"HOME" - ON TOUR TO YOUR CITY coming soon ...

A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT "THE NEW GREAT MIGRATION"

2012-02-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

"HOME"

2011

NAIMAH FULLER is the producer/writer/director of this incredible documentary. Five years in the making, the savvy producer has finally completed post production, and is currently gearing up of a national promotion campaign to all the cities that were featured in the documentary movie: Including New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago. The producer is currently reviewing distribution options with the anticipation of a soon-to-be announced release date. HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE explores the "push-pull:" factors associated with the NEW GREAT MIGRATION of African Americans relocating to the southern regions of the U.S. The documentary connects the dots between this mass migration and the historical Great Migration of the mid-twentieth century, when nearly seven million black folks left the south and moved to the north and the west. The project asks the poignant question: Why are African Americans migrating to the South in the 21st century? HOME - The Documentary Movie features Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, DJ Drama, Terence Blanchard, Julie Dexter, and Okeeba Jublio, who are among those who share their migration stories.

BASHIRI JOHNSON, veteran recording and performing artist is the Musical Director of HOME THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE, bringing more than thirty years experience in the recording industry to the project. Affectionately known as "Bash" to his peers, he has graced the stage with some of the recording industry's most admired artists, including Sting, Mary J Blige, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Steve Winwood, Anita Baker, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Angelique Kidjo, Toshi Kubota, Maxwell, Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, Carol King, James Taylor, Sade, Aretha Franklin, Blues Traveler, Eric Clapton, Lionel Richie, just to mention a few. As musical director of this historical project, Bashiri is already busy composing music for the project, including the title song, "HOME".

MICHELLE MATERRE is Marketing & Distribution Consultant for the project. Ms. Materre's career in the film and television industry spans more then twenty years. Materre has managed the marketing, positioning and distribution for some twenty-five film projects, including the highly acclaimed L'Homme Sur Les Quais. She is Executive Director of International Film Seminars, as well as the Harlem Film Festival series.

TERENCE BLANCHARD is one of he jazz world's most renowned musician/composers. His band is in constant demand, and performs around the globe. Terence is also one of the most sought after composers in the motion picture industry. His filmography reads like the who's who in motion picture score compositions. Terence will contribute his musical artistry to the score in HOME-THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE.

AMBASSADOR ANDREW YOUNG whose work in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., helped prepare the south for the 21st century. Ambassador Young shares is perspective on how this mass migration of African Americans is part of Dr. King's dream of the "promised land".

However, President OBAMA reminds us that in spite of all the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans have not reached the promised land. As economic and political issues impact public policies that continue to reshape black communities across the U.S., these and other "push-pull" factors are explored in this incredible documentary film HOME THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE.

DR. HOWARD DODSON, is the Director of the SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE.Co-author of the acclaimed National Geographic publication IN MOTION: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MIGRATION EXPERIENCE, Dr. Dodson brings his expertise to this historical documentary project, and paints a picture of ethnic and cultural diversity of the current black population in the U.S. that has never been greater, or richer.

About: NAIMAH FULLER Producer-Writer-Director

Make Contact @

theplacecalledhome@gmail.com

2011-10-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

During the production of the HOME documentary movie project, I shot over 200 hours of digital video content. One of my most cherished interview experiences was with Reverend CT Vivian (top left photo), a former member of Dr. King's executive staff of stratgists and front-line leaders. My interview experience with him was like being inside a living history class. Here I was, interviewing one of the hero's of the Civil Rights Movement. One of those courageous front-line fighters for Freedom, who made it possible for me and generations to come, to live in peace and equality in the South, and in the United States of America.

In his interview, Rev. Vivian made a very poignant statement, and I quote: "If it wasn't for the Civil Rights Movement, there wouldn't be this migration back!" No truer words were ever spoken. If anyone has the authority to make such a statement, Rev. Vivian is certainly that person. He is one of the courageous people who came South to join the fight for Freedom in that Movement we now know as the Civil Rights Movement. Rev. Vivian was a rider on the first “Freedom Bus” into Jackson, Mississippi. He worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham and Selma, Ala., and the March On Washington.

I spent many wonderful days traveling with Rev. Vivian during the production of this project. He who took me with him to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the now famous Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. My travels with Rev. Vivian was part of the incredible journey of experiences I had during the production of the HOME DOCUMENTARY MOVIE.

