On
a recent trip to Senegal, filmmaker Danny Boyd purchased a batik
wallhanging for $30. The colorful work of art, which features
an imposing painted figure, now dominates one wall of his living
room. It symbolizes the purpose of Boyd's trip, which was to study
African oral tradition in the media arts.
"That's the griot, which is my main research area," said Boyd,
an assistant professor of communications at West Virginia State
College. "The griot is the storyteller."
He
explained that the griot once might have been compared to a court
jester, a person both revered and rejected. But in modern times,
the griot has taken on more of a radical persona, rebelling against
tradition to present the African story.
As
a filmmaker who tells stories through the lens of a camera, Boyd
relates to the role of the griot. With that in mind, he has developed
a project to help students both at State and in Africa do the
same.
He has received a grant of nearly $20,000 from the Fulbright Legacy
Fund's Alumni Initiative Awards program to spend three weeks next
summer at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. A Fulbright
scholar in 1998-1999, Boyd taught the university's first filmmaking
and screenwriting classes.
Boyd,
fellow filmmaker Steve Gilliland and a State student will collaborate
with UDSM students on an informational/promotional video for an
aid organization working in Tanzania. A UDSM student or faculty
member will accompany them back to State for post-production work.
The
UDSM students, led by fine and performing arts department chair
Augustin Hatar, will prepare for Boyd's three-week course throughout
the regular academic year. Once the aid organization is chosen,
they will help to research its needs and write the script for
the video. Boyd's summer curriculum will focus on the technical
aspects, such as direction, sound and camera operation.
The
project, called "TeleDRUM," fits in with the African approach
to filmmaking, Boyd said. "It's never just entertainment for entertainment's
sake. There is a message there. There is a protest. They're recognizing
that the filmmaker is probably the strongest agent for change."
Although TeleDRUM is in its beginning stages, Boyd already is
looking for ways to expand the project. A seasoned grant writer
who has landed not only the Fulbright award but also grants from
the National Endowment for the Arts and West Virginia Commission
on the Arts, he plans to seek additional funding.
"I'm
already being too ambitious. I'm thinking, 'Gosh, if we can line
up a few clients, maybe we can extend this a week,'" he said.
"I hope that it's a program that will take off. My dream would
be that we'd have several units there."
Eventually, he wants the UDSM program to be self- sufficient.
"The idea is that they learn how to do it and eventually they
don't need [us]."
The
UDSM program is the latest in a series of international collaborations
Boyd has developed throughout his more than 15-year tenure at
State. Others include the All Russian State Institute of Cinema,
the Czech Republic's Film Academy of Performing Arts, Venezuela's
Escuela de Cine y Television and the Ministry of Culture's Institute
for the Creative Arts in Belize.
"It
incorporates everything that I love: filmmaking, teaching and
seeing the world - the developing world, which is more interesting
to me," said Boyd, whose credits includes the features "Chillers,"
"Strangest Dreams: Invasion of the
Space Preachers" and "Paradise
Park" as well as documentaries and short narratives.
"I think my niche professionally has always been grass-roots filmmaking."
Publication:
THE CHARLESTON
GAZETTE
Published: 08/15/2001
Page: 1D
Headline: STATE PROF HEADING BACK TO TANZANIA
Byline: MARINA HENDRICKS (flipside@wvgazette.com)
