The Barefoot Artist

Special Preview Screening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

admin — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:41:10 +0000

We are delighted to announce a special preview screening of the new feature-length documentary film The Barefoot Artist at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on June 19th, 2013.

The film, many years in the making, is about the Philadelphia based artist Lily Yeh and is directed by Glenn Holsten and Daniel Traub and edited by Ann Tegnell.

The screening will begin at 7PM in the Van Pelt Auditorium and will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and Lily Yeh.

Hope to see you there!

Very best,
Glenn and Daniel

Want more? Join The Barefoot Artist mailing list:

Please comment & share this with your friends

Rwanda Responds to The Barefoot Artist

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:30:21 +0000

In April 2013, Lily Yeh, editor Ann Tegnell and I (Glenn Holsten) brought the 90-minute rough cut of The Barefoot Artist documentary to Rwanda. The documentary was screened in the community center at the Survivor’s Village in Rugerero. The primary goal of the trip was to screen the rough cut with those community members who had participated in the documentary, to ensure that they were aware of how they and their stories were presented. The screening was a tremendous success, and I am happy to say that we have the blessings of the community to include their stories in The Barefoot Artist. Afterwards, we interviewed some of the community members from Rugerero who worked with Lily and appear in the film. Here are their thoughts about the role they think the documentary can play in the world.

SIMEONE UWIMANA

It’s important to show people because it teaches. There are some people who might have problems like us, and showing the ﬁlm shows people who have such problems, how they overcame problems, how humanitarians came to give support, so that ﬁlm teaches people not to be despairing, but to be encouraged that they can also change to another life.

ALEXIE NYIRANEZA

Personally, I can say Lily is a smart person. Because the way she tried to lead us out of loneliness, it’s another strategic way. The way she would ask us questions but we come to ﬁnd out that she was helping us to forget. She brought the system of drawing, so when we were drawing we started putting our minds in pictures and we started talking and then forgetting.

This ﬁlm can help other people not to be scared of anything—or speaking out their minds, because at ﬁrst, when we started, we were too afraid. When Lily ﬁrst told us to speak, afterwards we go back and scrutinized our words. But after we started speaking out. So this ﬁlm can teach other people who have problems like us not to be scared but to speak out.

EMMERANCE MUKAGATARE

When Lily came, she started asking us many questions, but we were in a lonely life. It was hard for us. Lily even cried also. But then, she continued to be with us, and helped us.

Myself she gave me a goat, and a goat would produce young ones. I sell the male goats, and with the money from the male goats I rent land to cultivate to get food.

Life went on changing. Lily gave me a sewing machine, taught me, I learned sewing. Now I have a sewing machine at home. People bring me work at night, and in the morning I sew clothes, get money, get clothes for my children, shoes, even now my children are wearing.

On watching the ﬁlm, when I saw myself, it reminded me how I was before. I was in a bad life, miserable, surviving in hard conditions.

Before I was lonely, and I could think about myself, how I was cut here [she shows her wound on her neck] how they dug a pit and threw me in it. I always think about that. But when Lily came, and I met other people, we could talk with other people, they gave me advice, they consoled me. The time of thinking about myself is passed. Now I think about other things and I no longer cry. Instead I can even console others.

JEAN BOSCO RUKIRANDE

When the ﬁlm was projected in Rugerero, the people saw themselves. Others saw their friends. So they started remembering where they were, and where they are now. And that made them think to the future. Not to stop there and think of how they were, but even thinking and asking themselves “then, from here, what’s the next step?”

Another thing, it helped them to see that the dreams they dreamt came into reality. Like their drawings they are drawing. Some drew a cow, and now they are drinking milk. They drew airplanes, and they are saying, “Maybe one day, our children will be pilots, will be piloting airplanes.” All those were dreams that can be a reality.

Outside the country, it teaches to people that people who were neglected, people who are not considered, to see that a person, an artist, a simple artist, can come to use simple art, teach people, help people, using art. And the people stand up. With conﬁdence, with boldness. And start working through art. And they develop themselves, lead their selves out of the past. Out of the bad history. And they continue to develop themselves and think of the future. That’s a very big thing. It challenges others that they can use that art to help other people.

Want more? Join The Barefoot Artist mailing list:

Please comment & share this with your friends

Blessings From Rwanda

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:33:16 +0000

Co-director Glenn Holsten and Editor Ann Tegnell just spent a week with Lily Yeh in Rwanda sharing a rough cut of The Barefoot Artist movie with the Rugerero community.

