Ephraim Asili is an American filmmaker.

Biography

Asili grew up in Roslyn, Pennsylvania. He became involved with

MOVE Move or The Move may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Move (company), an American online real estate company * Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer * Daihatsu Move, a Japanese car * PlayStation Move, a motion ...

and took interest in filmmaking after the production of a 2004 documentary about the organization. He studied film at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

and attended

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

for his graduate studies. Asili's 2009 film ''Points on a Space Age'' is a documentary about

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

and

the Sun Ra Arkestra The Sun Ra Arkestra is an American jazz group formed in the mid-1950s and led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra until his death in 1993. The group is considered a pioneer of afrofuturism. Since 1995 the Arkestra has been led by saxophonist Marsh ...

. Asili made the five-part film series ''The Diaspora Suite'' exploring different aspects of the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

, both within the U.S. and internationally. ''Forged Ways'' (2011) includes footage shot in Ethiopia, along with scenes set in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

following a protagonist played by Julian Rozzell Jr. Rozzell reappears in ''American Hunger'' (2013), which features footage from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and Ocean City in the U.S. and

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

and

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

in Ghana. ''Many Thousands Gone'' (2014), named after an essay by

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

, was filmed in Harlem and

Salvador, Brazil Salvador () is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine, music, and arch ...

, with an improvised jazz score by Joe McPhee. ''Kindah'' (2016), filmed in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. On the east side of the Hudson River, f ...

and

Accompong Accompong (from the Asante name '' Acheampong'') is a historical Maroon village located in the hills of St. Elizabeth Parish on the island of Jamaica. It is located in Cockpit Country, where Jamaican Maroons and Indigenous Taíno established a ...

, Jamaica, features a score by Asili of percussion and wind instruments. The final film ''Fluid Frontiers'' (2017) was shot on both sides of the

Detroit River The Detroit River is an List of international river borders, international river in North America. The river, which forms part of the border between the U.S. state of Michigan and the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ont ...

, in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

. Asili includes recitations of poetry published by

Broadside Press Broadside Lotus Press is an independent press created from the merger of two Detroit-based publishers Broadside Press, founded by Dudley Randall in 1965; and Naomi Long Madgett's Lotus Press, founded in 1972. At the time of the merger they wer ...

, a Detroit-based independent press. Asili directed the 2020 narrative feature film ''The Inheritance'', which stars Eric Lockley as a young man who inherits a house and uses it to start a collective. The film's plot and highly stylized set design were inspired by

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

's '' La Chinoise''. It was shot on

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

and includes archival footage of political speeches. The interior scenes were shot at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

, and exteriors were filmed in West Philadelphia. The film includes discussions of the history of MOVE, including the 1985 police bombing of MOVE. Asili was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Asili, Ephraim American documentary filmmakers American experimental filmmakers Bard College alumni Living people Temple University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)