Over the course of producing this project, I traveled to many of the landmark cities in the South, including Atlanta, GA, Selma, AL, Memphis, TN, Charlotte, NC, Winston-Salem, NC, Georgetown, SC, Brunswick,m, GA, Atlanta, GA, Houston, TX, The Georgia Sea Islands, and Clarksdale, Mississippi, the town where Morgan Freeman restored an old cotton jin building into a blues juke joint. I also went to the infamous rural town of Money, Mississippi, the town where Emmett Till was brutally murdered, a horrific event that became the catalyst of the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.

Another memorable experience was the time I spent in the home of Dr. Maya Angelou. That experience was like being nurtured at wisdom's feet. My interview with Rev. Vivian, with Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, Ambassador Andrew Young, Judge D'Army Bailey, were like collecting jewels of history, not just African American history, but American history.

When I finally sat down to begin the editing process, I began screening the content I shot to tell this story, I realized a large portion of this incredible content would not be included in the documentary movie, hence my decision to develop a series around all that rich content, a series I am calling HOME: THE NEW SOUTH, an extension of the documentary movie HOME: THE GREAT MIGRATION OF THE 21st CENTURY. These jewels of knowledge and wisdom is the kind of content the world is craving at this challenging time on planet earth.

If anyone out there is interested in bringing this series to cable tv, please make contact with me at:

theplacecalledhome@gmail.com
Many Blessings
Naimah

I began this project in 2005 the year of the worst natural disaster in the Nation's history. The year of Hurricane Katrina. I had just launched my production company Earthlight Media Services in 2004, and I had just received my first significant account in of all places, New Orleans.

The Rev. CT Vivian, renowned Civil Right veteran, and former staff member of Dr. King's, called and asked if I would go down to New Orleans and begin production on a series of fund raising presentations that would be used to help rebuild the churches that had been destroyed by the hurricane, including those in the 9th ward and uptown New Orleans.

Ironically, I had just scheduled my first interview for my documentary project, which at that time didn't even have a working title, and was just in its infant stage of development. Nevertheless, Bill Summers the renowned percussionist had agreed to an interview and to talk about his experience of relocating to the south to the city of his ancestors, New Orleans. It was perfect.

I put my newly purchased Panasonic DVX100A, my lighting kit, my wireless sound equipment in the trunk of a rental car, and took off from Atlanta to New Orleans, an eight hour trip through Alabama and Mississippi. That was the beginning to many trips over interstate 10 to New Orleans. Next came my interview with Voodoo Priestess Miriam who had left Mississippi after graduating from high school for New York City. Her return to the South landed her in the French Quarter in New Orleans. My next trip to the Crescent City was to spend time with jazz giant Terence Blanchard, who returned home after living in New York for several years.

There were many road trips that would take place over a course of three years, that included Selma, Alabama, Houston, Texas, New Orleans (several times), Clarksdale, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, Winston-Salem, NC, Georgetown, South Carolina, Charlotte, NC, The Georgia Sea Island, Burnswick, GA, and of course Atlanta, GA, and its surrounding towns and counties.

As my production schedule started picking up momentum, one of my most exciting moments was when I got the call to come to Clarksdale, Mississippi to Ground Zero, a juke joint owned by Morgan Freeman and his biz partner Bill Luckett (who is currently running for governor of Mississippi.) It was an interesting drive across Alabama into Mississippi, which is 99% rural country with narrow two-lane roads for hundreds of miles. It was an adventure! It was even more exciting when I got the call that my interview with Dr. Maya Angleou was a go! I owe that moment to Judge D'Army Bailey of Memphis, and to several hours of praying and calling on my ancestors, and chanting the Buddhist mantra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.

Judge D'Army Bailey, a former circuit Judge in Memphis, Tennessee, is a personal friend of Maya Angelou. After our interview wrapped he asked me had I been to the museum. Museum? I was clueless. I said I was planning to go by the Lorraine Motel and get a shot of it. He gave me a quizzical look and said, "I'm talking about the Civil Rights Museum, I'm the person who purchased the Lorraine Hotel and turned it into the Civil Rights Museum." Duh... who knew... Here I was conducting my interview with the person who single-handedly took on the mission of turning the Lorraine Motel into the Civil Rights Museum, without a clue as to who the man was.

This was one of so many special moments I had in the process of creating this documentary. I soon realized that I was indeed making a documentary about history in the making. Or one could say, a documentary about the New South, or a documentary about the South that the Civil Rights Movement made. It was all this and more. My mission was to answer the most obvious question: Why were African Americans moving to the South by the droves? My job was to find out what the "push/pull" factors were that were causing this mass migration. Therein I would find the answer(s) to my question.

