MA' GEORGE
Ayodele Balogen owns a small African restaurant in Brooklyn. His fiancée, Adenike Matashane, has waited six years to start a new life with Ayo in the US. Ayo and Adenike have a traditional Basotho wedding, culminating in a ceremony where Adenike is named for her yet to be conceived son, George. But as months pass, Ma George's pregnancy attempts fail and her loneliness intensifies. Torn between her Basotho culture and new life in America, Ma George struggles to save her marriage, stopping at no cost to give Ayo his much-awaited son.
Director Bio - Andrew Dosunmu
Andrew Dosunmu is currently based between New York, and Lagos, Nigeria. Raised and educated in Nigeria, Dosunmu began his career as a design assistant at the fashion house of Yves Saint Laurent and subsequently became a Creative Director and fashion photographer, whose images have appeared in international magazines. Dosunmu is also active in film and television. His award-winning documentary HOT IRONS (1999) won best documentary at FESPACO and the Reel Award at Toronto. Dosunmu has also directed episodes of the widely acclaimed South African TV series “Yizo, Yizo," and directed music videos, including his first for Isaac Hayes, and others for Angie Stone, Common, Wyclef Jean, and Talib Kweli. Dosunmu is currently in production on his documentary THE AFRICAN GAME which documents the fans and spirit of football in Africa, photos from which have already been published in a coffee table book of the same name. Dosunmu’s first narrative feature, RESTLESS CITY, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.
Cast
Isaach De Bankolé as Ayodele Balogen
Isaach De Bankolé, César award winning (BLACK MIC MAC) French/African actor, who is also a recipient of French Legion D’Honneur, was born on the Ivory Coast. Mr. De Bankolé has an extensive filmography, and in 2011, the Museum of Art and Design, in association with the Alliance Francaise in New York presented a month long career survey of his work. Isaach has just completed principal photography on Andrew Dousomu’s Ma George, in which he stars alongside Danai Gurira. Recent releases include Lavinia Currier’s OKA! (Telluride 2010), shot in the Central African Republic, and Gabriel Range’s I AM SLAVE (Toronto Film Festival 2010), about a Sudanese father’s search for his daughter who has been abducted from the Sudan to be a slave in London. Other recent projects include, Clair Denis’ critically acclaimed WHITE MATERIAL, Cannes and BAFTA award winning film THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERLY, directed by Julian Schnabel, and Jim Jarmusch’s LIMITS OF CONTROL in which Mr De Bankolé plays the lead role of a mysterious hit man, with a supporting cast that includes Gael Garcia Bernal, Tilda Swinton, and Bill Murray. Isaach was seen in the James Bond film CASINO ROYALE playing Obanno, head of the Lords Resistance Army, and his character is credited with being the “first villain to bloody Bond!” He has also appeared in such US films as Michael Mann’s MIAMI VICE, THE GUITAR (Sundance 2007) in which he stars opposite Saffron Burrows, Stuart Townsend’s directorial debut BATTLE IN SEATTLE, and Amir Mann’s THE FIFTH PATIENT. Isaach also starred in Lars von Trier’s sequel to DOGVILLE, MANDERLAY, alongside Bryce Dallas Howard and Danny Glover. Some of his indie film lead roles include, Barry Strugatz’ FROM OTHER WORLDS in which he plays a watch salesman abducted by aliens, and 5UP 2DOWN, in which he plays a Caribbean artist whose life is spinning out of control. Isaach was discovered by a French Film director on the streets of Paris while studying to be an airline pilot. He received his masters degree in Mathematics from the Jussieu Paris Sept, and went to the drama school “LES COURS SIMON”. He received critical acclaim for his performance in Claire Denis’ CHOCOLAT in 1988, followed by many roles in popular French films such as S’EN FOUT LA MORT, LES KEUFS, and VANILLE FRAISE. He has also starred in many international films, including OTOMO (Germany), HOW TO MAKE LOVE TO A NEGRO WITHOUT GETTING TIRED (Canada), BATTU (Africa), Pedro Costa’s CASA DE LAVA (Portugal), and Nicholas Roeg’s English film version of HEART OF DARKNESS where he co-starred with John Malkovich and Tim Roth. Isaach is a favorite actor of cult indie director Jim Jarmusch, and in addition to his star turn in LIMITS OF CONTROL, he has appeared in Jarmusch’s GHOST DOG: WAY OF THE SAMURAI, NIGHT ON EARTH, and COFFEE AND CIGARETTES alongside Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray. Other American films include THE KEEPER, Merchant-Ivory’s A SOLDIER’S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES, THE KILLING ZONE, SAM, SKELETON KEY, STAY, and the lead in SLAMDANCE 2004’s winner for Best Narrative Feature HOMEWORK, which also screened at the Tribeca film festival, which he also produced. Isaach directed the documentary TRAVELING MILES, documenting the 1998-touring schedule of jazz singer Cassandra Wilson in Australia and New Zealand. Television credits include guest starring roles on such shows as THE SOPRANOS, THE UNIT, and a large guest arc on the 2009 season of 24. Isaach has graced the stages of Paris in such plays as QUAI OUEST, DANS LA SOLITUDE DES CHAMPS DE COTON, LE RETOUR AU DESERT, MARTIN LUTHER KING OU LA FORCE D’AIMER, and he toured Africa and France in his one man show MA VIE DANS LA BROUSSE DES FANTOMES (MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS). On the New York stage, he appeared alongside Lili Taylor in Wallace Shawn’s AUNT DAN AND LEMON. Mr. De Bankolé has also written and will direct the film ONE WAY TICKET, a mystical African tale loosely based on his experiences living in New York City.