Here’s a message from Glenn about the experience:

It’s been a remarkable week. The room for the screening was noisy, hot, and chaotic beforehand. People showing up an hour early, while we were doing our best to merge our technologies.

The connections between my computer and Jean Bosco’s borrowed projector and the giant Rugerero concert speaker were quite delicate, but it worked in the end.

We showed the excerpts from The Barefoot Artist that featured the Rwanda story, and the community LOVED seeing their faces, their friends, and their neighbors, projected big on a wall. It was really great.

Afterwards they wanted to see all of The Barefoot Artist film, and loved seeing the archival photos of Lily and her family. They cheered when Daniel’s face came on screen, remembering him fondly.

Many people came and went throughout the screening, which was held in a local government community building (where meetings and weddings happen). All in all, we estimate about 120 people–all ages, including many kids–showed up.

At the end of the screening, Jean Bosco asked the group for their approval, and there was a giant blessing of the project. Then there was an unusual tradition of rubbing hands to generate power then a giant clap in the direction of the recipients.

I am very happy to have the participants’ blessing to share the film with the world, and I am impressed by their hope that it will be a tool for healing.

Want more? Join The Barefoot Artist mailing list:

Please comment & share this with your friends

Good News and Major Gratitude

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:46:22 +0000

At $62,880 we are delighted to report that we have surpassed our fundraiser goal!

Many, many thanks to the 140 of you who pledged to the USA Artists campaign. This will help us complete The Barefoot Artist documentary. We’d like to thank each and every one of you for your tremendous support.

Manisha Prabhaker

Nelson Wong

Rita Lourie

Christine Zelinsky

Diane Fraher

Ellen Robinson

Katherine Lobo

Eileen Tognini

Patrick Eleey

Linda Weintraub

Julie Rosen

Easterly Wine LLC

Nancy Hoit

Robert Lee

Vasudha Gupta

Shisheng Chow

Ed & Sophie Bronstein

Margaret Hsieh

Patricia Davidson

Eileen Lucas

Melissa Chang

JJ Tiziou

Jennifer Payne

Beatrice & Po Chang

Lulu Liao

Glenn Albrecht

Stella Shen

Carol Mitchell

Carla Tudor Berd

Bo Bartlett

Mary Martin

Dana Marcus

Michael Berman

Tingmei Yu

Danielle Chi

Maryanne Conheim

Jorge Cuesta

Laurie Marshall

Stella Yau

Hazel Symonette

Thomas Callis

Eve Cooper

Hsueh-Chou Lu

Alexander Patico

Melissa Kim

Alisa Field

Peter Kinney

Kanako Iwase

Elaine Wilner

Darin Harris

Marilyn Kiang

Amber Edwards

Jane Warren

Andrea Marks

John Early

Li Yue Design Science

Scott Johnston

Kathryn Weill

Willo & Peter Benoliel

Sarah Martinez-Helfman

Cathi Tillman

Suellen Primost

Robert Wong

Julie Courtney

Andrea Wong

Libby Harwitz

Erica Anderson

Wayne Glowac

Marie-Helene Weill

Peter Kinney

Joy Behr

Laurence Salzmann

Emily Axelrod

Mary Lui Yoder

Lisa Reed Guarnero

Julie Rosen

Janet Goldwater

Dorothy Barton

Barbara Attie

Katharine Seed

Sally Leong

Paul Alfe

Stuart Rome

Chad J. Latham

Lisa Marie Russo

Uta Fellechner

Jane Griffo

SHK Management, Inc.

Curt Clausen

Janece Moment

Rachel Seed

Victoria Trabosh

Bill Bulick

John Suter

Deborah Curtiss

Carol Mitchell

Lawrence Korman

Nancy Gray

Margaret Shapiro

Heidi Warren

Jean Irwin

David Rapoport

Barbara Kalina

Camille Smith

Margaret Sarachan

Harriet Lessy

Caroline Simon

Jeff Ryder

Anne I Davenport

Nancy Doyal

Gail Jacob

Tammy Regimbal

Ellen Reynolds

Sally Hammerman

Andrea Godshalk

Juliet Stone

Jennifer Oladipo

Robert Liao

Amanda Cox

Janis Timm-Bottos

Kenneth Arnold

Mariette Pathy Allen

Constance Lin

Paul Saint-Amour

Bill Moskin

Want more? Join The Barefoot Artist mailing list:

Please comment & share this with your friends

Support the Campaign for The Barefoot Artist film

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:15:17 +0000

We are happy to share the exciting news that our USA Artists campaign to raise the finishing funds for The Barefoot Artist documentary is going strong. We are over three-quarters of the way there! Thanks to the 81 wonderful supporters to date who have become stakeholders in the film. There’s a request for support coming to the rest of you, but first,

