ABOUT THE FILM
On the barrier island of Sapelo, two young brothers are growing up in the last remaining enclave of the Saltwater Geechee people. Their greatest joy is exploring the wilderness like their adoptive mother, Cornelia Walker Bailey, did as a child.
As Sapelo’s storyteller and elder matriarch, she works to preserve what remains of this island community established by her ancestors.
Reflecting on the complicated splendor of her youth, Cornelia strives to guide her sons through theirs. At the dawn of adolescence, the brothers inherit her hope, but their bond is tested as they begin to face the wider world.
The film was nominated for a News & Documentary EMMY® AWARD. Watch it on iTunes https://apple.co/3Q9zwMX.
NEWS
SAPELO is available on various streaming platforms. (October 2023)
iTunes
Google Play
Amazon Prime
Microsoft Movies
SAPELO was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy® Award in the category “Outstanding Social Issue Documentary”. (July 2023)
SAPELO is getting an “encore broadcast” on US television on Thursday, March 9, 2023 on WORLD Channel. The film will be part of the award-winning series America ReFramed. More information here. (February 2023)
SAPELO will have its US television premiere on Thursday, April 7, 2022 on WORLD Channel. The film will be part of the award-winning series America ReFramed (Season 10). More information here. (March 2022)
SAPELO will be presented at the Carter Center in Atlanta on Thursday, March 31, 2022, starting at 6:00 PM. More information here.
Location: 453 John Lewis Freedom Parkway Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The event is organized by the Consulate General of Switzerland in Atlanta in partnership with the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and in association with America ReFramed. (March 2022)
SAPELO wins the Curator’s Choice Best Doc Award at the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. (December 2021)
We won the “Indie Vision - Breakthrough Achievement Award” for Best Cinematography at the Twin Cities Film Fest. The festival calls the imagery of SAPELO “lush” and “unforgettable”. (November 2021)
SAPELO wins the top prize at the Macon Film Festival - the “Melvyn Douglas Best in Show” award. (October 2021)
SAPELO wins the “Best Documentary Feature” award at the RiverRun International Film Festival. (May 2021)
SAPELO wins the award for “Best Feature Documentary” at the Kansas City FilmFest International. (April 2021)
Boston’s NPR station recommends SAPELO as one of Six Documentaries to Stream at Salem Film Fest, calling it “a compelling modern-day coda to Julie Dash’s landmark period drama Daughters of the Dust.” (March 2021)
SAPELO wins a Special Jury Award from the Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival. (January 2021)
WOZ DIE WOCHENZEITUNG writes about SAPELO “... the imagery is overwhelming ... reminiscent of “Planet Earth”. (January 2021)
SAPELO is nominated for one of the most prestigious cultural honours in Switzerland: the Prix de Soleure which awards an outstanding film produced for the cinema with a distinctive humanistic message and impressive cinematic form. (January 2021)
SAPELO wins the Best Documentary Feature Award at the Ojai Film Festival. (November 2020)
SAPELO wins THREE awards at the BendFilm Festival - Best Documentary Feature, Best Directing, and a Special Jury Award for Documentary Cinematography. (October 2020)
SAPELO was awarded an “Honorable Mention” by the jury of the Nashville Film Festival, calling the film a “community portraiture with superb cinematography that presents an epic and tactile glimpse at a small Georgia island and its inhabitants’ lives”. (October 2020)
Screen International calls SAPELO "A heartfelt elegy for life... an involving documentary... An affecting coming of age story underpinned by a lament for a vanishing heritage... with a tender human touch.” (May 2020)
SAPELO wins the “Sesterce d'Or SRG SSR” award for Best Feature Film at Visions du Réel. (May 2020)
SCREENINGS
Encore broadcast on WORLD Channel
Part of America ReFramed
March 9, 2023 at 8 PM ET
Ânûû-rû Âboro Film Festival
October 14 to 22, 2022
Poindimié, New Caledonia
Special Screening at Cinema Luna
with director Q&A
Sunday, June 12, 2022, 11:00 AM
Frauenfeld, Switzerland
Carter Center in Atlanta
Thursday, March 31, 2022, 6:00 PM
