. There are moments where we sit as best friends understanding absolutely everything about each other and reading each others every thought.
Then there are moments where nothing about her makes sense to me and she looks at me with pity.
Then we fight again.

I hear people talk about their relationship with God like they bought it at a Build A Bear Workshop at the mall.
If you haven’t been into one of those places…
a) because you don’t have kids or
b) because you are not a sketchy single guy…
…then you have to just trust me.
You walk in, pick the bear you want, take its outsides, find clothes you want to dress it in, then you pick out a heart.
Seriously.
You pick it out and they stick it inside the bear.
Then they stick that a tube into the back of that badboy i pump it full of stuffing.
In about 30 seconds your bear is as cute as Teddy Ruxspin in his heyday.
You name your bear, get a birth certificate, and walk out with a new soul.
Or at least your bear does.
This seems eerily similar to the way I hear many talk about their faith process.

Then I go home, sit on my back porch, drink half a bottle of wine, stare up at the giant oak tree wrapping her branches over me, and scream curses past her at the midnight sky because I don’t get it.
Then we start fighting.
Me and Faith.
And we wrestle, and we shout, and we cry, then she holds me, until I finish throwing my fit, and tells me that this is my way.
That the dirty, confusion and complication of my faith is where I will keep finding Jesus.
The fact that when I hear a sermon, I don’t trust it until I take it home and dance with it in the pages of God’s Word.
And then I end up either saying “Man that pastor got it, or man I need to call that pastor and tell them that the little box and bow they wrapped up that scripture in is like sticking a land mine into a Easter basket.

Right now I know a few things.
1. I love Jesus, the Christ with a fuel and passion like I have not in years.
2. I dislike with a passion the product we have turned Him into that it actually creates a tension in many of my current “Christian” relationships.
3. Everything I once believed about my Faith is being questioned right now, and so we continue to throw punches in the back alley and I actually am winning some of the fights. And that is ok.

Ragamuffins…If you are in a season of dancing a waltz with your Faith, then enjoy the rhythm of the movements of that dance.
But when you look up from the dance and realized that the ballroom lights are gone and your hand is no longer around the waist of Faith, but around her neck, don’t panic.
Fight.
Love.
Trust.
Break.
Believe.

With fear and trembling…
Los

”

- CARLOS WHITAKER, RAGAMUFFINSOUL

"This childish gamesmanship regarding timing reconfirms to the world that Washington is a sandbox..."

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 03:18:39 -0400

““This childish gamesmanship regarding timing reconfirms to the world that Washington is a sandbox full of petulant children who don’t play well together.””

- from the NY Times

David Rothkopf, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration

New York, New York

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:46:14 -0400

“New York, New York.

That’s where I want to be.

Aint no other state of mind in the world gonna satisfy me.”

~ Alfonso Velez

Watching films is hard work

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:06:06 -0400

The last two days we watched Man On Wire & When We Were Kings with the guys in the program. Afterwards we spent time deconstructing them. My new friends here have seen films before but not that many so its such a great thing to witness their experience. They seemed to really enjoy learning that way and I think they have a better underdstanding of what a really strong documentary can look like. I cant believe that I get to spend my days teaching and talking about this stuff to a group of young men who are so amazed and eager to learn. They’re a great bunch of people.

"We often live as if our happiness depended on having. But I don’t know anyone who is really..."

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:52:47 -0400

“We often live as if our happiness depended on having. But I don’t know anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness, and inner peace come from giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others. That truth, however, is usually discovered when we are confronted with our brokenness.”

- -Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

It’s been a busy week but I’m still blown away at...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:30:41 -0400

Photo by K. Ryan Jones

It’s been a busy week but I’m still blown away at all we’ve experienced. We receieved word that FilmAid was in need of a video highlighting what their unique roll has been during the crisis situation in Dadaab. Namely that they have been focussing on getting vital information that the various agencies here have to offer, out to the refugees in a way they can understand. We had to take a short break from our teaching schedule to do this, but It was an incredible opportunity to do what I love to do and fulfill an imediate need. Ryan and I spent the weekend shooting and interviewing spokespeople from several top agencies here in the camp. MSF (Doctors Without Boarders), UNHCR, WFP (Word Food Program, and the NRC (Norwegian Refugee Council). It was incredible to see all the great works these people are doing and learn more about them.

