The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, January 29, 2010 -
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, January 29, 2010 -
'U' alum standing strong at Sundance
Remembering
"Jew ish'Vo ice s'
Sultan Sharrief shares his
low-budget Detroit tale with
the cinephiles at Sundance
By EMILY BOUDREAU
Daily Arts Writer
"Bilal's Stand" features neither big name
celebrities nor the special effects of "Avatar."
What it does have, according to writer and
director Sultan Sharrief
(who is also director and "Birla's Stand"
creator of the EFEX Proj-
ect at the University), is At the
honesty. Michigan,
"The actors aren't pro- Sundayat 6p.m.
fessionals," Sharrief said. Tickets from $12
"They're just kind of play-
ing themselves. ... The film
is not perfect, but it has perfect imperfections."
It's the film's earnestness and fresh per-
spective that qualified it for the Sundance
Film Festival as part of the NEXT category, a
set of low-budget films the Sundance website
describes as "proudly modest."
The film tells the story of Bilal, a teenager
from Detroit who balances working at his fam-
ily's taxi stand with his dream of going to col-
lege. What makes "Bilal's Stand" so resonant is
that it's firmly based in reality.
As part of the EFEX Project (Encouraging
the Filmmaking Experience), one of the film's
goals was to provide students in the Detroit
area with "a real experience," Sharrief said.
"EFEX made (the story) real. High school
students are brutal. They'll tell you if some-
thing's stupid and you'll take it out and rewrite
it. It definitely made the story realistic because
of that element," he added.
In addition to promoting grounded real-
ism, "Bilal's Stand" seeks to provoke dialogue
on controversial topics such as affirmative
action.
"I went to the University of Michigan in the
fall of 2001, which was during the whole affir-
mative action period," Sharrief said. "There
were lots of people protesting on the Diag and
stuff. People would say 'Oh, (getting in) was
easy for you because you're black.' They really
just didn't understand how hard it was to get
to this point. I think the film makes it all more
accessible for non-blacks. It's a story that's
very human, so everybody can relate."
Through "Bilal's Stand," Sharrief hopes to
illuminate the Muslim experience in Detroit,
make it less foreign and bring people together
rather than divide them on issues of belief.
In addition to tackling religious tensions and
racial issues, Sharrief's film is also relevant in
light of today's economic uncertainty.
"It's a timely story," he said, "It's about
going to college and having financial prob-
lems. College enrollment was down this year
because of the bad economy. It's also about
education - there's about like an 80 percent
drop-out rate now."
Sharriefsees his movie as a chanceto change
these problems. He hoped to use Detroit as the
setting for a more touching and inspiringstory
that would uplift the city's image.
"It's a way to give back," he said. "There
tends to be a pattern in areas like Detroit
where the creative people leave. That's not the
way I wanted to do things. They're filming a
lot of things in Detroit now. Post-apocalyptic
movies like 'Red Dawn' that use the bad part
of the city."
Overall, Sharrief feels that Sundance has
provided him with an amazing opportunity to
get his message out.
"It's been crazy. It's an emotional maze," he
said. "Most of the time you don't even know
what you're feeling. I'm just amazed to be
here, like, the other day, I met Robert Redford.
At the same time, it's a competition and you're
here to sell your movie so you always have to
be working in the back of your mind."
But getting to this point wasn't easy.
"The hardest thing was the lack of resourc-
es," Sharrief said. "We found ways around it,
but at the same time, it's hard when your artis-
tic vision can't be realized all the time. You
don't want to compromise it but you have to.
There was one scene, we had to use unpaid
extras, and because they were unpaid, it was
hard to get people to show up. We had to
reshoot because there wasn't enough people."
In the end, though, Sharrief feels that he
took alot away from the whole process.
"You have to keep moving forward and
know that you will make mistakes," he said.
"There's this Thomas Edison quote that says,
'I am not discouraged because every wrong
attempt discarded is another step forward.' I
think that sums it all up the best."
"Bilal's Stand" will be playing at the Michi-
gan Theater Sunday at 6 p.m. Sharrief will be
Skyping in live from Sundance for a question
and answer session after the movie.
By SHARON JACOBS
AssistantArts Editor
At a glance, it may seem like
the gravity of the Holocaust has
been diluted
by the ubiq- V o
uity of a hand-t
ful of works Holocaust"
in the main- Saturday
stream media. aturday
Curricula at 8p.m.
everywhere UMMA-he
now include Apse Roan
Elie Wiesel's Free
"Night" as
required reading; box-office smash
"Schindler's List" won seven
Oscars in 1993, and "Valkyrie,"
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
and "Defiance" were all recently
released; and the band Neutral
Milk Hotel even fixated on the
story of Anne Frank for its album
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. All
the attention given to these few
accounts of the atrocity can soften
its impact.
