The making of "Baby of the Family" the movie
Starring Alfre Woodard, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Vanessa Williams, Pam Grier and Ruby Dee. We are still casting... Jonee' Ansa is a graduate and two-year Director of Photography Fellow of The American Film Institute (AFI), the prestigious film conservatory in Los Angeles, California. There, Ansa studied:.... .. Cinematography under Harry Wolfe ("Gone With the Wind" and "The Beverly Hillbillies") and Thomas Denove' ("Star Trek: The Next Generation,".. "A Time to Kill" and.. "The Crystal Eye")
.... .. Directing under Daniel Petrie ("A Raisin in the Sun," "Fort Apache the Bronx," "Cocoon," "Cocoon: The Return" and "Bad Boys") and Dezso Magyar, director of the Center for the Advanced Film and Television Studies at AFI ("Streets of Gold" and "No Secret")
.... .. Screenwriting with Leonardo Bercovici ("The Bishop's Wife" and "Last Moments") and
.... .. Production Design from Robert Boyle, legendary director Alfred Hitchcock's production designer ("Saboteur," "Shadows of Doubt," "North by Northwest," "The Birds" and "In Cold Blood").Ansa also attended workshops conducted by Robert Wise, the film editor for Orson Welles' classic films "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons" and by George Stevens Jr., founding director of The American Film Institute... .. During his time at the conservatory, Ansa was an innovator in working with the Women's Directors Program at AFI. While working with such legendary cinematographers as Vilos Zsigmond and Theo Van de Sante as well as with emerging filmmakers, Ansa created his own person style while honing his craft as director of photography and film editor... ..
.. .. His background in theater includes study at The Julliard School and The New School of Social Research in New York City and Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri and teaching master workshops at Missouri and Arkansas colleges as well as at Clark College in the Atlanta University Center during 1970s. These studies and work led to his acceptance at AFI and to fulfilling his life-long desire shoot and direct feature films.In the early 1990s, Jonee' Ansa scuba dove in black waters off the coast of Georgia and was part of a team that excavated centuries-old sloth fossils and shot a documentary on the excavation for Fernbank Museum in Atlanta. He has also done diving for sunken gold and treasures in waters of f the coast of Florida. (NOTE: See WALKING ON WATER: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century by Randall Kenan, pub. By Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1999).. .. In 1989, on St. Simons Island, Georgia (one of the string of Sea Islands off the coasts of Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida where he lives), Jonee' Ansa and his wife Tina McElroy Ansa were the directors of the Georgia Sea Island Festival. Boasting performances by The Sea Island Singers, The McIntosh County Shouters and the Bacon County Thigh-Slappers, the 27-year-old grass-roots festival seeks to preserve the stories, crafts, music, slave chants, games food and spirit of the African-American people who lived and worked as slaves on the rice and cotton plantations along the Georgia coast and of their descendants who keep this rich culture alive... .. In 1997, Ansa and his wife Tina McElroy Ansa established their own production company, DownSouth Filmworks Inc. on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The company's focus has been short films, commercials, videos and syndicated television programs as well as feature films.DownSouth Filmworks is the production company for the feature film ..Baby of the Family...FILMOGRAPHY:AFI Films - Feature Films
.... .. "The Hunting Game".. (1989).. [Director of Photography, Editor]
.... .. "The Night God Came to El Salado" (1989).. [Director of Photography, Editor]
.... .. "Harmony" (1990).. [Director of Photography, Editor]
.... .. "Lovers" (1990).. [Director of Photography, Editor]
.... .. "Beeper Madness" (1990, starring Dabney Coleman).. [Producer, Director, Director of Photography, Screenwriter, Editor] -Tales from the Crypt
.... .. "Drive By" (1991) [Producer, Director, Director of Photography, Screenwriter, Editor]
.... .. "The Last Days of Hope and Time" (1992) [Cinematographer]Documentaries
.... .. "Readin', 'Ritin' and Ridin'".. (1980, Westinghouse) [Director, Videographer, Editor]
.... .. "Anywhere But Here" (1981, Westinghouse) [Director, Videographer, Editor]
.... .. "Star Rock: Eric Burton" (1991, AFI) [Producer, Director, Director of Photography, Screenwriter, Editor]
.... .. "Pre-Historic Sloth".. (1992, Fernbank Museum) [Producer, Director, Videographer]
.... .. "Pirate's Gold" (1992).. [Co-Producer, Director, Videographer, Screenwriter, Editor]MUSIC VIDEO /.. CONCERT / DVD
.. .. HOPEVILLE - 2004
.. .. Kirk Frankin
.. .. Yolanda Adams
.. .. Donnie McKurkinTV SHOWS /.. TV