To celebrate 15 years of YES! magazine, the editors asked some of their longtime heroes to choose 15 people whose ideas and work are transforming the way we live. Lily Yeh was recommended by author and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams with the following eloquent nomination:

Because she is a builder of communities through art;

Because she understands beauty is not optional, but is a strategy for survival;

Because she takes that which is broken—a piece of tile, a village, a human heart, and listens to what it has to say and then begins the process of engagement;

Because through engagement, she inspires;

Because through inspiration, she acts;

Because through action, transformation occurs;

Because through transformation, vibrant communities are created through loving participation;

Because when Lily Yeh comes to your town, magic occurs;

Because she understands that laughter is as expressive as tears because joy is born out of sorrow;

Because when she sings, children follow her with joy;

Because when the children are happy, the mothers pay attention;

Because when mothers pay attention, the world changes;

Because when I followed Lily Yeh to Rwanda in 2005, my world changed

Because Lily Yeh made me a mother;

Because Lily Yeh creates peace through her wound; the wound of being human;

Because she is empathy in action and that redefines love.

I nominate Lily Yeh as a transformative leader because she is a healing grace on the planet who is fearless. She reminds us not only what is possible but necessary. I submit this nomination, humbly, so grateful to call Lily my friend, my sister.

With deepest bows,
Terry Tempest Williams

We thought you might find this as inspiring as we do. You can be a part of sharing this remarkable story with the world. We still need your help to make our goal by February 14 (which happens to be Valentine’s Day!).

Please visit the USA Artists site and support the film:
usaprojects.org/project/the_barefoot_artist_a_film_by_glenn_holsten_and_daniel_traub

Visit our video page and be inspired by the clips of Lily in action:
barefootartistmovie.com/video

Best wishes and many thanks,
Glenn and Daniel

Want more? Join The Barefoot Artist mailing list:

Please comment & share this with your friends

At $30,000 We Have Passed our Half-way Mark!

admin — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:40:24 +0000

Many, many thanks to the 68 supporters who have helped out already . . . We’re still in need of support, please help spread the word so that we can make our goal by Valentine’s Day.

Here’s hoping that 2013 brings us all together for a screening of The Barefoot Artist!

Please visit our campaign page to support the film today!

We Raised $10,000 in One Week, Thank You!

admin — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:17:16 +0000

In just the first week, over 30 supporters have collectively donated over $10,000 to our Barefoot Artist fundraising campaign! We are filled with gratitude for this huge wave of support.

In the meantime, directors Glenn Holsten and Daniel Traub have been busy continuing to weave the film with editor Ann Tegnell—look out for new clips from The Barefoot Artist on our Facebook page this week!

The support has been incredible but simply put we still need your help to finish the film and now is the time to contribute. Please (please!) share our videos and the campaign page with your friends and networks via email and social media.

Remember, this is a tax deductible donation, perfect for end of year giving. Additionally, When we reach $15,000 out of our $60,000 goal, USA Projects will match the next $3,000 we receive.

Please visit our campaign page to support the film today!

$60,000 USA Projects Fundraiser Challenge

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:06:57 +0000

The Barefoot Artist is in the final phase of editing but we need your support to complete it.

CHG Charitable Trust, The Philadelphia Foundation, New Path Foundation and Compton Foundation have donated significant funds to the production of this project because they know that The Barefoot Artist film has an important message to share. After seven years of filming, it’s time for the final push.

This funding drive will cover the final editing, original music, animation, color correct and sound mix – all the elements that will complete the film. Please consider making a tax deductible contribution through USA Projects. Our campaign runs through February 14, 2013.

Exclusive gifts for our campaign supporters include handmade creations from Rwanda, one-on-one interactions with the filmmakers, and workshops with Lily Yeh herself. Please visit our USA Projects page to see more incentives.

Exclusive Gifts from Rwanda

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:17:01 +0000

When you make a tax deductible donation to support The Barefoot Artist movie, you also will receive unique artworks from Barefoot Artists partners in Rwanda!

For more information check out our campaign page!

Want more? Join The Barefoot Artist mailing list:

Please comment & share this with your friends

Next Steps

admin — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 22:05:58 +0000

Filming is complete, and we are currently in post production. We are incorporating archival footage of Lily’s work in North Philadelphia and Korogocho with new, footage of her efforts in Rwanda, Beijing and India. We are working with Academy Award nominated editor Ann Tegnell, composer Michael Aharon and design team Flux to weave together the various threads of the tapestry.