By Water
An unlikely hero's journey into his own memories becomes a vehicle for reconciliation and healing for himself and his sibling.
Interview with Director Iyabo Kwayana
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I made this film as a way of continuing the story of my sibling who, at the time was estranged from our family. The film is meant to assert our familial connection despite this separation.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This film touches on themes of finding communion, healing and creating safe spaces. We think anyone interested in family healing and finding new paradigms for relating to loved ones who are estranged as well as creative mixed media approaches to documentaries that defy traditional forms would be interested in this film.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
My film is very personal, yet it is ultimately the story of reconciliation and healing. It also challenges audiences to identify with the underdog and enter their experience and be invited into empathy.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
This is a documentary that uses fantasy and fabulation to let the narrative work as a prayer of healing rather than a record of true reality.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Many audiences are touched by the film. We received two jury awards, one from San Francisco International Film Festival, and the other from Humboldt International Film Festival. We've screened at many festivals and have received great feedback. Nonetheless, as is expected, some can't relate to the experimental format. This film requires audiences to push their thinking about what narrative and even documentary are. It is a quiet, meditative film and requires patience. This film is not meant to only entertain but rather ask the audience to explore a different point of view.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I think the feedback has helped me clarify my intentions as a filmmaker. For example, film and media are meant to engage and entertain but it must also challenge antiquated tropes and invite new realities and new experiences. It is, in fact, a form of cultural work and not just a commodity. I am expanding my notions of audience into the realm of the public humanities and I see my work as having the potential to start conversations.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I'd love for people to engage with me about storytelling through multiple lenses, purposes, and formats.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
The film has distribution but we would love for more galleries, schools, and community organizations to present this film so that different kinds of conversations can emerge around the subject matter it presents.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would like for the film to help restore a sense of humanity to people that are unhoused and for gatekeepers to open up channels for the general public to hear the stories of those that are marginalized within our society due to their housing status or how their minds work.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Do you have a similar story of estrangement within your family?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm working on a feature documentary film on rituals of communion and congregation in three coastal communities around the globe.
Interview: May 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
By Water
An unlikely hero's journey into his own memories becomes a vehicle for reconciliation and healing for himself and his sibling.
Length: 12:00
Director: Iyabo Kwayana
Producer: Chris Hastings, Maori K. Holmes and Nevo Shinaar
Writer: Luther Clement-Lam, Iyabo Kwayana
About the writer, director and producer:
IYABO KWAYANA is an independent filmmaker whose career spans from serving as director/DP of fiction films, to director/(co)cinematographer of award-winning documentaries. Her work has been licensed by both Criterion Channel and the World Channel-PBS and has screened widely both domestically and internationally on the festival circuit. Her recent film By Water is the first experimental animation to be scheduled to be broadcast on POV's America Reframed. She currently teaches filmmaking at Dartmouth College.
Executive Producer, CHRIS HASTINGS is a founding team member in the development and production of Black Entertainment Television’s award-winning BET Tonight. At WGBH, Chris has worked with children television’s program Zoom and the WGBH Lab, an innovative incubator for up-and-coming filmmakers. Chris joined World Channel in 2011, where he co-created the award-winning documentary series America ReFramed, Local, USA, and Doc World, and provided editorial oversight to the other original series on World. Series in Chris' portfolio has won many awards, including a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, and national news and documentary Emmy award.
MAORI K. HOLMES is a curator, filmmaker and writer. She founded BlackStar in 2012 and serves as its Artistic Director and CEO. She has organized programs in film at a myriad of organizations including Anthology Film Archives, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), The Underground Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. As a director, her works have screened internationally including her feature documentary Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip—Hop (2006). She has also directed and produced works for Colorlines.com, Visit Philadelphia, and singer-songwriter India.Arie. Her writing has most recently appeared in The Believer, Film Quarterly, Seen, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, and How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance. She currently serves on the board of American Documentary (POV), Asian Arts Initiative, the advisory boards of Ulises, Vidiots, and Lightbox Film Center; and is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, The Community Board, and Programmers of Color Collective. Maori was a 2019-2020 Soros Equality Fellow and serves as Mediamaker-in-Residence at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Curator-at-Large at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and a Creative Executive with Blackbird.
NEVO SHINAAR is a creative producer based in Chicago. His award-winning films played at film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, AFI Docs and Palm Springs, showcased on POV-PBS, the NY Times and The Atlantic Selects, and supported by Tribeca Film Institute and Kartemquin Films. Nevo serves as Head of Development for Mitten Media for both scripted and documentary. He is a founding member of the award-winning SITE collective, and of Wolf + Me Films. In 2020, he was included in Newcity Film 50. Nevo holds an MFA from Northwestern University in Documentary Media and a BFA from the Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel-Aviv University.
Key cast: Alafia Kwayana and AnHer El
Facebook: Iyabo Ruramai (爱雅宝)
Instagram: @yahyahtree
Website: bywaterfilm.com
Made in association with: BlackStar Projects, World Channel
Funders: Mac Arthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, World Channel
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Short Encounters (May 13th 2pm), Greece, NYAFF (Lincoln Center- May 16th 6pm)