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Eritrea: FTE's Dr. Russom Mesfun Interview With Chris Cotter of Tailor Made Media!
AUDIO (AM Quality) for our users in Africa CLICK HERE
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until February 25th, 2015.
The Eritrean Exodus
SYNOPSIS
Follow Chris Cotter, an American traveler, as he follows a common migration path through Ethiopia and into Israel, tracking the plight of Eritrean refugees. Chris and his crew visit several refugee camps, including the never-before-documented Afar region. The refugees tell stories of oppression, torture, and survival. Searching for solutions, Chris speaks to various NGOs and experts, including Assistant Secretary of State, Anne Richard. The outlook is bleak, but the spirit of the Eritrean refugees is hard to ignore.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Luckily for me, I was born just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States of America. I spent my childhood as an optimistic, naive kid more interested in playing music than studying geography. Honestly, I didn’t really put much thought into anything or anyone outside of my small bubble. My biggest issue as a child was deciding whether to watch Thundercats or He-Man.
Like most of us born in a truly democratic state, I have taken many of my basic rights and freedoms for granted. It wasn’t until I began traveling outside of the U.S. that I started to understand how vastly different other countries could be. At first, I traveled mostly for the adventure of it, an achievement of some kind, or just out of sheer boredom. I did it because I could. I was hungry to see the world. My world.
It took quite a few trips before the actual world finally came into focus for me. I started to realize that not everyone was as sheltered and spoiled as I was here in the United States. Not every person had the freedom to question authority or to have their vote counted when something needed to be changed. Not every man, woman, or child had a voice.
As it turned out, “my world” ended up including other people who were not born as lucky as I was. I took on this project to tell the stories of people whose cries are falling on deaf ears and not reaching the public eye. These refugees are underdogs born into a severe situation and if things had gone another way, any of us could have been facing similar fates. After visiting the refugee camps and conducting interviews, I now understand that borders may put certain limits on our identity, but they do not need to define the limits of our humanity.
- Chris Cotter
ABOUT THE CREW
Tailor Made Media is a video production company that produces a wide variety of video content for businesses and organizations of all sizes. Located in West Chester, PA, Tailor Made makes it a point use its resources to create its own meaningful content in addition to its clients’ projects. The Eritrean Exodus is its largest independent project so far.
Chris Cotter: Chris owns and operates Tailor Made Media and TribeSound Records where he spends his time producing music and managing film and commercial video projects. He composes produces for many award winning musical artists and is a voting member for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy. Chris works closely with many large organizations both in the US and abroad. His experience and ambition has led Chris around the world from the United States, Africa, Europe, Central and South America. When Chris isn’t traveling or found in the editing room you’re likely to find him on stage drumming it up with his band WaveRadio.
Scott Miller: Scott has been writing and directing for film and video since 2009. He graduated in 2011 from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Film Studies. During his time there he worked on numerous student films that have been featured at various film festivals. He has since been working in Philadelphia on local projects as camera operator and editor while continuously finding time to fine tune his skill on the etch-a-sketch.
Joe Acchione: Joe has been writing, shooting, editing and scoring films and videos for over ten years. While earning his film degree from Emerson College in Boston, MA he took part in long-term studies of film, literature and music throughout Europe and Los Angeles. He has also performed as a lead guitarist on many well-known stages including the Warped Tour, the TLA of Philadelphia and Lollapalooza.
Evan R. Schullery: Evan graduated with a B.S. in Cinema and Photography from Ithaca College in 2003. With a concentration in Screenwriting, his writing experience has been mostly fictional up until this project. He interned for the Emmy-winning television show Malcolm in the Middle, assisting writers and helping organize the show’s “bible,” as well as at Martin-Chase Productions, where he wrote script coverage. He has written several screenplays that have performed well in contests and has most recently applied his writing skills to music, under the artist name “Skinny Cool Kid.”
Josh Coyne: Joshua is a nationally aired commercial and music video director who also specializes in high end visual effects, detail oriented editing, and color correction. He earned his BA in cinematography, and soon thereafter learned he also excelled in Directing. His broad work experiences are in every aspect of production. Whether as director, producer, editor, VFX artist or Director of Photography, Josh fully commits to each individual project.
Join VoD
VoD is looking for highly motivated candidates to collect, draft, edit and present relevant news items from various sources exclusively but not limited to Eritrea and the rest of the Horn of Africa. Excellent writing skills in both English and Tigrinya, proficiency in using technology, and ability to scan social media are essential. The candidate should be an active listener, able to communicate with persons of interest, and share timely information with the public.
The Main objective of Voice Of Delina is to collect and disseminate economic, social and political developments pertaining to Eritrea and Eritreans at home and in the Erespora.
We are also determined to develop the media capacity by grooming the new generation of Eritreans to articulate the aspirations of our country.
We are particularly looking for candidates who are keenly interested to play an active role in helping foster peace and democracy in Eritrea.
VOLUNTEER INTERNSHIP OPENINGS
• Media Director/Program Coordinator
o manage the team
o prepare editorials
o make editorial decisions on programs to be broadcast
o edit other program contents
• Researchers
o research topics required for programming
o assist in drafting stories
• Writers and Editors
o draft a regular feature story
o assist in news preparation
• Anchor-Reader
o read program items
o assist in news preparation
• Sound Engineer
o arrange programs, add music and repackage programs for dispatch to the studio
• Translator from English into Arabic and Tigrinya (and, on a limited basis, Amharic)
o translate copy of stories into appropriate language for broadcast
o when necessary, read stories in correct language or dialect
To participate please send email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please provide your personal CV, Skype ID, telephone number and best time to call you.