A film by Lavinia Currier Based on the memoir by Louis

DADA Films & Required Viewing present
A Roland Films-James Bruce Productions
OKA!
A film by Lavinia Currier
Based on the memoir by Louis Sarno
“Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth”
Starring
Kris Marshall, Isaach de Bankolé, Will Yun Lee
& the Bayaka of Yandombe
OPENS OCTOBER 2011
RT: 106 min
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Required Viewing
Steven Raphael
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SHORT SYNOPSIS
25 years ago, ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno traveled from New Jersey to the forests of Central
Africa to record the music of the Bayaka Pygmies. Falling in love with a Bayaka girl and her forest
lifestyle, he decided to stay. “OKA!” tells the adventure of his life in Africa with his adopted family.
The Bayaka pygmies maintain a tenuous balance between their traditional forest existence and their
increasing dependence on the Bantu villagers. Through the eyes of Larry, the tall, ungainly white man from
New Jersey, who in spite of his failing liver accompanies the Bayaka on a journey into the heart of the
forest, “OKA!” offers a unique glimpse into the music, humor, and spirit of the Bayaka people.
“OKA!” is directed by Lavinia Currier and filmed in Sango, Akka, French, and English. It is based
on Louis Sarno’s memoir, Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth, and stars Kris
Marshall, with Isaach de Bankolé and Will Yun Lee, and a magnificent local Bayaka ensemble cast.
SYNOPSIS
Ethnomusicologist Larry Whitman (KRIS MARSHALL) is from New Jersey, but his heart is with
the Bayaka people of Yandombe, in the Central African Republic (CAR). Back in the United States on a
fundraising trip for his village, his doctor (PETER RIEGERT) warns him that his failing liver will not
withstand the dangers of life in the African forest. Undaunted, Larry is drawn back to his adopted people.
This is his last chance to record the sound of the mysterious molimo, an instrument associated in the past
with the elephant hunt, now thought to be extinct. But Larry knows that there is something more than
music waiting for him.
Even by African standards, the Central African forest and the Bayaka who inhabit it are considered
remote and exotic. But times have changed since Larry’s previous visit. The powerful local Bantu Mayor
Bassoun (ISAACH DE BANKOLE) has welcomed a timber corporation to exploit the African rainforest for
timber and exotic game. Bassoun calls the Bayaka his “little brothers,” but he’s also moved them from the
interior of the rainforest to a small village on the outskirts, forbidding them to enter their sacred traditional
land. This hasn’t stopped tribal shaman Sataka (MAPUMBA) and his wife Ekadi (ESSANJE) from hunting
and gathering – in fact, it was Sataka’s prayer that “called” Larry from America to return to the Bayaka. As
Larry is welcomed by the Bayaka, who are eager to receive gifts from the outside world, he sees that they
are increasingly marginalized and dependent on their Bantu bosses.
Meanwhile, Bassoun welcomes
Chinese businessman Mr. Yi (WILL YUN LEE), who is interested in tapping into the vast resources in the
Bayaka’s protected wilderness. Doing so will require that Bassoun prove the Bayaka are poachers: if he
can gather evidence of them shooting elephants (forbidden by law), then perhaps the Bayaka could be
disempowered even further, leaving the forest wide open for cutting.
Although he is plagued by fever – as well as attracted to Sataka’s flirtatious teenage granddaughter
Makombe (MBOMBI) – Larry is driven to enter the rainforest alone, in search of Sataka. The tribe
eventually abandons their village and follows him deep into the heart of the lush, wondrous, and dangerous
landscape. An outraged Bassoun orders his men to follow him and bring the tribe back to the fringes of
civilization. As the various forces converge, Larry learns the secret of the mysterious molimo, which
duplicates the mating call of an elephant in order to lure the mighty animal into an ambush. Torn between
his desire to protect the Bayaka from killing an elephant (making a critical error that will jeopardize their
safety) and honoring their tradition, Larry confronts the mysterious inner and outer forces of nature that
ultimately define his soul and help him be healed and find a home forever.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I wanted to make a film which celebrated a people who are perfectly adapted to their natural
environment, and who, despite the extreme remoteness and dangers of their forest home in Central Africa,
always find opportunities to express their humor, joyfulness and musical genius. Bayaka Pygmy culture is
anarchistic and non-materialist, almost opposite to ours, and yet the experience of hunter-gatherers still
resonates with us, having been human’s way of life for most of our history.
I first met Louis Sarno 12 years ago, on whose life with the Bayaka the story is based. His selfeffacing humor and his experience with the Bayaka for 27 years made him the perfect anti-hero to take an
audience into the forest and experience the magic world of the Bayaka.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
For generations, storytellers and artists from around the world have found inspiration from the
landscape and people of the African continent. Told from a “modern” and “Western” perspective, novels
such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa, or Stanley Livingston’s The Dark
Continent, often represent a journey to Africa as a temporary state of a descent into man’s primitive and
primal nature – part madness, part enlightenment – but have ignored the reality of life for the many peoples,
traditions, and experiences of that complex and misunderstood part of the globe.
“OKA!” might seem to have a familiar premise – an ethnomusicologist travels to Africa and
ultimately learns something about himself and his connection to the world through his relationship with an
ancient and (to him) exotic tribe – but this is no simple “white man’s journey” where the hero eventually
must return to his home of origin as a changed man. Rather, Larry Whitman from the outset really feels
like he belongs among the Bayaka – his trip is not a temporary descent into an unfamiliar world, but a
return home.
