tchaiko

Proctor & Gamble celebrates Black Women in Hollywood featuring Yvonne Orji
Director/Producer - Tchaiko Omawale
Producer - Nerenda Eid
Cinematography - Bruce Francis Cole
Wardrobe - Tiffany Maxwell
Make-up/Hair- Jazzmene Ellison

This spot is not just about a party, it’s about a lifestyle…about moments where everything was more than just right.  It started with a group of my friends whose style ranged from contemporary unique to the eclectic to the nonchalant-I-don’t- care…They were who they were and they attracted more of that.  It was a night for a diverse and international collection of people who came for the music, the vibe and to find more of their favorite things.

This video was all about playing with Yahzarah’s wonderful performance skills. I set up the story of a woman who can’t let go of her past lover who has died.  I was inspired by the obsessive love I read about in Maryse Conde’s (she was one of my favorite professors) story Windward Heights.  I’m often interested in the lengths we go to as humans because we are unable to ‘let go’.  The alter was created by theproduction designer’s personal paintings and objects. 

This video is a story about a woman recalling the memories of her love that we find out has been killed by gunfire. The story was inspired by the death of both my brother and the artist Amatus’ brother both killed by guns.  We wanted the video to feel like memories, shots of moments that come non-linearly.  We wanted to show love and intimacy without being explicit to respect the artist’s Islamic background.

The theme of this music video which was conceived more like a short film was findng serenity. The collection of images evokes this thing we all look for through drugs, music, dance, sex, and religion. I tried to evoke these various feelings of ecstasy, of being high and breaking down any barriers or differences between our search for this high whether its in acceptable form like religion and music or something more taboo like sex and drugs.

www.solacefilm.com 

The short grew out of a feature I wrote at the Gaea Artist for Change Residency.  The feature script was a semi-finalist at Sundance Writers Lab. I am rewriting in preparation for the Kickstarter Campaign for the feature film. SUPER EXCITED!

 I wanted to tell a story about cutting.  It was something I flirted with in high school after moving to the United States when we were evacuated from Yemen. That time I lost my best friend to appendicitis and was navigating a lot of feelings of being the outsider looking in.  My desire to cut was something I kept a secret then later discovered it was not unique to me.  So I needed to tell this story and later on I added the eating disorder as the manifestations of this for me was another form of self-harm.  The short explores these two very secret diseases that affect several young women.

The film was born out of the dream to connect young people globally, starting with my immediate community in New York.  Interestingly enough, the process of making this film became equally as important as the film’s message – my subjects learned about documentary filmmaking as well as conducting peer education workshops with other youth on both national and international levels. They eventually transitioned from being traditional HIV/AIDS peer educators who handed out condoms and spoke of safe sex to media peer educators who used their stories and their understanding of social and economic injustices to educate and empower their peers. I knew I would learn a lot about filmmaking but I was surprised at how much more I learned from the youth involved about humanity, myself and my role as a filmmaker. 

The beginnings of Sita came from more than just an idea about a fairy that falls in love with a human in an apocalyptic world.  It was a therapeutic necessity for me. While making my documentary about youth and HIV I fell into despair.  I was losing hope as I learned about the orphan situation in Africa, and the conservative sexual politics in the US.  Youth were at risk for a deathly disease that they mostly got through the normal explorations of adolescent sexuality and development.  I felt powerless and hopeless and I needed a break…a release.  I wanted to make a film that was as raw as I felt.  I needed to lose control and experiment with all my interests, shadows, and personal demons.  So, Sita became a story that was inspired by the HIV epidemic, my own personal heartbreak, fantasy authors such as Octavia Butler, and fearless filmmakers such as David Lynch, Derek Jarmon and other experimental filmmakers.

A short story about a woman whose visit to her neighbors turns her into one of them.  I made this when Vimeo had a 3 day film challenge to make a film based on a picture. The picture was of a chest and at the time I had been talking to a friend Ogechi about how strange dolls were, and how eerie they could be and we both came up with the story about a woman who finds herself in a chest with other dolls and remembers how she got there.  Making it I was definitely inspired by David Lynch, particular Twin Peaks, as was my short film Sita.  

starring my muse numa perrier - directed and shot by me - inspired by meshell ndegeocello's iphone 8mm music video for 'black is the color of my true love's hair'