Danai Gurira as Adenike Olumide Balogen
Danai Gurira is a playwright and actor. Her plays include Eclipsed which received premiere productions at the Wooly Mammoth, Center Theater Group and Yale Repertory Theater. It recently won Best New play at the 2010 Helen Hayes Awards as well as Danai winning Best Playwright at the NAACP Theater Awards this August. She co-created and performed in the award-winning two-woman play In the Continuum, which premiered off-Broadway and toured the U.S. and Southern Africa. For her work on that production, Danai won a 2006 Obie Award, the 2006 Outer Critics John Gassner Award, and the Global Tolerance' Award (Friends of the United Nations), in addition to being honored by the Theatre Hall of Fame. In 2007, she received a Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress in In the Continuum at Woolly Mammoth. Danai starred in the acclaimed film The Visitor (with Oscar-nominated actor Richard Jenkins) and on Broadway in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. She is also featured in films 3 Backyards (Sundance 2010), My Soul to take (Wes Craven, October 2010) and Restless City. She has appeared in TV shows Law and Order, Life on Mars, Lie to Me, Law and Order CI and Treme. She is the recipient of '08 TCG New Generations travel grant for Eclipsed with the McCarter Theater and has taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. She is developing a play about current day Zimbabwe where she traveled in April and September, 2010 with the help of another TCG grant and the McCarter Theater. She is currently completing a historical Zimbabwean piece entitled The Convert (a commission with CTG). These plays comprise parts of a trilogy on Zimbabwe’s coming of age from a feminine perspective. She recently received the prestigious NEA New Play development grant to support the development of the Trilogy with Woolly Mammoth. She is also a commissioned playwright with Yale Rep. She received her MFA in acting from Tisch, NYU. Danai was born in the U.S. to Zimbabwean parents and raised in Zimbabwe. She lives in New York City.
Yaya DaCosta as Sade Bakare
New York-born and –bred Yaya DaCosta began her professional acting career starring in Liz Friedlander’s Take the Lead, opposite Antonio Banderas, for which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination. This was followed by a lead role in John Sayles' Honeydripper, in which she played opposite Danny Glover and Charles S. Dutton. She then reunited with Mr. Dutton in the telefilm Racing for Time, which Mr. Dutton also directed. Ms. DaCosta then appeared Oren Moverman’s acclaimed The Messenger, with Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster. She was most recently seen on screen opposite Mark Ruffalo in Lisa Cholodenko’s Oscar-nominated The Kids Are All Right; and in Tron Legacy, directed by Joseph Kosinski. She appears in Andrew Niccol’s highly anticipated sci-fi thriller, In Time, opposite Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake and has completed work on Andrew Dornsumo’s Ma George with Angelique Kidjoe and Isaac de Bankole Her television work includes a notable story arc in the final season of Ugly Betty, portraying the duplicitous daughter of Vanessa Williams’ character, a recurring role on the daytime drama All My Children, as well as appearances on Body of Proof, Army Wives, Mercy, Law and Order SVU, and Eve. Yaya’s theater work includes a passionate portrayal of Olivia in the Sonnet Repertory Theater’s production of Twelfth Night, and a co-starring role with Leslie Uggams in The Signature Theater Company’s revival production of Leslie Lee’s The First Breeze of Summer, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. For her performance, Ms. DaCosta was honored with a Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Award for Excellence in Black Theatre. In addition to acting, Yaya does speaking engagements at colleges through the American Speakers Bureau, on subjects ranging from environmentalism to women’s issues. She holds a BA in International Relations and Africana Studies from Brown University.
Anthony Okungbowa as Biyi Balogen
Mohamed Dione as Groomsman
Esosa Edosomwan as Bridesmaid
Abraham Amkpa as Groomsman
Bukky Ajayi as Ma Ayo Balogen
Crew
Executive Producers: Patrick Cunningham, Ron Simons
Producers: Carly Hugo, Lars Knudsen, Matthew Parker, Jay Van Hoy
Cinematography: Bradford Young
Casting: Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee
Production Design: Lucio Seixas
Costume Design: Mobolaji Dawodu