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Omaha Film Festival
March 13 to April 2, 2022
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Black Hills Film Festival
February 18 to 28, 2022
Hill City, South Dakota, USA
Guam International Film Festival
November 13, 2021
Hagatna, Guam, USA
Rockport Film Festival
November 12, 2021
Movies Inc Aransas
Rockport, Texas. USA
Cinequest Film Festival (Cinejoy)
November 4 to 14, 2021
San Jose, California, USA
Weltfilmtage Thusis
Thursday, November 4, 2021, 9:30 AM
Kino Raetia
Thusis, Switzerland
Orlando Film Festival
October 31 to November 2, 2021
Orlando, Florida, USA
Tallgrass Film Festival
October 24 to 29, 2021
Wichita, Kansas, USA
Twin Cities Film Fest
October 21 to 30, 2021
St. Louis Park, Minnesota, USA
Eastern Oregon Film Festival
October 21 to 23, 2021
La Grande, Oregon, USA
Bushwick Film Festival
October 20 to 24, 2021
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Athens International Film Festival
Saturday, October 16, 2021, 3:30 PM
Saturday, October 23, 2021, 5:00 PM
The Athena Cinema
Athens, Ohio, USA
Buffalo International Film Festival
Friday, October 8, 2021, 12:00 PM
North Park Theatre
Buffalo, New York, USA
Portland Film Festival
October 6 to November 8, 2021
Portland, Oregon, USA
Lonely Seal Film Festival
Thursday, October 7, 2021, 2:00 PM
Arlington, Massachusetts, USA
Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival
Tuesday, Sept 28, 2021
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Newburyport Documentary Film Festival
Sept 17 to 19, 2021
Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA
MINT - Montana Int’l Film Festival
Sept 17 to 19, 2021
Billings, Montana, USA
Richmond International Film Festival
Sun, Sept 12, 2021, 12:00 PM
Bowtie Movieland Theater 14
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Hong Kong Arts Centre
Sun, Aug 29, 2021, 8:00 PM
2 Harbour Rd
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Macon Film Festival
Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 12:15 PM
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
301 Cherry St
Macon, Georgia, USA
Woods Hole Film Festival
July 31 to August 7, 2021 (virtual)
Cinema screening at:
Cotuit Center for the Arts
4404 Falmouth Rd
Cotuit, Massachusetts, USA
Mon, Aug 2, 3:00 PM
Maine International Film Festival
July 9 to 18, 2021 (virtual)
Cinema screenings at:
Railroad Square Cinema #1
17 Railroad Square
Waterville, Maine, USA
Mon, Jul 12, 3:00 PM
Sat, Jul 17, 7:00 PM
Ischia Film Festival
June 26 to July 3, 2021
Ischia, Italy
Encounters South African
International Documentary Festival
June 10 to 20, 2021
Cape Town, South Africa
DocEdge Film Festival
June 3 to July 11, 2021
Auckland, New Zealand
deadCenter Film Festival
June 10 to 20, 2021
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival
June 10 to 13, 2021
Sebastopol, California, USA
Lighthouse International Film Festival
June 3 to 6, 2021
Long Beach Island, New Jersey, USA
NorthwestFest
May 6 to 16, 2021
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
RiverRun International Film Festival
May 6 to 16, 2021
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Sarasota Film Festival
April 30 to May 9, 2021
Sarasota, Florida, USA
Columbus International Film & Animation Festival
April 17 to 18, 2021
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Kansas City FilmFest International
April 12 to 18, 2021
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
DC Independent Film Festival
March 31 to April 8, 2021
Washington DC, USA
Salem Film Fest
March 19 to 29, 2021
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
SF Indie Fest
February 4 to 21, 2021
San Francisco, California, USA
Solothurner Filmtage (Section “Prix de Soleure”)
January 20 to 27, 2021
Solothurn, Switzerland
Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival
January 20 to 27, 2021
Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
St. Augustine Film Festival
January 14 to 24, 2021
St. Augustine, Florida, USA
Bahamas International Film Festival
January 4 to 10, 2021
Nassau, Bahamas
Anchorage International Film Festival
December 4 to 13, 2020
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
IsReal Film Festival
December 2 to 6, 2020
Sardinia, Italy
St. Louis International Film Festival
November 20 to 22, 2020
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
A "hybrid" festival - virtual and real-life.