The film is based on the life of Louis Sarno, an ethnomusicologist who first went to live with the
Bayaka to record the sounds of the African rainforest. His initial journeys are documented in his first
memoir, Song of the Forest, published in 1993, and the CD-book Bayaka: The Extraordinary Music of the
Babenzl Pygmies (1996). For the next several years, Sarno worked on a second memoir, which he called
Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth. It was during this time that he first met
filmmaker Lavinia Currier, serving as her translator when she was doing research for a documentary on a
man called Ota Benga. (Benga was a pygmy who was brought to the United States as an “exhibit” for the
1905 World’s Fair, part of a shameful western tradition of exploiting African natives as freaks or oddities).
“While I was in Yandombe, the pygmy village, with Louis as my translator, a Bayaka asked why I was
doing that story. I explained that it was instructive for us to learn from our mistake, so that kind of racism
doesn’t happen again. But he told me that in Pygmy culture, they like to forget sad things and remember
happy things, so I started to rethink that story from another perspective.” She instead asked Sarno if he had
any ideas that would better represent the Bayaka, not as an exploited underclass, but as a vibrant and
relevant community, and he suggested she read his unpublished work.
“Louis shared real stories about the life of the Bayaka, like the couple who lived deep in the forest,
who were almost feral, sleeping in trees. People would bring them supplies and the couple would come out
and greet them, but then vanish – they didn’t want to be involved in any of the village’s activities. This
became the character of Sataka, who is not quite of the village,” she says today. “All of the characters in
‘OKA!’ were based on real people that Louis had known, or composites of people. In fact, Mayor Bassoun
is based on the local area’s previous mayor – who clearly recognized himself in the role played by Isaach de
Bankole, and was not happy about it.”
Crafting a script with Sarno over the course of several years, Currier was careful to avoid some of
the elements of Sarno’s story that might have simply been “easy” for non-African audiences to embrace.
For example, Sarno really did fall in love with a Bayakan woman and marry into her tribe, but “OKA!”
reduces the romance to a more casual flirtation so as not to detract from the deeper and more spiritual
aspects of Larry’s journey into the rainforest. But the most difficult challenge, Currier knew, would be
representing both the people and the region in the most authentic way possible. The African rainforest is
second only to the Amazon basin in size, and rarely explored by people from outside the area. One such
experienced European was filmmaker Jurgen Steinfurth, who accompanied Currier on an initial foray into
the forest for filming – “Because no one else would go with me,” she remembers today. “On that first trip
in 2008, we filmed the honey tree sequence used in the film – we were there for ten days to see what kinds
of physical and logistical problems we might run into, dealing with the weather and the light, as well as
gaining the proper permission to film.”
With some footage and shooting experience under her belt, Currier and her production team next
had to try to cast the film, convincing actors that traveling to the African rainforest and working for several
months with minimal accommodations was worth the effort. “No one wanted to go to CAR,” she recalls.
“One of the biggest challenges was casting the Chinese businessman, Mr. Yi. None of the actors from
China we met would take the part – not because they were concerned about the character, or how to
politically finesse the situation, but simply because they wanted to be sure they could get bottled water, or
be taken care of if they got sick.” Ultimately, the part was given to Will Yun Lee – who is Korean, not
Chinese – but an experienced presence who brings nuance and maturity to a complex supporting role.
Determined to make the film as eco-friendly as possible, Currier worked with environmental
organizations such as World Wildlife Fund to reduce the film’s carbon footprint, attempting whenever
possible to hire local crew. Still, to get the proper look of the film, flying in international talent was
required. One of the key crew members was Conrad W. Hall, a veteran cameraman who is the son of
legendary, Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall. “Conrad had real trouble convincing his crew to
go to Africa,” Currier says. “When they arrived, I wondered how on earth these guys decided to come with
us – superb professionals, but they seemed really unsuited to working in Africa.” Though the union crew
was unused to working barefoot in such trying locations, the resulting look on screen is remarkable: Hall’s
camera, particularly in the final sequences of the film (which have sparse dialogue as the Bayaka pursue the
elephant and construct the magnificent molimo), reveals the truly awesome beauty of the rainforest in a
manner that will stun audiences. From the vast, epic shots of the canopy of trees that disappears into the
distant horizon, to the smallest detail of Sataka gathering drops of water from a leaf, the images in “Oka!”
are as breathtaking, inspiring, and at times terrifying as the landscape itself.
“OKA!”’s producer was James (“Jamie”) Bruce, a veteran of the TV show “Survivor” who was
used to working on major productions in a remote locations. “I did pre-production in Los Angeles,” says
Bruce, “helping raise money and do the budgets, and then thought I would go to the set to do a ‘making of’
film. But when I got to CAR, I didn’t pick up my own camera once – there was simply too much to do on
behalf of the production.” Trying to simply schedule the shoot became difficult in the face of political
tensions in the regions, including upcoming elections and ongoing political protests, as well as obscure
international and regional laws and regulations involving commerce, labor, and trade. Resisting bribes and
payoffs would be one of Bruce’s principal challenges, but his presence helped the crew deal with such
incidents. “I felt strongly that we had to hire all the local people in Bayanga, so I met with their mayor and
told him I wanted to hire any cars and drivers around, that we’d hire anyone willing to work. That ended up
involving and employing almost the whole town.” Still, constant demands for new “taxes” – even though
the production had worked out a deal with the national government – were obstacles. “Our bank accounts
were frozen, we were shut down three times, with machine guns and oil barrels rolled across our road out,”
remembers Bruce.
It became evident that the production would best commence in the late summer of 2009, though
Currier and her production team were skeptical that they could survive the weather. “That’s the rainy
season, and when it rains, it’s very difficult to move. Roads became muddy, and equipment gets fogged up
or moist and stops altogether. Jurgen told us that shooting in winter was impossible because seasonal winds
changed the light – in the rainy season, the sky gets washed and is incredibly beautiful.”
“Everyone kept saying ‘the Bayaka will stop the rain,’” Currier recalls. “I thought ‘oh, cute,’ but
didn’t believe them. But it became a running joke on production – because it was raining, back at the
production office all day, and the minute I yelled ‘cut’ at the end of the day, it would start pouring rain on
set. By the end of production, I realized that we didn’t have any scenes with rain in them – the rain always
waited until the cameras finished rolling, so the Bayaka really did stop the rain!”
