BIO
Ben Herson is the founder and director of Nomadic Wax – a global hip-hop record label and production company dedicated to record, documenting and presenting hip-hop and underground music from arounf the world. Herson is also an internationally celebrated producer and musician. He has released over a dozen globally acclaimed albums and recorded/produced numerous singles on compilations world wide. Herson has also played the drums and percussion for reggae legends Yabby U, Sugar Minott, and Glen Brown among others. While studying West African drumming in Senegal, Herson discovered a vibrant hip-hop scene in Dakar, Senegal. Enthralled by the political and social message of the groups’ lyrics, Herson began producing for Senegal’s top MCs c-founding and spearheading the critically acclaimed African Underground series of African Hip-Hop. In 2004, Herson also co-founded the Trinity International Hip-Hop festival, the first free international hip-hop festival in the United States. In 2007, building upon his work in Senegal, Herson developed a seven-part documentary series on youth, hip-hop, and politics in West Africa titled “African Underground: Democracy in Dakar.” The documentary was co-produced with Sol Productions and has been screened at colleges, universities, and film festivals across the United States.
BIO
Magee was born in Canada and grew up between East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia) and Washington DC. Attending high school in DC, Magee won a grant to film his a political documentary on the tiny kingdom of Swaziland in Southern Africa. Successfully interviewing not only the head of the opposition parties in this small but politically fragile country, but also the King himself, later voted as among multiple publications as one of the top 20 worst dictators in the world, who has become increasingly controversial. This film was Magee's first and it set him on a path of political and cultural exploration throughout the world with film as his medium. Since then, Magee has increasingly focused his work on international politics and the use of music, particularly hip hop music, as a political tool. In college he produced a documentary entitled 'Getting' A Bad Rap: Conversations about hip hop from NYC to CT' and his senior thesis film entitled "Nyama: the Modern Manifestation of Griot Culture and Tradition in the US Through Hip Hop,' a film exploring the links of west African griot culture to modern American hip hop as we know it. In the past year, Magee co-founded Sol Productions, a non profit film production company, and, together with his two other film partners, has filmed the Presidential Elections in Venezuela, Senegal, and France. He also co-founded, together with Nomadic Wax and Trinity College, the first ever International Hip Hop Festival and Conference of its size in the US, and is currently working on a film about this groundbreaking event. Today, Magee is busy working on three political documentaries: one on President Hugo Chavez's recent re-election in Venezuela, one on hip hop's role in the recent and highly controversial Senegalese presidential elections, and one on African immigrants during the recent French presidential elections.
This will be a link
magee-at-sol-productions.org
BIO
Chris Moore grew up in the tiny ski town of Holderness, NH. A semester in rural Argentina during his junior year of high school opened his eyes to the world. Fluent in Spanish, a Phi Beta Kappa student with a degree in Hispanic Studies, Chris co-founded Sol Productions, a non profit film production company with three fellow students. Since then, Chris has co-directed and co-produced three feature documentaries on three different continents. His first feature was '¿Puedo Hablar? May I Speak?' A groundbreaking documentary on the hardcore politics of oil-rich Venezuela and its charismatic and controversial president Hugo Chavez, this film has toured almost every university in the US and even Europe. Chris lectures on democracy and conflict resolution, and the role filmmaking can play in both of those areas. 'Democracy in Dakar' and the soon to be release 'Democracy in Paris' are other projects of his that focus on democracy, governance, and citizenship, all through the lens of hip hop. Currently, Chris continues to tour the world with '¿Puedo Hablar? May I Speak?' but he also has begun work on a fourth film that will take him to Cambodia.
chris-at-sol-productions.org
