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UDC students work on documentary about slave prince

BY GEANETT GIRON

TV Production major Tangi White (center) at work on the set of   "Prince Among Slaves" last summer.

Five UDC TV production majors were among those who worked on a film called "Prince Among Slaves" for seven days in spring 2005. The movie is about Abdul Rahman, a prince from Africa who is taken into slavery.

The students have all taken classes with TV production professor Raki Jones. They were Daniel Ephrem, Taz White, Melissa Navarrez, David Gaston and Jamaine Ali.

Jones, who has been teaching at the university for 26 years, is a producer with Spark Media, the company behind the film. He said he chose the five students because of their "academic achievements, enthusiasm and initiative."

Ephrem, a sophomore, played an extra in the film. "It was a hands on experience. I learned how a real production company works in terms of actors, crew and schedule. I learned that everything has to align if not one thing can bring a film down," he said. During the production, Ephrem, along with the other four students, got a chance to meet many people among them president and executive producer of Spark Media, Andrea Kalin and actor, director and producer Bill Duke.

"Prince Among Slaves" is not the first film Jones has worked on with his company. He also worked as a consulting producer on "The Pact," a film about three African-American men from Newark, New Jersey who become doctors after overcoming obstacles.

"Prince Among Slaves" is based on a book written in 1977 by Terry Alford. It focuses on Rahman, a prince from Gambia, West Africa, who was taken from his home by a group of British slave traders to Natchez, Miss. to work on a tobacco plantation. This film is set to be aired in fall 2006 nationwide through Public Broadcasting System.

For information visit www.sparkmedia.org/current_projects.htm

 

 

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