Rocky, a bright and confident teenager from the Bronx, is preparing for college. After high school graduation, she visits her father in Ghana—a trip that forces her to examine her headstrong ways. The directors follow Rocky as she navigates the process of growing up between two cultures and struggles to forge her own identity.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself
Yoni Brook is a film director and photographer. His film, A SON’S SACRIFICE, has been recognized at film festivals around the world, including Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best Documentary Short at the International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards. The film was broadcast nationally in 2008 on PBS' Independent Lens series. He is currently co-directing two films with Musa Syeed for national ITVS/PBS broadcast: THE CALLING, about young religious leaders, and BRONX PRINCESS (for P.O.V. on PBS).

Brook has worked as a photojournalist at The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, and The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal. He is regularly assigned to cover stories of national significance, such as Hurricane Katrina for Fortune and advertising campaigns for Target. His web site is www.yonibrook.com.

Brook's photography has received the field's highest honors at the Pictures of the Year International and Best of Photojournalism competitions. He was named the national College Photographer of the Year by the Missouri School of Journalism and was the youngest ever to be selected for Photo District News' “30 Photographers to Watch”. He speaks regularly about photojournalism and has instructed students at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

He is an alumnus of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and was selected to attend the CPB/PBS Producers Academy and the Berlinale Talent Campus.

Musa Syeed is an independent filmmaker and writer. After producing A SON'S SACRIFICE, he is currently co-directing two films with Yoni Brook for national ITVS/PBS broadcast: THE CALLING, about young religious leaders, and BRONX PRINCESS (for P.O.V. on PBS).

Syeed was a Fulbright Fellow in Cairo, Egypt, where he focused on experimental filmmaking. As a writer, he produced original theatrical work for the Children's Museum of Manhattan and is the film editor for Islamica Magazine. Syeed has worked as an educator in schools, community centers, and prisons. This year, he is a professor of documentary production at Williams College.

He is an alumnus of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies Department.

What inspired this film? How did you find your subjects?
Our first film, A SON’S SACRIFICE (PBS Independent Lens 2008, SILVERDOCS Audience Award 2007), explored a father-son relationship at a halal slaughterhouse in Queens, and we had hoped to make a mother-daughter companion film in another borough of New York. However, making a documentary is rarely a straight path, so we weren’t sure how to meet our ideal subjects. During a weekend shoot in a predominantly West African neighborhood in the Bronx, we stumbled into a corner store. The owner, Auntie Yaa, treated us like we were her own children. She welcomed us immediately, cajoling us to try on wigs and sample the lotions she brought from Ghana, her homeland. And we weren’t the only ones — everyone on the block called her “Ma.” Customers trusted her not only tell them which soap would get rid of acne, but also how to patch things up with a boyfriend. But the one person who wasn’t so enamored with the community’s matriarch was Auntie Yaa’s own daughter, Rocky. When the self-assured 17-year-old Rocky walked in, we saw a family conflict brewing: the teenage search for independence butting against her parent’s stern guidance. After hanging out with Rocky and her mother, we knew the stars of Bronx Princess had found us. And having spent a year inside a slaughterhouse, we were eager to swap the smell of goats for perfume.

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
Making the film became more of a collaboration with the family than we expected. We became a familiar sight at Auntie Yaa's store — Yoni pointing a camera and Musa balancing a boom pole. Most customers assumed we were making a commercial for the store, but after a few months they realized that even infomercials didn't require so much shooting.

Our long hours enabled us to gain the trust of both mother and daughter. After one fight in particular at the store, the mood was tense when we followed them back home. After Rocky went to bed early, Auntie Yaa asked us to sit down with her. We thought that she was going to kick us out for invading her family’s privacy. But instead she spoke to us softly, “We’re all family now. Tell me: Am I being to hard on her?” The next day, we found ourselves becoming Rocky’s confidants as well, as she admitted she might have an attitude, but she really just wants to be appreciated. We learned to be good listeners so that we could include both of their perspectives in the film.

Equally challenging was our journey to Ghana. We lived at the family’s palace for three weeks while filming. Everyone else living in the palace understood that there are special rules for interacting with the Chief, such as speaking modestly in front of him. But as filmmakers, we needed to make certain requests of the Chief, like asking him to wear a wireless microphone, which seemed like a challenge to his authority. After he scolded us, we promised to be more careful. And then there were customs we were simply ignorant of. One day, Yoni casually crossed his legs while sitting in front of the Chief. The Chief called in one of his advisors to explain that crossing one’s legs in front of a chief was a great insult. Eventually, we learned how to work within the Chief’s parameters and before long we were on the dance floor with him, celebrating his chieftaincy at a family party.

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers?
Number one is the work of Marco Williams, our film's executive producer.

What is your all time favorite documentary?
Yoni: It changes every few months. Right now it's LOVE ON DELIVERY, a new film from Janus Metz.

Musa: One of my favorites in recent times is 9 STAR HOTEL by Ido Haar.

What other projects are in the pipeline?
Yoni: I'm pre-producing a documentary about a family spreading a radical medical therapy.

Musa: I'm in pre-production on a narrative feature about environmental problems in Kashmir (which is why I'm not at SILVERDOCS, unfortunately).

Why did you become a filmmaker?
For BRONX PRINCESS, although we aren't West African or women, we have deep connections to this story. As the children of Jewish and Muslim immigrants who've made journeys back to our parents' respective homelands — Israel for Yoni and Kashmir for Musa —we understood Rocky's journey. And perhaps more importantly, as filmmakers in our 20s, we are still close to the experience of being a teenager trying to find a sense of independence.

What are some of your creative influences?
Yoni: My main creative influence is the work of photojournalists, particularly at The Washington Post, where I learned how to tell stories visually as a high school and college student. In my films, I aspire to have the empathetic eye of my mentors who used photography to convey emotional truths within complex stories.

Musa: I'm inspired by filmmakers from the neo-realist tradition, particularly those from Iran. The power of these films to recover the unnoticed beauty in our everyday lives is really powerful, and they usually tell stories about those we've forgotten.

Did you go to film school?
We met at undergraduates at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts' Film & TV Department. We shared a professor, Marco Williams, who introduced us when he realized that we shared a creative passion for telling untold stories. We began producing A SON'S SACRIFICE together at NYU.

What do you shoot on?
We like to use simple miniDV 24p cameras, and invest in the best sound equipment. Yoni shoots our films, and Musa mixes the sound, so we have intimate two person crews.

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
After we premiered our film in New York at Lincoln Center, a group of 30 high school students surrounded our subjects, Auntie Yaa and her daughter Rocky. They bombarded them with questions, asking for advice about how to deal with their parents. Rocky and her mother transformed into sages, dispensing witty advice and causing the students erupt in laughter. We didn't know how Rocky and her mom would react to seeing their lives on the big screen, but the response from the students cemented their commitment to the film.

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
We both grew up in the Washington DC area, and are passionate about being a part of the non-fiction community that SILVERDOCS recreates in DC every spring.