Taming the local elements was part of the task: turning the real tribe of Bayaka into effective
performers was another. “Acting coach Karine Nuris was with us from pre-production,” says Currier,
describing how the acting coach would engage in basic movement and ensemble exercises to get the
Bayaka comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera. “One of the challenges with the Bayaka is that they
don’t have the same concept of leadership as we know it – they are anarchistic, egalitarian, not hierarchical
people. They are natural actors and storytellers, they love playing and spoofing and are not shy in any way,
but the idea of directing someone else and telling them what to do is not innate.”
Currier admits that teaching them how to act on cue gave her new insight into the people: she had
previously assumed that the Bayaka would be unlikely to produce a leader who could represent them to the
outside world – “someone to emerge and go to Oxford and become educated and then return to articulate
the group’s needs, for example.” But seeing them in front of the camera changed her perspective: “Given
the chance, they were capable of being very forceful, because they were breaking a lot of norms for
themselves in doing the film. Not just by performing, but by participating in this new hierarchy. They are
also very individuated, with a broad tolerance for difference, which makes a very interesting ensemble
cast.” She specifically points out seeing one of the tribe’s young boys, no more than eight years old, telling
some of the older members of the cast to be happier, sadder, and show more emotion in their performances.
But the most inspiring member of the cast and crew was perhaps British actor Kris Marshall,
playing the lead of Larry Whitman. Marshall, a British TV star who would be recognized by American
audiences for his role in “Love, Actually,” was already known as a tough customer – he survived a
devastating car accident in 2008 – but what awaited him on “OKA!” was unprecedented.
“He had
absolutely no concern for his own well-being,” remembers Currier. “Most actors would have gone home
with the sickness that he had while we were filming – he had a parasite and the threat of dysentery. I told
him he could take sick days to recover, but he said ‘No, this is my job, I want to get it done.’ He lost fifteen
kilos [over 30 pounds] but just soldiered on.” Marshall is also unusual in that he was partially deaf as a
child, and didn’t relate to his character’s desire to capture sound: instead, he immersed himself in learning
the language of Akka, and ended up being able to converse and improvise with the Bayaka in a more
natural and engaging manner.
The European and American crew ultimately learned quite a bit about their subjects. “I had no idea
about the Bayaka,” says Jamie Bruce, “but now I understand their plight is twofold. First, they are forest
people, and if the forest is destroyed, they will be destroyed with it – that’s the sad reality.
“But the positive thing about the movie,” adds Bruce, “is that this is not about a white guy coming
to save them – it’s the opposite, they save the white guy. And that’s what I learned most – they think
differently. They live in their communities with no formal structure – I think like a scientist, with logic,
proof – and they by our standards are living in a surreal world. When Isaach was portraying the Mayor,
both the Bayaka and the Bantu would approach him and say ‘Mr. Mayor, can you do something for us?’ It
was seamless between their daily life and the film world – that’s amazing.”
Bruce also admits that he first considered the film a bit more of a comedy – along the lines of “The
Gods Must Be Crazy,” a traditional “fish-out-of-water” story that plays upon the clash of cultures to
produce humor. Much of that humor remains, such as in the tribe’s constant nagging of Larry for gifts from
the outside world, and the stark contrast of Larry’s 6-foot-plus Caucasian frame against the backdrop of
dark-skinned tribespeople barely more than five-feet-tall. There is even a “Greek chorus” of three older
tribesmen who comment on the actions of Larry while smoking their pipe, one of the film’s more notable
examples of ensemble acting that reflects both the constructed storyline and the authentic behavior of the
Bayakan people. But the result is much more than comedic: “The Bayakas took over this movie,” Bruce
says. “They were so authentic and good, the film became more poetic and less comedic. They were most
extraordinary to watch, and committed to making the story work because of their relationship with Louis –
who is one of them.
So they really embraced Kris as Larry, and embraced the film.”
The film captures the imagination of the Bayaka in the form of their music – the songs that they
perform, often associated with ritual and play, echo the sounds of the rainforest around them. On the
soundtrack of “OKA!,” Larry’s recordings of the sounds of the rainforest – the wind, rain, chirping birds,
and animal cries – seem to blend seamlessly with the percussive and harmonic tones of the Bayakan music.
This is particularly captured in the final sequence, where the legendary instrument the molimo is revealed to
resemble the mating call of a wild elephant. Though the animal is beloved all over the world, in the wild
they are quite dangerous. “We had a second unit and their job was to film all of the elephant and difficult
wildlife scenes,” remembers Jamie Bruce.
“Alphonse Roy Yogeswara is a well-respected Indian
cinematographer who had shot a lot of wildlife, but he’s used to working with a small crew, and Conrad
Hall had brought a large crew and a lot of equipment. I was recruited to do some ‘directing’ – when you
see the shots of the elephants running, that was me chasing them with a plastic bottle making noise right
behind them. If you are chasing them, it’s not so dangerous, as they are unlikely to turn around. But once
as I was chasing them, suddenly right next to us was another elephant off to the side, watching us harass his
herd. We had to freeze and not move for ten minutes – then he decided that we were nothing to worry
about and joined the other elephants in the clearing. We might call it foolish, but not that dangerous.”
While having ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno on hand as translator and inspiration for the story was
a boon to the production, the film also benefits from the work of musician Chris Berry, who was charged
with making the musical sounds of the Bayaka into a workable and dramatically consistent musical score.
A renowned drummer, Berry knew he would have to put his ego aside in order to fully embrace and
understand the power of the native musical styles. “I think what I tried to accomplish with the Bayaka is
not have them feel that they were put under a microscope,” he explains, “but that rather I was just another
musician
sharing
a
musical
experience
with
them.”
“The Bayakan people definitely lead with emotion and intuition,” says Berry. “Their music is the
epitome of the statement that Lavinia made to us about directing them – that they lead with their emotions.
That’s the conflict if you go into it from a rational standpoint and treat the music as a ‘rational’ object, but
we were able to break down that boundary. Their music is so unique because it works together like an
ecosystem – because they are so close to nature, it just reflects that energy.”
