MDOCS
presents:
An Evening With Filmmakers Salim Amin & Chip Duncan
featuring the documentary
Mo & Me
The Life & Times of the Acclaimed African Photojournalist Mohamed Amin
Screening at 7pm in ELM (Zankel 117)
(Details about the film & visitors below)
ABOUT THE FILM
The turmoil of Africa’s emergence into the 20th century has long been the focus of the critical eye of the Western World. From exploration to exploitation; from fear and famine to fame and fortune; fromwar-torn horror to wildlife wonder; it has all been exposed to the relentless gaze of the international press.
No one has caught its pain and passion more incisively than Mohamed Amin, photographer and frontline cameraman extraordinaire. He was the most famous photo-journalist in the world, making the news as often as he covered it. ‘Mo’ trained his unwavering lens on every aspect of African life, never shying from the tragedy, never failing to revel in the success. Through the gaze of his camera lens, he showed the world what some were afraid to see and what most people wished they could ignore.
His coverage of the 1984 Ethiopian famine proved so compelling that it inspired a collective global conscience and the greatest act of giving in the 20th century. He served as both the inspiration and as a catalyst for Band Aid, USA for Africa and Live Aid. His reporting shamed the world into action and undoubtedly rescued a country from absolute destruction by famine.
In a career spanning more that 30 years, ‘Mo’ was our eyes on the frontline in every situation and his honest unwavering approach to photojournalism earned him the unconditional respect of both friends andenemies alike. Mo covered every major event in Africa and beyond, braving 28 days of torture, surviving bombs and bullets, even the loss of his left arm in an ammunition dump explosion, to emerge as the most decorated news cameraman of all time.
Mo’s remarkable life was cut tragically short in November 1996 when hijackers took over an Ethiopian airliner forcing it to crash land in the Indian Ocean killing 123 passengers and crew. Mo died on his feet as he attempted to negotiate & reason with the terrorists. This movie immortalizes the inspirational legend that was Mohamed Amin; a Kenyan who became the world’s most famous photojournalist.
ABOUT THE VISITORS
Salim Amin, 44, Chairman, A24 Media, Chairman, The Mohamed Amin Foundation, Chairman, Camerapix, Nairobi, Kenya (+254) 721-427577
Salim Amin is Chairman of Camerapix, founder and Chairman of The Mohamed Amin Foundation and co-founder and Chairman of A24 Media. In 1963, world-renowned photographer, cameraman and publisher, Mohamed "Mo" Amin, launched Camerapix from a small shop in Dar es Salaam. From these humble beginnings grew a modern, independent media concern with a reputation for delivering world exclusive images and stories at the forefront of journalism in Africa.
Today, Camerapix employs over 40 media professionals, who operate out of its headquarters in Nairobi and an office in London. Camerapix offers its clients a wide array of media services including television production, publishing and photography. It is also home to 4 million images of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and over 8000 hours of unique and historic video footage. The Camerapix Archive is the largest visual resource of its kind in Africa. Camerapix's sister company, Camerapix Publishers International, produces a series of award winning travel guides, coffee table books, and glossy in-flight magazines.
In 1998, The Mohamed Amin Foundation was launched to provide would-be African journalists with the tools and knowledge to tell local stories to an international audience. In 2004 Pete Murimi of Kenya was the first graduate of the “MoForce” to win the prestigious CNN African Journalist of the Year Award, a shining example of the quality of training provided at the Foundation.
As Executive Producer and Presenter, Salim finished a documentary chronicling his father’s life in March 2006 entitled “MO & ME” which has to date won 20 Awards for Best Documentary in the United States, Canada, India and on the African Continent, including the Grand Jury Award at the New York International Film Festival. The documentary achieved a successful theatrical release in Kenya and was screened at the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), as well as the Cannes Film Festival in2007.
In December 2005, Salim began work on the launch of the first 24-hour pan-African News and Current Affairs Channel. Africa24 Media, a precursor to the Channel and Africa’s first online Agency for video and stills content, launched in September 2008 (www.a24media.com). In January 2007 Salim was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is a Fellow of the African Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In 2010 Salim was one of only 150 people around the world invited by President Obama to the Presidential Entrepreneurship Summit in Washington, DC.
In December 2012, Salim was named as one of the “100 Most Influential Africans” by New African Magazine and the same magazine named him in their “top 50 Under 50” Africans in their May 2013 issue. In October 2014, Salim launched his weekly Talk Show “The Scoop”, speaking to great African personalities around the Continent, and reaching a global audience of over 200 million people on television and online.
Chip Duncan
Chip Duncan is a filmmaker, author, photographer and President of The Duncan Group, Inc., a documentary production company formed in 1984.
Duncan and his team recently completed the three-part public television series The Reagan Presidency (broadcast internationally in 2013). Interviews include Condoleezza Rice, Douglas Brinkley, Oscar Arias, Sandra Day O’Connor, Walter Mondale, George Shultz, Paul Volcker, Henry Cisneros, Robert Reich, Reza Aslan, Richard Reeves, Trita Parsi and Andrew Young... among others.
During May, 2012 Duncan documented health care conditions in the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma for Relief International. Later in 2012, Duncan documented several carbon-reducing development programs for Relief International in Ghana. During two trips to Afghanistan since the U.S. led invasion, Duncan has documented various parts of Afghanistan including the Bamyan and Panjshir provinces. During 2005, he drove more than 1800 kilometers of the Afghan countryside documenting the efforts of Save The Children. Duncan documented relief efforts in Darfur, Sudan during 2008 and he was part of the first response to the Haitian earthquake during 2010.
Duncan's photographic images appear in the book Enough To Go Around – Searching for Hope in Afghanistan, Pakistan & Darfur (Select Books, NYC, 2009). A photographic exhibition of Duncan's images from Afghanistan premiered during August, 2011 at the World Peace Festival in Berlin, Germany. A second photographic exhibition featuring images from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Darfur, Sudan premiered during September at the O Street Museum in Washington D.C.
Duncan has filmed in more than forty countries. His documentary television specials and series have won more than 125 national and international awards. Broadcast networks include PBS, HBO, Discovery, TLC, Showtime, Lifetime and Sundance Channel... among others.
Current projects include a short documentary called The Sound Man featuring Kenyan audio journalist Abdul Ramadhan. The Duncan Group recently completed a 4-part series for Discovery Education called How to Study Culture and the team is currently working on a 6-part educational series based on significant historical events from the 1980s. Duncan is currently developing a feature film based on the life of acclaimed African photojournalist Mohamed Amin. His new book, Food, Water, Shelter will be released in 2014.