BYOD: Bring Your Own Doc
Episode 254C
Maya Angelou’s Life, Poetry and Politics Celebrated in New Documentary: MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE
MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE is the first documentary covering the life, poetry and politics of Dr. Maya Angelou. Co-directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack share a clip from the film and discuss working with and interviewing Dr. Angelou. Hercules and Coburn also detail how Dr. Angelou rose through adversity to become an empowering voice for women, artists and African Americans in this Sundance edition of BYOD hosted by Ondi Timoner.
Episode Breakdown
00:01 Welcoming Bob Hercules, Rita Coburn Whack to BYOD.
00:41 Getting the film off the ground.
02:15 Opening the film and title.
05:40 Alfre Woodard and interviewing Maya Angelou.
07:34 African American culture, family and abandonment.
12:36 The end of Maya’s life and Maya’s input in the film.
14:12 Archival footage and interviews.
15:38 MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE, Clip: Miss Calypso.
17:15 MLK and Malcom X.
18:10 Thank you and goodbye.
Guest Bio
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise is the first documentary about Dr. Maya Angelou.The documentary reflects on how the events of history, culture, and the arts shaped Dr. Angelou’s life and how she, in turn, helped shape our own worldview through her autobiographical literature and activism.
Bob Hercules’s recent films include Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance and Bill T. Jones: A Good Man. The former aired on PBS’s American Masters in 2012 and premiered at the 2012 Dance on Camera festival at Lincoln Center.A Good Man aired on American Masters in 2011 and played at many film festivals. Hercules also directed the acclaimed Forgiving Dr.Mengele in 2005.
Rita Coburn Whack, the director of RCW Media Productions, Inc., is an Emmy Award–winning television documentarian for Curators of Culture, Remembering 47th Street and African Roots American Soil. Under her direction, Maya Angelou’s radio show for Oprah Radio was awarded the Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award and the Silver World Medal Award at the Radio New York Festival in 2009.
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