Berry notes that his western ears were not used to the complex rhythms of the tribe, which are
demarcated by a lengthy 64-beat cycle. “Most of our western pop music operates on a four or eight bar
cycle – the longest is usually sixteen bars,” he clarifies. “There are very few cultures, most of them related
to forest people, that take 64 pulses before you come back around to the beginning of the cycle. I’ve found
64 cycle patterns in other Bantu tribes – and it’s very powerful. These are the first people in Africa, and
much of the music in Africa descended from them.” The result is moving in more ways than one. “They
don’t have a separate word for music and dance,” says Berry with wonder. “When I was there with them, I
was just dancing with them, dance is pure feeling, and I interfaced with them just as much through the
dancing. I don’t think you can fully understand the music if you don’t move to it.”
In the end, the entire tribe provided both inspiration and instrumentation for the score. “The
soundtrack includes all ages, from three to ninety years old,” says Berry. “I think because their music
crosses generations, it is undeniably powerful and speaks to everyone. They are amazing at reflecting their
natural world in their music – a gorilla, a river – they can imitate almost any animal or experience in the
entire forest. I haven’t met anyone in my culture that’s learned how to ‘play a river’ yet – recording them
using the river as an instrument in one sequence was absolutely amazing.” Berry will be producing the
film’s soundtrack release.
“OKA!” means “listen.” As much as the film is the story of a unique man who finds his spiritual
home in the most distant locations, it also reflects the story of the filmmakers who set out to tell a story and
wound up transformed by the sound of one of the planet’s most unique people. Audiences, too, are likely to
be changed simply by listening to “OKA!”’s deliberately paced and delicately constructed story of a
journey into an enchanting and exciting place. The sound of the African rainforest is the sound of our
planet’s heartbeat, brought to colorful life and vivid reality by the people who live in the one of the most
vibrant and life-affirming spaces, within reach, if only we open our ears and our minds to embrace them
with acceptance and joy.
THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country near the exact center of the African
continent with a population of 4.4 million. This territory the size of Texas is home to more than 80 ethnic
groups, each with its own language, that include the Bayaka pygmies living in its southwestern tropical
forests. More than 35% of its people practice indigenous religions and their animistic beliefs and practices
strongly influence the Christian majority.
The republic has a strong executive branch (president, vice president, prime minister, and council of
ministers), and weak legislative and judicial branches. Its civil society is very weak with a highly unequal
income distribution. The United Nations ranks CAR as one of the world’s poorest nations with a Human
Development Index of 159 out of the 169 countries with data.
Constraints to economic development include its land-bound position, a poor transportation system,
a largely unskilled work force, factional fighting and a legacy of misdirected economic policies.
Hydroelectric plants supply the capital Bangui with limited electricity while other towns rely on diesel
generators. Fuel supplies must be barged in on the Ubangi River or trucked overland through Cameroon,
resulting in frequent shortages of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
Subsistence agriculture and forestry are the backbone of the CAR economy with about 60% of the
population living in outlying areas. The agricultural sector generates more than half of GDP. Over 4,000
Central Africans work in the forestry sector, more than in any other private sector, which accounts for
around 20% of the export receipts. The CAR has rich but largely unexploited natural resources of
diamonds, gold, uranium, and other minerals. Its over 2,000 miles of navigable waterways include the
primary Ubangi River which joins the Congo River.
In 2010, CAR became the first African country member of the International Labor organization
(ILO) to ratify the ILO Indigenous and Tribal People Convention 1989 (No. 169 ) that recognizes the rights
of all such peoples to be consulted and to participate fully at all levels of decision-making that concern
them.
THE BAYAKA
The Bayaka are a semi-nomadic people that traditionally survive in the forests of southwestern
Central African Republic (CAR), northern Congo and the western Congo River basin. These small-sized
people (average 4.5 feet) along with Baka, BaMbuti, Efe and other related groups, often called pygmies, are
the largest group of hunter-gatherers left on earth, estimated at 250,000.
The Bayaka are renowned for their exceptional knowledge of the forest and its animals, insects and
medicinal plants. They rank among the world’s most skilled animal trackers. Their heightened senses can
detect subtle animal tracks even in dense forest foliage. They hunt with large nets while whistling to each
other like birds to report their locations.
Today, most Bayaka spend part of the year near a village where they trade their forest products for
produce, and other goods. Periodically they return to the forest and clear undergrowth for their camps
under the tree canopy. Entire families can fit inside their waist-high beehive huts fashioned out of bent
branches covered with large leaves. A distinctive mark of beauty in Bayaka appearance is the careful
chipping of their teeth into pointed triangle shapes.
Music celebration is highly-valued in Bayaka life. Their frequent call-and-response songs
harmonize with the sounds of birds, crickets and cicadas and other forest life around them. The complexity
of their music arises from their amazing ability to reflect the complex sounds of the forest around them.
Their rich-voiced singing is based on pentatonic five-part harmonies organized in 64-beat cycles.
THE CONGO BASIN: THE LOCATIONS FOR OKA!
The Congo is the earth’s fifth longest river and Africa’s second longest (after the Nile) that drains a
basin of over 1.5 million square miles from the highlands of the East African Rift in Zambia to the Gulf of
Guinea in the Atlantic ocean. It is also the world’s deepest river with the second largest volume of water
(after the Amazon River).
This mosaic of ecosystems - rivers, forests, savanna, swamps and flooded
forests – holds one-quarter of the world’s tropical forests.
Its forests are called the earth's "second lung" (after the Amazon jungles) because they absorb and
store carbon dioxide to slow the rate of global warming. Their eco-systems also help to regulate the flow of
water, protect and enrich soils, control diseases, and safeguard water quality.
Their dense equatorial
growth contains an immense diversity of species that extend through almost 500 million acres. This forest
region spans the boundaries of six African nations.
The Congo basin is one of the most important wilderness areas left on earth. Coalitions working to
protect the region face a pressing need to restore ecological balances, reduce the human footprint and
support local economies.
