A film by Lavinia Currier which is 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
Running Time: 106 min
Languages: Sango, Akka, French, and English.
Exclusive engagement starts Friday, October 14th at the Angelika Film Center (NY).
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.
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 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 Ba-Benjelle Pygmies (1993) and a book and compact disc collection called The Extraordinary Music of the Ba-Benzele Pygmies (1995). His unpublished memoir, Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth, inspired the film OKA! and its lead character Larry Whitman.
Soundtrack: Chris Berry
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.