.. .. 2005 TRUMPET AWARDSTHE GOSPEL MOVIE - 2005
Gospel Concert & Red Carpet (Steadicam Operator)CERTIFICATIONS
.. .. Panavision Certified
.. .. Arri Certified
.. .. Steadcam CertifiedOP-ED COLUMN
.. .. .. .. .. .... The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
.. .. .. .. .. .... The Brunswick News
.. .. .. .. .. .... The Golden Isles Weekend.. ( Weekly column: Another Voice )
I'd like to meet:
For Immediate Release
Contact:
[email protected]
(912) 638-4418Best-Selling Author Launches Publishing CompanySt. Simons Island, Ga. – Novelist and writing teacher Tina McElroy Ansa has launched an independent publishing company, DownSouth Press, with its focus on African-American literature, fiction and nonfiction. DownSouth Press will be home to thoughtful work – by established and new authors – that is often under-marketed or even excluded from the current publishing landscape’s focus on “niche,†“urban†or “street†fiction.Ansa, author of four highly acclaimed and best-selling novels, including “Baby of the Family†and “The Hand I Fan With,†has a proven 14-year track record in the publishing industry as an author and mentor and more than 30 years experience as a journalist, teacher and editor. In 2004, she founded the Sea Island Writers Retreats on Sapelo Island, Georgia, to assist emerging writers in honing their skills and work.“The writing, editing and teaching of American literature has been more than my way of making a living. It has been my calling,†Ansa said. “Now, this exciting move into publishing is a natural step at a time when readers are clamoring for books that matter.â€â€œI know that I can be a fine publisher,†Ansa continued. “The kind of involved smart publisher I dreamed of and the type that every serious writer deserves for his or her work. Each of our lists will feature a new book by a well-known, established author and at least one debut work by a new voice in American literature.â€DownSouth Press’ first list will be released in the fall and the lead title will be Ansa’s new novel, “Taking After Mudear,†a sequel to the author’s groundbreaking “Ugly Ways,†winner of Blackboard Best-Seller Top Fiction Award“I want DownSouth Press to be a haven that values authors, great story-telling and beautiful writing by publishing and nurturing quality work that elevates the reader and writer,†Ansa said. “We plan to publish the books that will be classics in years to come.â€Ansa said her press will focus on marketing authors beyond the short-term window that larger publishers allow. DownSouth Press will use innovative approaches -- both face-to-face and via the Internet with satellite interviews, web book club meetings and live chats and readings -- to market authors and books to readers hungry for meaningful stories that truly reflect the diversity of their culture, spirit and lives.For more information on DownSouth Press and Tina McElroy Ansa, visit www.tinamcelroyansa.com or www.downsouthpress.com.......
Music:
Lana Fallon - Flora Purim - Janet Jackson - Sade - Deep Forest - Michel Franks - TLC - Jean Luc Ponty - Steve Wonder - Four Play - Hugh Masekela - Miles Davis - Al DiMeola - Prince - Sting - Earth Wind and Fire - Tony Rich
Movies:
Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams" - Wong Kar-Wai's "In the mood for love" - Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element" - Jean-Jacques Annauo's "Quest for Fire" - Ridley Scott's "Hannibal" - Sir Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" -Bill Duke's "Hoodlum" - Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" - Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" - Francis Lawrence's "Constantine" - Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now" - Luc Besson's "la femme Nikita" and "The Professional" - Martin Scorsese's "Casino" - Eleanor Coppola's "Hearts of Darkness" - Dominic Sena's "Swordfish" - Iain Softley's "K-Pax - Bryan Singer's "The Usual Suspects" - E.Elias Merhige's "Shadow of the Vampire" - Jonas McCord's "The Body" - Dean Parisot's "Gataxy Quest" - Julie Dash's "Daughters of the Dust" - Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" - Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" - Antoine Fuqua's "The Replacement Killers" - Howard Hawks's "El Dorado" - Brian De Palma's "Carlito's Way" - Brian Helgeland's "Payback" - Albert Magnoli's "Purple Rain"
Television:
The Andy Griffith Show - DeadWood - Entourage - Sci-Fi Channel - PBS - MTV - FX - Comedy Channel - Cartoon Network - C-Span - Bravo - News(CNN,MSNBC,PBS,CBS) - Art & Entertainment - The Weather Channel - VH-1 - Animal Planet
Books:
Tina McElroy Ansa's "Baby of the Family", "Ugly Ways", "The Hand I Fan With"
and "You Know Better" - William Diehl's "Thai Horse", "Hooligans", "Shark's Machine", "27" and "Primal Fear" - Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" - Ansel Adams "National Park Photographs" - American Cinematographer Journal
Heroes:
Tina McElroy Ansa (My Wife)