The survival of these magical wilds depends on the ability of governments,
timber operations, international lending institutions, and conservation non-governmental agencies to enact
and maintain sustainable environmental practices.
Many scenes in “OKA!” were filmed in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas that combine the
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park and the adjacent Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Special Reserve. This 5,500square-mile wilderness area is home to one of the most intact and diverse humid tropical forests on the
planet. Though hunting and logging are prohibited in the park, the reserve allows the Bayaka to hunt and
use the forest to meet their traditional needs. The protected areas lie about 200 miles southwest of the CAR
capital, Bangui, along a dirt road hacked through the jungle. In good weather, the journey from Bangui
takes 15 hours. When the rains come, it can take days.
These remote areas are internationally renowned for their beauty and remarkable diversity that
include western lowland gorillas, forest elephants, bongo antelope, forest buffalo and a multitude of bird
species. The film’s memorable cinematography offers rare close-ups of these unique inhabitants.
This landscape is characterized by the presence of natural forest clearings, or "bai" in the Aka language of
the Bayaka, that allow easy observation of large mammals. The animals are attracted by mineral rich soil,
salt, clay and aquatic plants. The elephant scene in OKA! was filmed at the Dzanga Bai under the guidance
of the world’s authority on forest elephants, Andrea Turkalo, a field biologist with the Wildlife
Conservation Society.
WILDLIFE FEATURED IN OKA!
The African Forest Elephant of the Congo Basin
is distinguished from the more widely-recognized
savanna elephant by its smaller size, rounded ears,
and downward-projecting tusks. These herbivores
commonly eat fruit, leaves, grass and bark, and
their dung disperses seeds that allow reforestation.
Its 22-month gestation produces a calf that weighs
200 pounds at birth, nurses for three years and
remains dependent on its mother for 8 to 10 years.
Forest elephants are very social animals that learn
what to eat, where to find water and how to behave
from their mothers and older bulls. A typical adult
will daily consume 450 pounds of food and up to 50
gallons of water. Its life expectancy is 70 years.
The Black Mamba is the longest venomous snake in Africa growing up to 15 feet
in length. Its name derives from the ink- black coloring of its mouth, although the
outer skin varies from a gray to a dullish yellow-green. This shy creature is the
world’s fastest snake capable of moving up to 12 miles per hour. It will seek to
escape confrontations, but if cornered mimics a cobra by spreading a neck-flap,
exposing its black mouth, and hissing. If this fails to scare away attacker, the black
mamba will strike repeatedly, injecting large amounts of venom. Its poison causes
100% human mortality within 30 minutes if not treated with anti-venom.
The Bongo is the largest and heaviest forest antelope. Both males and
females have spiraled lyre-shaped horns. The large ears are believed to
sharpen hearing, and the distinctive coloration may help bongos
identify one another in their dark forest habitats. It has no special
secretion glands and so relies less on scent to find one another than do
other similar antelopes. Both males and females have spiraled lyreshaped horns and a hunched posture, with the head held up and the
horns extended along the back. Male bongos are solitary, seeking out
females only during mating season. Females and young live in nursery
herds. Timid and easily frightened, bongos will run away at
considerable speed, even through dense undergrowth.
The Forest Cobra is the second largest cobra species on earth, reaching
lengths of up to 9 feet in the tropical forests of Central Africa. This predator
can deliver a very powerful bite with it hollow, fixed fangs through which it
injects deadly venom. Its mating behavior includes male ritual combat where
two males literally "dance" with each other to determine who wins the right to
mate with the female cobra. Once a male has established dominance the loser
will generally move on. Juvenile cobras however must beware of larger adults
because they are cannibalistic and will eat smaller snakes.
The
Hippopotamus is a semi-aquatic mammal living in groups
of up to 40 animals with territorial bulls presiding over a
stretch of river and groups of females and young. Adults
average 11 ft long, 5 ft tall at the shoulder, and weigh from
13,300 to 7,000 lbs with a specific gravity that allows it to
sink and walk or run along river bottoms. Despite its stocky
shape and short legs, this aggressive animal can outrun a
human. Its closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales,
porpoise, etc.) from which they diverged 55 million years
ago.
The Brush-Tailed Porcupine is a rodent that frequents the forests of West and
Central Africa. With an average weight of six pounds, it is a favorite source of
meat and thus hunted in large quantities. It has an elongated rat-like face and
body and short legs, tipped with clawed and webbed feet. Unlike most other
porcupines, the brush-tailed porcupine has lighter and smaller quills.
The Western Lowland Gorilla of Central Africa is the most widespread and numerous of all
gorillas. Although it stands erectly up to 5ft 7 in. tall and weigh up to 400 pounds, it can climb
up over 100 feet to feed on leaves or fruits. The adult male is called a "silverback" due to the
distinctive silver-gray hairs on its back; the others have brownish gray fur with reddish
highlights. It lives in families of one dominant male, five to seven adult females, children and
adolescents, and possibly a few non-dominant males within a home range of three to 18 miles.
Families grow slowly because females tend to produce babies every five years only starting at
the age of nine or ten.
ABOUT THE CAST
KRIS MARSHALL (Larry)
Kris Marshall began acting at an early age and made his TV debut in the British police series The
Bill. He was raised in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, UK; Hong Kong and Canada, and educated at Wells
Cathedral School. His work in children's theatre in Ascot led to touring productions of Agatha Christie. His
persistence landed him a role in the play Journey's End, staged above a London pub, which attracted an
agent. His major breakthrough came in 2000 as oldest-son Nick Harper in the BBC sitcom My Family that
earned him the Best Newcomer prize at the 2002 British Comedy Awards. During the following run of
successful TV, stage and film appearances,
Marshall suffered severe head injuries in April 2008 when a
car flung him 12 feet outside a night club in Bristol. He miraculously recovered in time to begin his
acclaimed performance as Carter in the UK run of playwright Neil LaBute’s American play Fat Pig only
weeks later.
