This press release just came in — JS
FILMMAKERS CHART THE RISE OF CUBAN HIP-HOP UNDER CASTRO
CHARLESTON, SC – The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston presents Thomas Nybo and Simon Umlauf as part of the Southern Arts Federation’s Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers at the Simons Center for the Arts, Room 309 on Friday, March 7, 2008 at 8 p.m. Following a screening of their film, Guerrilla Radio: The Hip-Hop Struggle Under Castro, Nybo and Umlauf will engage the audience in a discussion about the film and their work as filmmakers. The event is free and open to the public.
Directors Thomas Nybo and Simon Umlauf met while working at CNN. Nybo was an embedded war correspondent for CNN during the current war in Iraq. He has worked for CNN, United Nations and PBS Frontline/World reporting humanitarian stories, which include September 11th from Ground Zero, AIDS orphans, and child trafficking in Romania. He has reported from over 40 countries including Sudan, Lebanon, Congo and Yemen and was one of the first CNN journalists to report, shoot, and edit his own stories using lightweight digital video cameras and laptop editing systems.
Simon Umlauf began his career as an intern at CNN and worked his way up to a prime-time entertainment producer slot for CNN Headline News. He also produced the monthly web column Hit Play for CNN.com, which focused on emerging artists and contemporary music trends. Umlauf has interviewed numerous musical acts including Usher, Outkast, Pharrell, Kanye West, Cee-Lo Green, and Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. He is currently working as a producer with the Mountain View Group.
In Guerrilla Radio, Nybo’s international experience and ability to document socially and politically charged stories merges with Umlauf’s extensive knowledge of the hip-hop culture and entertainment industry. Examining the lives of three impoverished Cuban artists and one Cuban-American artist, Nybo and Umlauf explore how the anti-authoritarian nature of hip-hop plays out in the oppressive world of Castro’s Cuba.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional art organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975. Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. For more information about the Southern Arts Federation and its programs visit www.southarts.org.
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is located in the Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip St., between Calhoun and George Streets. Parking is available in the St. Philip St. garage, north of Calhoun St. For more information, please contact the Halsey Institute at (843) 953-5680 or visit www.halsey.cofc.edu.
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