It has been at times, especially making this short film, rather sureal being here. I’ve never been at the epicenter of such a critical global issue before. I find myself watching the news while we’re having dinner at the mess and they have coverage of the crisis in Somalia and updates on the situation here in the camps. And then it hits you, wait…Im there. Or rather, I’m here. Everyone gets so consumed with their day to day work that it becomes like anything else. Until of course you are reminded, whether it be from the news, or more often an interaction with a family that has just walked for 7 weeks and found refuge at the camp. While we prepared to interview the UNHCR director of external communications, we were sitting in her office while she spoke on the phone with various news networks (CBS, Al Jazeera, CNN) and again I was reminded, wow…you are really in the middle of all this.

The photos above were taken while we were shooting the film. The one of me on the roof of the Land Cruiser was taken by Ryan. Its my new favorite photo of me. Thanks Ryan. The others were taken inside the malnutrition ward, the WFP food storage facility, and the road to Tent City. Tent city is the outskirts where several people end up while they wait for several weeks to be put into the system here at the camp. Its a pretty desolate, sad, lawless sight, but atleast its one step closer to safety and food for their families. I have to imagine its better then complete Famine and civil war.

The video is complete and we’ll be sharing it soon. Thanks for keeping up with us.

A few photos from the Dagahaley camp, one of the three camps...

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:27:21 -0400

A few photos from the Dagahaley camp, one of the three camps here in Dadaab. We have been there everyday this week teaching the refugee’s in the program.

These photos were taken near the intake center at the end of the day. The people in the photos are loading up on food. I love these two little guys, they were having so much fun.

GREETINGS FROM NAIROBI! I arrived in Nairobi last night and will...

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 08:55:00 -0400

GREETINGS FROM NAIROBI!

I arrived in Nairobi last night and will be here until Monday morning when I fly to the refugee camp in Dadaab. I can’t tell you how nice its been to get a chance to relax before getting to the camp. The hotel is a small, very clean, and simple place. Strangely It feels a bit like an Ikea showroom. Which, call me crazy, but I wasn’t expecting such accommodations in Kenya. The furniture, plates, mugs, and especially wall art of Times Square are most certainly from Ikea. The neighboring hotel, The Fairview, is extremely nice. I had dinner in one of their restaurants last night and have every intention of indulging myself to a fine meal this evening as well. The place is so nice in fact, that I could see myself coming here for a relaxing, even romantic vacation.

Today I was faced with the dilemma of how to spend an entire day with no scheduled work…how tragic : ) So after breakfast I decided to take a walk and explore the area while listening to the audio version of C.S Lewis’ The Weight of Glory.

I stumbled upon a look out point with the view of downtown Nairobi. Beneath the lookout was Uhuru Park (freedom in Swahili) So I ventured down and walked around the entire park. It was flanked on both sides with carnivals full of kids screaming with joy as they were spun around on rides that surely wouldn’t meet safety standards. I even saw children enjoying camel rides. (BTW, Camels, are huge. I had no idea. And have you aver seen one kneel down for people to get on and off? amazing how their legs fold up again and again beneath their bodies. pretty cool…just saying) But the best part was the pedal boat rentals. It cost about $2 for a half hour and it was worth every penny (or shilling actually).

My favorite part was how many happy and friendly people were enjoying the park. lots of families. In NY, renting a boat in Central park is far more priced towards tourists than locals enjoying a Sunday with their family.

I hope you enjoy the few pics I’ve posted of the park. I’ll be kicking back for the rest of the day and going to bed early to catch the 6am flight to Dadaab. I’m looking forward to going to work with Ryan and meeting some awesome people who want to learn how to tell their fascinating storied to the world.

Going to Kenya!

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:41:00 -0400

Hey friends,

This friday I’ll be traveling to Dadaab Kenya with my good friend Ryan Jones. We will be working with the Organization, “Filmaid International” to teach filmaking to the refugees. It should prove to be an exiting, humbling trip. The thought of helping to give others a voice by teaching what I love to do is pretty insane. If you’re unaware, Dadaab is the largest refugee camp in the world. Right now, Somalia is experiencing a major food crisis that is causing tens of thousands of refugees to flee to Kenya daily.

To know whats going on with us on the ground, follow along right here. Comment and tell your friends about it. And if you feel so inclined, send some good thoughts and prayers our way that we can be used to make a difference in the lives of these people.