His numerous film roles include the unlikely playboy Collin Frissel in Love Actually, Troy in the
UK version of Death at a Funeral, Gratiano in the 2004 film Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino and
Jeremy Irons, and Dr. Gudeon in Iris starring Judy Dench.
His most recent roles include Ethan who
seduces American women with his British accent in Fox TV’s 2011 sitcom, Traffic Light, and the best man
in an Australian outback wedding in Stephen Elliot’s film A Few Best Men with Olivia Newton-John due
for release in 2012.
Marshall has earned a near cult following playing “Adam” whose relationship with “Jane” as the
“BT Couple” has generated several years of quirky British telecommunication ads. Half a million viewers
recently voted to choose Jane’s wedding dress, their car and song before the “couple” filmed the “marriage
ceremony” with fans who competed to appear as the wedding guests (to air during the 2011 Britain’s I’ve
Got Talent competition.)
ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ (Mayor Bassoun)
Isaach de Bankolé was born in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire in 1957 to parents from the West African
country of Benin. He arrived in Paris at age 17 to study engineering and become an airplane pilot. Instead
de Bankolé earned a degree in Acting from Cours Simon of Paris, one of the oldest and most prestigious
theatrical training schools for professional actors in France, and a master’s degree in mathematics from the
Universite de Paris. De Bankolé won a César (the national French film awards) for most promising actor as
Lemi in the French comedy Black Mic Mac (1986). His first major role was that of Protee in Claire Denis'
Chocolat (1988), an intelligent and cultured African servant erotically drawn to his married Caucasian
mistress.
In 1998, he relocated to New York City after a shift from French films to working with foreign
directors.
He has appeared in over 30 films, including four by Jim Jarmusch portraying the Parisian cab driver
in Night on Earth (1991); Raymond in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999); Isaach in the “No
Problem” segment of Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) and the “Lone Man” assassin in The Limits of Control
(2009). Bankole’s credits also include Laurent in Julian Schnabel’s Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007);
Timothy in Lars von Trier's Manderlay (2005), and the terrorist Steven Obanno in the James Bond film
Casino Royale (2006).
In the U.S. he is best known for his recurring role in the seventh season of the TV series 24 as Ule
Matobo, prime minister of the fictional African country of Sangala. In 2000 he directed his wife, jazz
vocalist Cassandra Wilson in the concert film Traveling Miles: Cassandra Wilson (2000). Seagull Films is
preparing a 2012 tribute to de Bankole’s 25-year career in both European and American cinema.
WILL YUN LEE (Mr. Yi)
Will Yun Lee was born in Arlington, Virginia, to parents recently emigrated from Korea. He was
raised by both immediate and extended family and moved often, exposed to life on the tough Bronx streets
and idyllic Hawaiian beaches.
By his teens he was living in the San Francisco area with his father, a
Korean Tae Kwon Do Grandmaster. Lee also became an accomplished martial artist and won an athletic
scholarship for the school's Taekwondo team of the University of California at Berkeley.
While in school, Lee worked at the East Bay Asian Youth Centre teaching martial arts to high-risk
teens from ghetto neighborhoods not unlike those he had known as a child in the Bronx.
His ongoing
commitment to support young people began here and continues to play an important role in his life. At this
time he also became seriously interested in acting, and after landing a role in the TV series Nash Bridges he
moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career. Guest star roles in the series Profiler and Brimstone led to a role
in the TV movie The Disciples for UPN. Soon Lee played the Vietnamese Jimmy Nguyen in the comedy
film What’s Cooking about four ethnically diverse families at Thanksgiving in Los Angeles.
Lee is best known for his roles on TNT's supernatural drama series Witchblade as Danny Woo and
as Jae Kim, a main character on NBC's science fiction television drama Bionic Woman. His film credits
also include the action films ELEKTRA as the lead villain, and Val in TORQUE. In 2002 he was named by
People Magazine as one of its "50 Most Beautiful People" which quickly lead to high profile roles such as
the villain Colonel Tan-Sun Moon in the James Bond film Die Another Day. He has also acted on Fox
Network's TV mini-series Thief, and Mazarin in the ABC's mini-series Fallen.
In November 2007, People Magazine again recognized Lee, this time on their list of the 15 "Sexiest
Men Alive." Most recently he appeared as Sang Min in the pilot of the hit CBS TV series Hawaii Five O
and in ABC’s pilot cop drama Boston’s Finest. Lee stars in the soon to be released Indie thriller Far Away
Eyes shot entirely on location in Hong Kong.
ABOUT THE CREW
LAVINIA CURRIER – DIRECTOR, CO-WRITER, PRODUCER
Lavinia Currier is a film director, screen writer, producer and environmentalist with a diverse
interest in the interplay of the arts and ecology. She studied poetry at Harvard University with Professor
Robert Fitzgerald, the renowned translator of Greek classics, and then acting with Sanford Meisner at the
Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. While absorbing Meisner’s groundbreaking approach of "living
truthfully under imaginary circumstances," Currier served as production assistant to director James Ivory
for his film Jane Austen in Manhattan. This assignment led to Ivory, and his partners Ismail Merchant and
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala becoming mentors both for their art and their remarkable working relationships.
Her first formal directing was staging liturgical and passion plays at New York’s Cathedral of Saint
John the Divine in collaboration with John–Michael Tebelak, the award-winning writer of the musical
Godspell. Then in Paris, Currier directed and acted in American plays in English at a theatre that her
Harvard classmate founded in a building inherited from her great aunt Isadora Duncan.
Currier wrote, directed and filmed her first feature Heart of the Garden at her family farm in
Virginia. The production, shot by cinematographer Edward Lachman, included a sound track featuring her
Harvard classmate cellist Yo Yo Ma, playing Bach underneath a tree. This professional debut won a 1985
Gold Eagle Cine award in the entertainment category.
