J. Michael Seyfert
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J. Michael Seyfert | |
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| Born | 1959 |
| Occupation(s) | Director, photographer |
J. Michael Seyfert is a German-born documentary film director best known for the documentaries Rent a Rasta and Bye Bye Havana. Among other awards, at the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival, Seyfert was awarded Best Post-Production for Bye Bye Havana in 2006, and Best Director for Rent a Rasta in 2007.[1]
Film Projects
In 2002 Seyfert’s vision for a cartel-free filmmaking ecology began to take shape while exploring Latin America through the eyes of its outcasts and discarded people: Widows of the Guatemalan ethnocide known as The Silent Holocaust near Rabinal, site of some of the bloodiest massacres in Guatemala's Civil War, coca farmers and abandoned Tungsten mine workers in the Bolivian Andes, an Amazon tribe being driven from the rain forest by loggers and oil companies, dreadlocked Jamaican descendants of slaves selling sex to middle aged women while the reclusive Rastafarian Mansion Bobo Ashanti of Bull Bay appeal for repatriation to Africa, recicladores dwelling on a 150 hectares Mexico City mega garbage dump and resilient Cubans in their daily struggle to survive in the ruins of Central Havana, 10 year old street children living among deported American Mara Salvatrucha gang members in a devastated El Salvador and heavily armed Brazilian favela gangsters in their quest for humanity.
Seyfert's films are entirely self-funded and produced with rudimentary tools and have remained relevant long after they were made.[2] They are the subject of citation in academic articles and dissertations.
Portland State University "Issues of Authenticity in Small Scale Tourism: A Study of the McDisney Experience".[3]
“The Rastafarian Movement in Jamaica” Masaryk University, Czech Republic.[4]
Filmography
- Bye Bye Havana
(2004) After half a century of isolation Cuba attracts over three million tourists each year.[5] Carlos Alberto Montaner of Foreign Policy calls Seyfert's film "A colorful and sobering picture of the Cuba that Fidel has left behind".[6]
- Waorani: Last of the Rain Forest People
(2005) The Waorani are an ancestral nation in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Since Oil Companies have entered their territory, the Waorani have made deals, *oil for a pack of noodles and two soccer balls*, deals in exchange for nothing.
In order to prepare for the production of this film, Seyfert studied Sabela, the language only spoken by the Waorani. He compiled a "Spanish - Sabela" dictionary republished in the book "Los Huaorani del Cononaco" by Hernán Paz in 2007.[7]
- Rent a Rasta
(2006) Jamaica Documentary covering the phenomenon of middle-aged women traveling to Jamaica for sex[8] each year as well as culture context in the Atlantic Slave Trade and history of the Jamaican Rastafari movement.[9][10]
Rent a Rasta screened at Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on Sept 13, 2007, "A skillful, thoughtful and illuminating examination of the sex tourism industry in Jamaica, where white women come to sleep with young local 'rastatutes'".[11]
On September 5, 2013 The Huffington Post's Caitlyn Becker interviews Seyfert about Rent a Rasta on Huffpost Live.[12]
- The Pause That Refreshes
(2007) Short documentary about El Salvador street children who live among thousands of Mara Salvatrucha gang members deported from the United States.
- Opposite Land
(2008) Latin America Documentary.
- Love in the Time of Coca Cola
(2009) The documentary follows men meeting mail order brides in Bogota's thriving matrimony industry.
- The Emperor In Your Mind
(2010) Short film portrait of a small town Mexican truck tire changer reflecting on his grandiose life.
- Brazil Is Not Copacabana
(2012) A satirized documentary about poverty and the asymmetric resistance flourishing in Rio de Janeiro's favelas. [13]
Collaborations
From 1996 to 2005 Seyfert worked with British rock musician Roger Bunn, first guitarist of Roxy Music and narrator of Bye Bye Havana. Bunn had jammed with Jimi Hendrix and many of Britain's top musicians.
In 2003 Paul Cook, drummer and song writer of the British smooth jazz rock band SADE collaborated with Seyfert on several projects including the soundtrack of Bye Bye Havana. SADE was ranked at No. 50 on VH1's list of the "100 greatest artists of all time."
In 2008 Bolivian cinematographer and Smithsonian Bicentennial Medal recipient Jorge Ruiz contributed to Seyfert's film Opposite Land historic footage taken on Lake Titikaka in 1950 to juxtapose Seyfert's contemporary footage of Titino floating island and reveal 50 years of stagnation. Ruiz had also worked as camera operator for Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde (1987).
References
- ^ "Atlanta DocuFest Awards". DocuFest Awards. 2013. Retrieved Jan 14, 2017.
- ^ "'Rent-A-Rasta' Exposes Sex Tourism". Huffington Post. Sep 5, 2013. Retrieved Jan 14, 2017.
- ^ An undergraduate honors thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in University Honors and International Studies: Latin America
- ^ Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis 2010
- ^ John Verling (Jan 4, 2016). "4 Cuba Documentaries Worth Seeking Out". Newsmax. Retrieved Jan 14, 2017.
- ^ "Ramonet vs. Montaner: el gran debate sobre Cuba (Spanish reprint)". Noticias24.
- ^ Hernán Paz (2007). "Los Huaorani del Cononaco". Abya Yala.
- ^ An "Introduction To The World Of Sex Tourism" (Feb 21, 2016) by The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
- ^ Mark Thompson (2005). "J'can sex tourism subject of new documentary". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ Jamila Aisha Brown (Apr 26, 2012). "What The Secret Service Scandal Teaches Us About Sex Tourism". EBONY. Retrieved Jan 14, 2017.
- ^ "'Rent-A-Rasta', Previously at the ICA - Films". Institute of Contemporary Arts. Sep 13, 2007. Retrieved Jan 22, 2017.
- ^ "'Rent-A-Rasta' Exposes Sex Tourism". Huffington Post. Sep 5, 2013. Retrieved Jan 14, 2017.
- ^ "'a chaotic, surrealist take on poverty and resistance in Brazil". Bristol Radical Film Festival. Mar 22, 2013. Retrieved Jan 22, 2017.
External links
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