Every documentary film has its own spirit, especially when telling a story of "history-in-the-making". That's what this New Great Migration is all about. It is the reversal of hundred year old trend, or at least a thirty year old trend, depending on which demographer is writing an article about it. It could it be the New Return Migration? It's all so new that it is still becoming what it is going to be when it is finally laid to rest in the pages of history books yet unwritten.

Without a doubt, this documentary had it's own agenda, completely unbeknown to me, its humble servant. It gave me the unsuspecting responsibility of connecting the dots between this New Great Migration, and the previous Great Migration. Which meant that I had no choice but to travel to those iconic cities of that monumental historic era, including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Harlem, and Brooklyn. So off I went.

In Chicago I was hosted by Dr. Phillip J. Bowman, Social Psychologist, a man of many letters, and a treasure trove of knowledge. It was like striking gold. He schooled me from the bottom to the top. I was full, and inspired. We talked about the ethos of migration. Yes! But of course. From then on I was certain that my ancestors along with all the ancestors of all the people I was interviewing were all in cahoots, making it all come together, because believe me when I tell you, the "documentary fairies" were having their way with me. I was theirs, I belonged to them and so did this project. So I surrendered and went with the flow, five long years of flowing.

It was right at the time when "gentrification" was looming during the great real estate boom that just starting during the early years of the millennium. The word on the streets from Bronzville in Chicago to Harlem in New York City, and all the way across the waters to old London town, was that the gentrification devils were on the warpath and they weren't taking any prisoners. I bumped into some of their fiercest components on the streets of my old neighborhood in Fort Green where I found myself among a group of disgruntled die-hard black Brooklynites who seemed like they'd been waiting for me and my trusty Pannasonic AVX100 to show up, even though it all happened "by chance".

Among the crowd of outdoor diners was a producer from the BBC, Marina Warsama who had a lot to say about the gentrification war taking place back home in the trenches of traditional black brit neighborhoods. To make a long story short, when I returned to Atlanta, my base of operation, I just happened to stumble upon a community of Black Brits who just happened to be recent migrants from where else. London.

You can guess the rest. When I arrived in London, , I was amazed by the similarities between these people and of the people from the Flatbush community in Brooklyn, where folks had come up from Jamaica a couple of generations ago, and in the case of the Black Brits, they had come to reap the benefits of the Queens good will for all who answered the call to come home to the Motherland to rebuild what had been destroyed during the great world war. One of the gifts for their service were neighbors that were set aside for the newcomers. Now a couple of generations later, they found themselves confronted by the unrelenting gentrification monster whose intent was to take back everything the Queen had bequeathed them. It was sad. The upside to the story was the new promised land in the U.S. South.

I think I'll stop here. I tell you this project never ceased to be amazing. There are more stories from behind the scenes of the making of this documentary, but the real story is in the documentary itself. The story about a people determined to find the promised land, just as their parents and grandparents had set out to do over a century ago.

More stories on the way...

Naimah

2011-07-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

A "GRASSROOTS" MOVEMENT

CHECK OUT OUR FUND RAISING SITE @
http://igg.me/p/30562?a=162165&i=shlk

Being an independent filmmaker comes with its own unique set of challenges, one of which is always the lack of funding. From the outset there was no budget to speak of, except money that came from my salary. Challenges notwithstanding, I have been blessed to keep this project moving. As I approach the release date of the project, I am launching a fund raising campaign to support completion funding for the last phase of the project.

I NEED YOUR HELP TO LAUNCH THIS MOVEMENT

This film is about how we are coping with living in the 21st century. This "New Great Migration" of African Americans moving South is a testament to how we still believe there are opportunities for a better life, if we have the courage to leave the past behind. With you participation, we will be able to bring this message to as many people as possible. I am asking everyone: Friends, family, Facebook family, educators and migrants to join me in this movement, and be a part of history in the making! Be involved and spread the word... Tweet about our IndieGoGo site, "Like" us on Facebook, and blog about "US" on your blogs. Email this IndieGoGo link, and let your church members, your support groups and co-workers know about our fund raising campaign.

I am also looking for "campaign managers" to help execute and launch this movement. In return you will receive a ""Special" thank you in the film credits. You can contact me directly via email at: theplacecalledhome@gmail.com.

SEPTEMBER RELEASE DATE

Scheduled release date of this documentary movie is September 2011. Currently, I am in the little seaside village of Sarasota, FL, where I am hunkered down editing, working to meet my projected deadline.