Her first full-length feature, Passion in the Desert (1997), was inspired by Honore de Balzac’s
novella about a French army officer in Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt, played by award-winning actor
Ben Daniels. Lost and alone in the Saharan desert after Muslim warriors attack, the soldier finds himself in
a mysterious relationship with a female leopard that has saved his life. Currier developed her now signature
style of evoking vivid atmospheres and bringing the landscape alive in equal importance with the human
characters. Following years of scouting and preparation, she filmed the actors in Jordan, and shot the
dangerous and often unhappy leopards in Moab, Utah the following summer. A defining point in gaining
confidence as a director came when the leopard cubs, that a trainer purchased and raised for the role,
refused to cooperate. Her intuitive problem-solving that managed to complete the film also taught her a
more flowing and receptive approach. The feature received special recognition for excellence in filmmaking from the National Board of Review and was widely acclaimed in Europe and the United States.
Subsequently, she wrote and directed “Beautiful Swimmer,” a fable about the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2004, Currier moved with her family to Italy to work with Tonino Guerra, the legendary Italian
screenwriter who collaborated with many of the world’s leading film directors, including Fellini,
Michelangelo Antonioni and Andrei Tarkovsky. They together produced a screen play, The Butterfly Seller,
based on true experiences of Abkhazia refugees camped in an abandoned luxury hotel in the Democratic
Republic of Georgia. The plot centers on a young girl surviving life in a crumbling building packed with
families, drug dealers and Mafia. As Currier scouted locations with Russian cinematographer Aleksei
Rodionov during the aftermath of Georgia’s “Rose Revolution,” the government’s abrupt ban on foreign
cameras halted the project.
Currier turned instead to a story inspired by renowned ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno and the
Bayaka pygmies whom she had encountered on her first trip to the Central Africa Republic (CAR) as a
World Wildlife Fund board member. She retrieved Sarno’s unpublished memoir from his mother’s New
Jersey home and together they created the film script for OKA!, an evocative fable set in the tropical forests
of the Congo River basin. Spurred by memories of her Georgia shutdown, Currier defied last-minute
political and civil conflicts that made few actors willing to film in the remote Dzanga Sangha forest reserve
in southwestern CAR. In 2009, her cast and crew survived nearly 4 months in a jungle tent camp during
rainy season besieged by poisonous snakes, insects, illness, muddy roads and unhappy government officials
who three times closed down production of only the second film ever shot in the CAR. The film’s
captivating wildlife images include a scene Currier directed with wild elephants and actors in a natural
forest clearing with support from the prominent elephant researcher Andrea Tarkalo.
In both her full-length features, Currier explores a central male figure confronting the powers of
nature outside the moorings of his own culture. Her OKA! character Larry Whitman, inspired by Sarno, is a
tall man in a world made for short people carrying recording equipment among forest people famous for
their incredibly acute hearing. She directed the Bayaka in their acting debuts by appealing to their sensitive
emotional natures and skillfully engaging them in the storytelling so her cast never disappeared back into
the forest before the finish. The first cut of OKA! screened at the 2010 Telluride film festival, and the final
cut premiered at the 2011 Washington DC Environmental Film Festival.
Lavinia Currier continues her philanthropic work in support of environmental initiatives. Her
support of Tibetan refugees earned the International Campaign for Tibet’s Light of Truth Award presented
by the Dalai Lama. She is executive producer of the acclaimed documentary film The Sun Behind the
Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom (2010). Her film company is Roland Film Productions.
LOUIS SARNO – CO-WRITER
Louis Sarno is an acclaimed ethnomusicologist born in New Jersey in 1954 who now lives in the
Dzanga Sangha Dense Forest Reserve in southwestern Central African Republic (CAR). Drawn to the heart
of Africa by pygmy music he heard on the radio while traveling in Europe, Louis made his first journey to
the CAR in the 1980’s with little more than a plane ticket, some recording equipment, insufficient cash and
untested notions about pygmy life. His trip was also inspired by Colin Turnbull’s classic The Forest People
and an encouraging correspondence with the famed anthropologist.
Sarno has now lived with the Bayaka pygmies for over twenty-five years as a welcome member of a
cooperative community. He has married a Bayaka woman, adopted two children, suffered life threatening
diseases and witnessed the struggles and even deaths of many of his African friends. His committed
presence has earned their trust to record songs and rituals previously unheard by western ears. He calls this
music that is older than the pyramids “one of the hidden glories of humanity.” He is convinced that their
music’s intricacy and profound emotional content represents one of the world’s most significant cultural
traditions.
Sarno’s published works include the acclaimed Song from the Forest: My Life Among the BaBenjelle Pygmies (1993) and a book and compact disc collection called The Extraordinary Music of the BaBenzele Pygmies (1995). His unpublished memoir, Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth,
inspired the film OKA! and its lead character Larry Whitman.
JAMES BRUCE – PRODUCER
As the producer of Oka! Bruce had to not only negotiate with the Central African Republic (CAR)
government to allow the crew to film there – OKA! would be the second feature film ever shot in CAR - but
he also managed all the logistics of getting foreign crews in, hire locals, get 15 tons of equipment into and
out the country, build production infrastructure in the remote forest of the Congo basin, fly in food and
supplies, as well as manage the local officials to make sure the government didn’t shut production down
which they did three times!
James Bruce has worked extensively in both television and film. Currently, James is Executive
Producing A&E’s pilot Profilers which is a reality documentary version of Criminal Minds. James is
completing Shooter based on Walter Dean Myers bestseller which he wrote and directed. This past year,
James executive produced, wrote and directed Comedy Central’s Web series The Handlers starring Emmy
Award Winner, Bryan Cranston. James has directed episodes for such dramatic television series
as Army Wives, Land’s End, Highlander, and The New Adventures of Robin Hood. James has Executive
Produced Reality series such as CBC’s All For One with Debbie Travis, ABC’s Greg Behrendt’s Wake Up
Call, NBC’s The Restaurant, Fox’s The Casino which he co-created, and NBC’s Meet Mister Mom which
he created. James has also senior produced the hit-reality CBS series Survivor and NBC’s Apprentice for
which he received three Emmy nominations. James started his career as Louis Malle's assistant and became
his editor on the documentary God's Country and feature film Alamo Bay. James Bruce currently lives in
Santa Monica, California.
