Hi All,
Eugene Hedlund asked me to make this post in his absence. My name is Bryan Choate and I am the Strategic Political Media Consultant for TruthandHope.Org and had the privilege of serving the TruthandHope.Org and Lee Hirch's Local Voices For Obama Campaign that won Best Presidential Advertisement of 2008 from Politics Magazine Reed Awards.
Lee's great work has been acknowledged once again as his documentary, Amandla! a revolution in four part harmony, has been highlighted to celebrate the beginning of Black History Month on YouTube. Lee asked that we share this personal letter with you all:
Dear friends of Truth and Hope and Local Voices for Obama,
On this the first day of Black History Month, I woke to a wonderful
surprise - my first film, Amandla! a revolution in four part harmony,
which celebrates the role of song in South Africa's victorious
struggle for freedom is the #2 featured video on the home page of
Youtube! How cool!
I had the honor and privilege to be in South Africa for their historic
vote and transition from apartheid, and throughout the past few weeks,
I have revisited those wonderful memories as we here have celebrated
the election and inauguration of President Obama. That combined sense
of hope and possibility is nothing short of extraordinary and couldn't
be more needed here in the United States.
If you have a minute, please visit the link below on Youtube and check
out the film - and if you can, please help get the word out, rate it -
digg it and share it!
The film features the greats of South African music - Miriam Makeba,
Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim as well as joyous footage of
Nelson Mandela singing and dancing, but more than that it tells the
story of how powerful our voices can be. No matter how sophisticated
we become, technology is only as good as the energy we can create in
our movements and the act of singing in a collective is a really
powerful way to achieve that.
I began the project when I was 19 and it took over 10 years for my
producer Sherry Simpson and I to complete. The film went on to win the
Audience Award and the Freedom of Expression award at Sundance as well
as an Emmy!
Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/...
To read about the film:
http://www.leehirsch.net/...
Lastly, thanks to everyone for your support in making Local Voices for
Obama a great success and thank you for all that you do!
Best,
Lee Hirsch