This project features: MAYA ANGELOU, MORGAN FREEMAN, DANNY GLOVER, jazz giant TERENCE GLOVER, AMBASSADOR ANDREW YOUNG, CT VIVIAN, JUDGE D'ARMY BAILEY, ELAINE BROWN, OKEEBA JUABLO, BILL SUMMERS, VASTI JACKSON, JULIE DEXTER, DR. HOWARD DODSON, DR. PHILLIP BOWMAN, DR. FATIMA WEATHERS, and so many others whose stories are told in the documentary movie.

contact me directly via email at: theplacecalledhome@gmail.com.

2011-03-25T10:17:00.001-07:00

A NAIMAH FULLER FILM PROJECT

COMING IN 2011

VIEW PREVIEW CLIPS @ HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE ABOUT THE NEW SOUTH - SINCE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

NAIMAH FULLER, producer/writer/director is an award winning filmmaker of the groundbreaking documentary movie project HOME- THE GREAT MIGRATION OF THE 21ST CENTURY , the first film about the "new south" since the Civil Rights Movement. Fuller connects the historical dots between this current mass migration of African Americans relocating to the "new south", to the Great Migration of the twentieth century, when Black folks fled the Jim Crow South. Five years in the making, Fuller examines the "push-pull" factors behind African Americans moving en masse, leaving cities such as Los Angeles, Oakland, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, to relocate to cities like Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, and other southern cities. The poignant question the documentary begs: Are blacks relocating into the South as a consequence of an insidious urban renewal policy called "gentrification", or is it the manifestation of a shared ethos, a spiritual calling to African Americans to return to their southern roots? Fuller is also at the helm as cinematographer on this historical project. In her signature cinema vérité style, she explores the "rust belt" cities of Cleveland and Detroit, where dramatic economic decline of these once thriving industrial sectors, is influencing the current migration of African Americans moving en masse to "sun belt" cities. Fuller also took her camera to London, England where she found similar patterns of change occurring in traditional black British communities, and where many Black Brits have opted to relocate to southern U.S. cities. With principle photography completed, the producer is currently in the first phase of post production of editing this groundbreaking documentary. She is also researching distribution options.

MORGAN FREEMAN shares his story of returning home to Mississippi where he built his home on the exact same track of land where his parents once lived in a shack. Mr. Freeman remarks: "People are always asking me why did I move back to Mississippi when I can live anywhere in the world? What I realized is my comfort zone is in Mississippi. It's a feeling I've only gotten on home ground, on home territory." His pride and passion shine through in his compelling conversation with Ms. Fuller.

DR. MAYA ANGELOU relocated to Winston-Salem, NC, and remarks that: "The south is a beautiful place. It is my historical place. My father, my uncles, grandfathers, my great-grandfathers, slaved here, and built the South without any compensation, allowing the South to become a viable financial entity. So the South is my place. I earned this place, and no one can send me away." Dr. Angelou was raised in the small rural town of Stamps, Arkansas.

REUBEN CANNON relocated to Atlanta, GA after residing in Los Anglees for nearly thirty years where he was one of Hollywood's A-list casting directors. His migration journey began when he moved from his hometown of Chicago, to Los Angeles where he began his career in the mail room at Universal Studios. Cannon moved up the ranks, and went on to make motion picture history as the first African American casting director in Hollywood. As CEO of Reuben Cannon Associates, Cannon collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on the acclaimed film The Color Purple, casting Oprah Winfrey in the role that would solidify her career. Now a resident of Atlanta, where he joined forces with Tyler Perry, producing of a list of box office hits.

OKEEBE JUBALO, an artist living in Atlanta, comes from a family with strong southern roots. His mother was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta. Affectionately known as J to his peers, Jubalo followed his artistic dreams to New York City, but ultimately returned to his southern roots where much of his work finds its inspiration. His in your face paintings reflect the bitter truths of the African American experience during the Civil Rights Movement. Okeeba is part of what Civil Rights Veteran Rev. CT Vivian refers to as the First Freedom Generation; a generation of young African Americans who are reshaping the south in the 21st century.

TERENCE BLANCHARD, Internationally acclaimed jazz musician/composer, is a Grammy award winning musician who began his career in New York City. Blanchard has matured from a young lion into an established artist, and has become one of the most important band leaders of the jazz idiom of his generation. Terence returned to his beloved hometown New Orleans, where he shared his migration story in HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE.