CHRIS BERRY – MUSIC
Chris Berry is a California native who discovered his passion for African music in private study
with a Congolese drummer, Tiro Sampa. At 19, he accompanied his teacher home to Brazzaville, Congo.
His fascination with mbira (thumb piano) music soon led him to Zimbabwe where he settled and studied
under mbira master Monderek Muchena for ten years. Berry became one of the first westerners to be
accepted among the elder mbira masters and to earn the title of Gwenyambira or “one whose music calls the
spirits.” Berry has achieved international recognition as a master dancer and musician of the mbira and the
ngoma drum of the Shona people of southern Africa.
Chris married a Zimbabwean woman and together formed the banD Panjea in 1991, which
successfully toured until four members died in Zimbabwe’s AIDS epidemic. Yet the band’s legacy lives
on as Chris continues to work with the surviving members and to promote the Panjea Foundation for
Cultural Education established in 1998 to facilitate music education and cultural exchange.
His record
sales have reached platinum album levels in southern Africa.
In composing the score for OKA!, Barry spent over two weeks performing night and day with
various combinations of over one hundred Bayaka pygmies from Yandombe village in the Central African
Republic. His co-musicians ranged in age from three to 90 years old. He then returned home to integrate
over one hundred hours of recordings. With the help of musicologist Louis Sarno who has lived with the
Bayaka for over 25 years, Berry showcased their unique musical genius that integrates powerful human
emotions and intuition into an elaborate 64-beat musical code unique to forest people.
Berry performed as a special guest on Paul Winter’s 2005 Grammy Award winning album, Silver
Solstice, and is currently collaborating with Winter on a new album, Rhythm Quest, that features songs
recorded in 20 different countries. When not on tour, he divides his time among Africa, Hawaii and New
York City.
CONRAD W. HALL – DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Conrad W. Hall, director of photography, is the son of celebrated cinematographer, the late
Conrad L. Hall, and the grandson of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY co-author James Norman Hall.
He is a graduate of the UCLA Film School and currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa
and two children Logan and Jordan.
Hall’s credits include A GENTLEMAN’S GAME, David Fincher’s PANIC ROOM, THE
PUNISHER, TWO FOR THE MONEY starring Al Pacino, ELVIS AND ANABELLE, THE
LONGSHOTS and OKA AMERIKEE. He has worked with his father on several occasions,
including A CIVIL ACTION (1998) and Academy Award winner AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999),
as camera operator and director of photography of 2nd unit, respectively.
CAST
(in order of appearance)
SATAKA
MAKOMBE
SIMBOKI
BIENVENU
SINGHA
ELOBA
EKADI
LIKITI
MEKEKE
BOBANJO
MULALA
LARRY
DOC
BOY IN MUSEUM
LYDIA
WATERLILY
JURGEN
DEREK
BASSOUN
KIRIKIRI
MR. YI
POLICE CHIEF
FLUTE PLAYER
CHORUS
CHORUS
CHORUS
MEN WITH GIFTS
CHILDREN BOYS
CHILDREN BOYS
CHILDREN BOYS
CHILDREN BOYS
CHILDREN BOYS
GIRLS
GIRLS
BARNABY
LOGGER IN TRUCK
RESTAURANT OWNER
FRENCH DINERS
FRENCH DINERS
BICYCLE MESSENGER
LALO
GUARDS
GUARDS
GUARDS
GUARDS
GUARDS
MAPUMBA
MBOMBI
TETE
MOKULE
SINGHA
GANA
ESSANDJA
JULIAN
MEKEKE
GBANDA
MATA
KRIS MARSHALL
PETER RIEGERT
MICHAEL MCCLEARY
HAIVILAND MORRIS
WATERLILY LEE
JACOB VON EICHEL
SEBASTIAN BEACON
ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ
DIEU DONNET
WILL YUN LEE
ALBERT OYOMA
MOBILA
ANGENDE
GBELEMA
MASSEPPAI
PASCAL
BIMBA
ALPHONSE
NDOKI
BANGA
YAMBI
YENGA
KENYA
EVARIS
GREG FAWCETT
SAMSON
JEAN DE TREGOMAIN
MAXIME CHEVALIER
NAQUI
MEKUPA
MAURICE N’DOUMBE
CHRISTOPHE GARGA
MARION
THEOPHANE VONTO
DESTIN YAMBASSA
ROLAND FILMS AND JAMES BRUCE PRODUCTIONS PRESENT
A FILM BY LAVINIA CURRIER
Based on the memoir by Louis Sarno
"Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth"
SCREENPLAY BY LOUIS SARNO & LAVINIA CURRIER
AND SUZANNE STROH
DIRECTED BY LAVINIA CURRIER
WITH KRIS MARSHALL, ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ, WILL YUN LEE,
THE BAYAKA OF YANDOMBRE
PRODUCED BY JAMES BRUCE & LAVINIA CURRIER
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ANDREW FIERBERG
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY CONRAD W. HALL
EDITED BY KRISTINA BODEN & NIC GASTER
CASTING BY LISA HAMIL
MUSIC BY CHRIS BERRY & THE MUSICIANS OF YANDOMBE
SOUND DESIGN BY DAVID MONACCHI
COSTUME DESIGNER DELPHI SQUIRES
PRODUCTION DESIGNER ALEXANDRE VIVET
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ISAACH DE BANKOLÉ
CO-PRODUCER NORBERT BOGBEYATE
LINE PRODUCER JEAN AUBERT DE TREGOMAIN
N.Y. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
WOLFGANG HELD
POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
CHRIS F. WOODS
RAINFOREST FIELD RECORDINGS, SOUNDSCAPE AND ECO-ACOUSTIC COMPOSITIONDAVID
MONACCHI
ACTING COACH
KARINE NURIS