Caroline Helton, clinical assis-
tantprofessorofmusic inthe School
of Music, Theatre & Dance, wants
to look past the mainstream explo-
rations and explore the more per-
sonal, intimate music that came out
of the Holocaust era. Her program,
"Voices of the Holocaust," will take
place this Saturday, free of charge,
in the Apse Room at the Univer-
sity of Michigan Museum of Art at
8p.m. She will be accompanied on
the piano by Kathryn Goodson, a
collaborative pianist and teacher.
All of the music on Helton's
program was composed by Jews
whose lives were affected by the
Holocaust. None of the music has
been digitally recorded before and
scores were difficult to find, Hel-
ton said in an interview with The
Michigan Daily.
Helton said that when the Nazis
came to power in Germany, "there
was an active effort to destroy
books and music and art that were
created by Jews."
"So that's where so many of the
pieces (by Jewish composers) got
lost - they were simply destroyed.
And the archives are still in a mess
in Germany," she added. "We don't
know what was created there
oftentimes."
After sifting through historical
and musical records, Helton has
crafted a program that features the
rare works of three European Jew-
ish composers: Robert Kahn, Erich
Korngold and Darius Milhaud.
Born in Mannheim, Germany,
Kahn was a famous and prolific
composer, conductor and pianist
before the rise of Adolf Hitler.
His lyrical, conservative style was
heavily influenced by the Romantic
great Johannes Brahms, a friend of
Kahn's.
But in 1933, his reputation was
compromised when laws were
enacted prohibiting Jews from
performing in public or publishing
their works. Kahn escaped Germa-
ny in the late '30s and fled to Eng-
land, where he "lived in obscurity
(and) relative poverty," according
to Helton.
Korngold is "the pioneer of what
we think of as movie music," Hel-
ton continued. A musical prodigy
whose first opera was published
when he was 11, Korngold left his
native country of Austria to com-
pose the score for the Warner Bros.
movie "The Adventures of Robin
Hood."
That was in 1938, six weeks
before the Anschluss - the annex-
ation of Austria by Nazi Germany.
Therestofhis familyleftonthe last
train to Switzerland. The Korngold
works that Helton will be perform-
ing premiered at the last public
concert he held in Austria.
Ending the first half of "Voices"
is a song cycle focused on Jewish
identity. Called "Poemes Juifs," the
music was written by celebrated
avant-garde French composer Mil-
haud. The lyrics, however, can be
traced back to a set of anonymous
Hebrew texts describing the Jew-
ish experience in Europe.
The poems present "a story of
how to deal with life as a Jew in
persecuted times," Helton said.
The poems express yearning for
a world where Jews would "be able
to work the land and breathe fresh
air and live where (they) want to
live ... so those themes pervade the
'Poemes Juifs,' the five songs by
Milhaud," she added.
Milhaud's song cycle was writ-
ten in the early 1900s, document-
ing a pre-Holocaust era of Jewish
persecution.
In the first half of the con-
cert, only the Milhaud songs deal
directly with Jewish identity. The
more identity-focused second half
is comprised of a series of pieces
by Professor of Composition Paul
Schoenfield, from the School of
Music, Theatre & Dance, called
"Ghetto Songs."
Schoenfield, who speaks fluent
Hebrew and has dual citizenship in
the US. and Israel, infuses hiwork
with an eastern European Jewish
folk music style called "klezmer."
"('Ghetto Songs' is) taking
klezmer, which is normally for
joyous occasions, and expressing
horror with this sound and (these)
rhythms," Helton explained.
"The voice is like the door you go
through to get to the experience."
Finding identity
in lost songs.
"Ghetto Songs" sets to music six
poems by the Polish writer Morde-
chai Gebirtig. When the Holocaust
began, Gebirtig was interred in the
Krakow ghetto with the rest of the
city's Jews. He was murdered by
the Nazis two years later. The six
poems were written between 1939
and 1942,and they dealwith themes
offamily, God and oppression.
Alternately mournful and frenet-
ic, Schoenfield's collection captures
the feelings of panic, misery and
uncertainty that pervaded eastern
Europe at this time. He said that
as the composer in such a work, he
feels "like a reporter who has to do
a story" on the chaos and anguish of
the Holocaust.
On "Ghetto Songs," Helton's
soprano will be joined by bass-
baritone Stephen West, professor of
voice in the School of Music, The-
atre & Dance, and accompanied by
University-affiliated musicians on
the clarinet, violin, double-bass and
cello.
Linking all the pieces on the
"Voices" program is an attempt to
draw out individual personalities
rather than the collective voice of
European Jewry in time of perse-
cution.
"The reason I call it 'Voices of
the Holocaust' is that there were
so many (Jewish) voices present
musically in Europe before the
Holocaust," Helton explained.