November 5 to 22, 2020
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Tacoma Film Festival
November 6 to 15, 2020
Tacoma, Washington, USA
Ojai Film Festival
November 6 to 15, 2020
Ojai, California, USA
Bend Film Festival
October 8 to 25, 2020
Bend, Oregon, USA
Nashville Film Festival
October 1 to 7, 2020
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Visions du Réel
April 17 to 29, 2020
Nyon, Switzerland
(National Premiere)
CREDITS
DIRECTOR / CAMERA / EDITOR – Nick Brandestini
Nick Brandestini is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Zurich, Switzerland. His film Children of the Arctic was awarded Best Documentary at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Golden Eye Jury Award at the Zurich Film Festival, among other accolades, before airing on PBS World Channel. His previous film, Darwin, was awarded Best Documentary at the Austin Film Festival and screened theatrically across Canada, in New York and Los Angeles, garnering praising reviews in the New York Times, Variety, and the Los Angeles Times. Darwin also played on KQED (as part of the Truly CA series).
WRITER / CO-DIRECTOR – Taylor Segrest
Taylor Segrest is a writer and filmmaker based in New York City, where he is currently a producer for The Criterion Collection. He was the writer/co-producer of Darwin and Children of the Arctic. As a contributing editor at Documentary magazine, he interviewed Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, and other esteemed filmmakers. He has been a lecturer at USC and UCLA, a consultant to independent filmmakers, and a juror at various international film festivals. His previous clients include Comedy Central, Participant Productions, Amnesty International, American Experience, and the International Documentary Association.
PRODUCER – Vesna Eckert
Vesna Eckert founded the media production company Envi Films, together with Nick Brandestini. She served as an executive producer on the Emmy nominated documentary Darwin. Eckert next produced the award-winning film Children of the Arctic. Before her work as a producer, she practiced architecture in Zurich and Los Angeles. She earned her Master’s degree of Science in Architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH).
NARRATION PERFORMANCES – Bahni Turpin
Bahni Turpin is a Los Angeles-based narrator and actress. She began her acting career in Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash’s pioneering narrative film about a Gullah-Geechee family at a crossroads in the early twentieth century. Turpin has narrated over a hundred audiobooks, earning her numerous Audie awards and a place in the Audible Hall of Fame. She was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile for her exemplary and prolific career as an audiobook narrator.
MUSIC – Michael Brook
Michael Brook is a Golden Globe and Grammy nominated composer, producer, and recording artist. He has collaborated with artists such as Brian Eno, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and The Pogues. He created the “Infinite Guitar” for the band U2. Brook has composed much praised music for Brooklyn, The Fighter, Into the Wild, Deadwood, Heat, An Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed the Electric Car, Tallulah, the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated, and many more.
RING SHOUTS – McIntosh County Shouters
Since 1980, the McIntosh County Shouters have been publicly performing the Ring Shout, a Gullah-Geechee musical form passed down in their family for over three hundred years. As recording artists, they have received many awards in recognition of their efforts to keep the Ring Shout alive.
Sound Design / Mix – Guido Keller
Music Production – Craig Conard
Compositing – Daniel Müri
Technical Advisor – Roman Lehmann
Documentary, 92 minutes, Switzerland, 2020
LINKS
Cornelia Walker Bailey
"Cornelia Bailey, Champion
of African-Rooted Culture"
New York Times
"Cornelia Bailey, A Giant of
Gullah-Geechee Culture"
NPR
"A Georgia Community with an
African Feel Fights a Wave of Change"
New York Times
Cornelia’s book:
God, Dr. Buzzard, and
the Bolito Man
The Community
"Gullah-Geechee Residents
Fight Sapelo Island Development¨
WABE radio
"The Beauty of Sapelo Island"
Garden and Gun
Information about Sapelo Island:
New Georgia Encyclopedia
Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination by Melissa L. Cooper
Ways to connect, support, or donate
The mission of Save our Legacy Ourself (SOLO) is to preserve the culture, heritage, and traditions of the Saltwater Geechee people.
The Cornelia Walker Bailey Program
on Land and Agriculture @ University of Georgia
The mission of the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society (SICARS) is to preserve and revitalize the Hogg Hummock Community on Sapelo Island.
The Hog Hammock Public Library is in the historic Hog Hammock (aka Hogg Hummock) community on Sapelo Island.
The McIntosh County Shouters
(who perform in the film)
CONTACT
Envi Films
Zurich, Switzerland
www.envifilms.com