DR. HOWARD DODSON, Co-author of the acclaimed National Geographic publication "In Motion: The African American Migration Experience", is the Director of the SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE. Dr. Dodson brings his expertise to this historical documentary project, and paints a picture of ethnic and cultural diversity of the current black population in the U.S. that has never been greater, or richer.

About: NAIMAH FULLER Producer-Writer-Director

theplacecalledhome@gmail.com

THE NEW GREAT MIGRATION - DOCUMENTARY MOVIE

2010-07-31T21:43:00.001-07:00

"HOME"

2011

NAIMAH FULLER is the producer/writer/director of this incredible documentary. Five years in the making, the savvy producer has finally completed principle photography and is currently in the post production editing phase of the project, with a release date set for 2011. HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE explores the mass migration of African Americans relocating to the southern regions of the U.S. in the turn of the 21st century. This mass migration reflects the historical Great Migration that took place during the mid-twentieth century nearly seven million black folks left the south and moved to the north and the west. The project asks the poignant question: What is causing this 21st century mass migration of African Americans to leave the north, the mid-west, and the west coast to relocate to the southern regions of the country. Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, are among those who share their migration stories.

About: NAIMAH FULLER Producer-Writer-Director

Make Contact @

theplacecalledhome@gmail.com

2010-07-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

A NAIMAH FULLER FILM PROJECT

COMING IN 2011

VIEW PREVIEW CLIPS @ HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE ABOUT THE NEW SOUTH - SINCE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

NAIMAH FULLER, producer/writer/director is an award winning filmmaker of the groundbreaking documentary movie project A PLACE CALLED HOME: THE GREAT MIGRATION OF THE 21ST CENTURY, the first film about the south since the Civil Rights Movement. Fuller connects the historical dots between this current mass migration of African Americans relocating to the "new south", to the Great Migration of the twentieth century, when Black folks fled the Jim Crow South. Four years in the making, Fuller examines the "push-pull" factors behind African Americans moving in mass from cities such as Los Angeles, Oakland, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, to relocate to cities like Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, and other southern cities. The poignant question the documentary begs: Are blacks relocating into the South as a consequence of an insidious urban renewal policy called "gentrification", or is it the manifestation of a shared ethos, a spiritual calling to African Americans to return to their southern roots? Fuller is also at the helm as cinematographer on this historical project. In her signature cinema vérité style, she explores "rust belt" cities of Cleveland, and Detroit, where dramatic economic decline of these once thriving industrial sectors, are influencing the current migration of African Americans relocating en mass. Fuller also took her camera to London where she found similar patterns of change occurring in traditional black British communities, and where many Black Brits have opted to relocate to southern U.S. cities. With principle photography completed, the producer is currently in the first phase of post production, and is researching distribution options.

REUBEN CANNON relocated to Atlanta, GA after residing in Los Anglees for nearly thirty years where he was one of Hollywood's A-list casting directors. His migration journey began when he moved from his hometown of Chicago, to Los Angeles where he began his career in the mail room at Universal Studios. Cannon moved up the ranks, and went on to make motion picture history as the first African American casting director in Hollywood. As CEO of Reuben Cannon Associates, Cannon collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on the acclaimed film The Color Purple, casting Oprah Winfrey in the role that would solidify her career. Now a resident of Atlanta, where he joined forces with Tyler Perry, producing of a list of box office hits.

OKEEBE JUBALO, an artist living in Atlanta, comes from a family with strong southern roots. His mother was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta. Affectionately known as J to his peers, Jubalo followed his artistic dreams to New York City, but ultimately returned to his southern roots where much of his work finds its inspiration. His in your face paintings reflect the bitter truths of the African American experience during the Civil Rights Movement. Okeeba is part of what Civil Rights Veteran Rev. CT Vivian refers to as the First Freedom Generation; a generation of young African Americans who are reshaping the south in the 21st century.

TERENCE BLANCHARD, Internationally acclaimed jazz musician/composer, is a Grammy award winning musician who began his career in New York City. Blanchard has matured from a young lion into an established artist, and has become one of the most important band leaders of the jazz idiom of his generation. Terence returned to his beloved hometown New Orleans, where he shared his migration story in HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE.

DR. HOWARD DODSON, Co-author of the acclaimed National Geographic publication "In Motion: The African American Migration Experience", is the Director of the SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE. Dr. Dodson brings his expertise to this historical documentary project, and paints a picture of ethnic and cultural diversity of the current black population in the U.S. that has never been greater, or richer.

About: NAIMAH FULLER Producer-Writer-Director

theplacecalledhome@gmail.com