"They were assimilated into
society, but what happened with
the Nazi regime and with the
Holocaust is that all Jews were
lumped into one ... all these indi-
vidual voices were lumped into
one mass identity, she added.
"This is in essence an effort to get
to know some of the individual
voices musically that were pretty
much silenced by the Nazis."
The "Voices" program has a
deep connection to its source
material, bringing to light the lost
works ofcomposers who were each
uniquely affected by the Holo-
caust. By highlighting individual
artists whose lives were affected
by the Holocaust, "Voices" draws
us away from racial or ethnic
groupings.
"We are so lucky here in the
University to be able to get to
know artists, composers, poets,
to hear their words as individu-
als," said Helton. "So I guess
('Voices of the Holocaust' is) just
another way to remind us not to
lump people into faceless groups,
not to dehumanize."
Bilal attempts to balance work with his college career.
'Caprica' isn't a galactic success just yet
By NICK YRIBAR carefully crafted, computer-gen-
For the Daily erated graphics can be. But trouble
is brewing beneath the austere
Sci-fi nerds rejoice. "Battle- surface - a terrorist attack per-
star Galactica" has returned. petrated by those pesky monothe-
It's been nearly 10, tortuous, ists leaves the two central families
robot-free months since the re- mired in tragedy and sets off a
imagined series spiral of events that may lead to
finally reached Caprica's ruin.
its conclusion, **You'll notice the absence of the
and there has- words "spaceship" or "pan-galac-
been painfully "'" tic struggle" in the above synop-
little to fill the Fridaysat sis. There's good reason for that.
void. "Heroes" 9P.M "Caprica" seems to be attempting
has sucked, and Syfy to take the "sci" out of "sci-fi,"
nobody watches or at least to turn the traditional
"Doctor Who," science-fiction elements down to
so what is a geek to do? For almost a dull roar. The first 15 minutes of
a year, desperate, confused "BSG" "Caprica" are more like a coming-
fans have been roaming the of-age drama than "Star Trek," as
streets in a daze, muttering "so teenagers argue with their par-
say we all" to anyone who will ents and find futuristic ways to
listen, making spaceship engine rebel. Thankfully, the angst gives
sounds and accusing their loved way (mostly) to the more interest-
ones of sympathizing with the ing tension between the majority
Cylon menace. polytheists and the new, cultish,
But what's this? Is there rea- "One True God" movement. But
son for hope? "Caprica," the new even here, there's not a starfight-
series from Syfy, is based in the er to be found. Perhaps the new
same fictional universe as "BSG," focus in "Caprica" on the human
so the problem should be solved. drama behind the "BSG" world
Fans should feel the welcome will attract more varied viewers
embrace of the familiar - that than its predecessor. Whether
special, tingly sensation that this direction will alienate the
comes with hearing the name faithful is yet to be seen.
"Adama." But something doesn't What we're left with, then, is a
seem right. Where are the space- sci-fi show with little to no sci-fi,
ships? The space-insubordina- set in a far-off world amid cul-
tion? The space-intrigue? What in tural and religious conflict, and
the frak is going on here? surrounded by a strange amount
Set 58 years before the events of wealth and beauty that seems
of "BSG," "Caprica" takes place on to be on the verge of something.
a planet of the same name and is So how does it all stack up?
focused on the patriarchs of two The answer is a firm "me."
families (the Graystones and the The acting alternates between
Adamas). Caprica is a meticulously over the top and stilted -
kept metropolis where everything with the exception of the
is beautiful in the way that only nuanced performance by Esai
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Morales ("Fast Food Nation"), us to buy "Caprica" as something
playing Joseph Adama - and approaching reality, or at least
the heavy focus on the teenag- something that can see reality off
ers in the pilot only accentuates in the distance, then the dialogue
the problem. While the big ideas needs to sound like it wasn't writ-
behind the series are intriguing ten by hack Cylons.
(artificial intelligence, human- However, the seeds have been
ity spread across multiple plan- sown for some exciting prospects
in "Caprica." Despite the acting
and ridiculous dialogue, the ideas
Aless sc ji are too big to dismiss completely.
Time will tell if "Caprica" will
prequel t 'BSG.' gain the following that "BSG"
toenjoyed - that special kind of
fandom that is reserved for sci-
ence fiction and fantasy. Even
ets in a solar system, etc.), the if it doesn't, it's possible that
writing is borderline atrocious. "Caprica" might just be able to
This has always been the case in carve out a niche of its own with
the world of "BSG," but we for- a new kind of genre that walks
gave it because the series is, after the line between science fiction
all, a space opera. These people and traditional drama, taking the
are fighting robots in space, so best tricks from both. If it works,
why should they talk like actual it works. It may not be "BSG," but
human beings? But if Svfv wants who gives a frak?
"Shut up! I'm watching the 'Lost' season six premiere."
Think you know where to
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