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New York to Conakry

*This film is Rich McKeown's directing and editing debut for a feature film.*
In this film we follow 5 drummers and 2 dancers from the NYC area as they travel across the pacific back to the motherland to Conakry, the capital of Guinea, West Africa. Through this cultural exchange between the African American and African artists, their performances and telling of the many dances and song from the motherland, how they have influenced, transformed and evolved throughout the Diaspora. More importantly, it reflects the love and camaraderie between the African artist and their brothers and sisters of the diaspora.

  • Richard McKeown
    Director
    Obara & the Merchants, American Beatboxer, DJs Love Beer, American Beatboxer: The Docu-Series Pilot
  • Rich McKeown
    Producer
    American Beatboxer, American Beatboxer: The Docu-Series, Obara and the Merchants, Wormhead, Kung Fu Lee
  • Ryan Greenidge
    Key Cast
  • Gene Osborne, Jr.
    Key Cast
  • Kwesi-Lateef
    Key Cast
  • Tia Alexander
    Key Cast
  • Arthur Toombs
    Key Cast
  • Dr. Jahi Issa
    Key Cast
  • Dr. Angela Gittens
    Key Cast
  • Kaleeba Coulter Moore
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Music, Historical, Dance, Documentary, International, Adventure, Family, Educational
  • Runtime:
    48 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 6, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    5,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Guinea, United States
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Permanent Mission of the Republic of Guinea
    Manhattan, NYC
    United States
    February 7, 2018
    1st screening (Private)
  • Medgar Evers College
    Brooklyn, NY
    United States
    February 14, 2018
    College screening of 1st cut.
  • Bergen County Film Festival
    Teaneck, NJ
    United States
    March 11, 2018
    World Premier - Film Festival
  • African Diaspora Cinema Festival
    Florence
    Italy
    July 7, 2018
    European Premier
  • Dance Film Lab - Dance Films Association
    New York
    United States
    May 21, 2018
    15 Excerpt for process related feedback
  • Hip Hop Film Festival
    Harlem, NY
    United States
    August 25, 2018
    Nominated Best Documentary
  • West African Film Festival
    Houston, TX
    United States
    February 20, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Pan African Film Festival
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    February 9, 2019
    West Coast Premier
    Official Selection
  • Piton International Film Festival
    Piton
    Saint Lucia
    August 24, 2018
    Caribbean Premier
    Official Selection
  • US Embassy in Guinea
    Conakry
    Guinea
    March 18, 2019
    African Premiere
  • University of Sonfonia-Conakry
    Conakry
    Guinea
    March 25, 2019
  • French Cultural Institute
    Malabo
    Equatorial Guinea
    April 10, 2019
    Central Africa
  • iRepresent International Film Festival
    Lagos
    Nigeria
    March 19, 2020
  • Africlap Film Festival Toulouse 2020
    Toulouse
    France
    August 21, 2020
    French Premiere
Director Biography - Richard McKeown

Rich McKeown is founder and president of KoolKidz Television & Publishing LLC. Founded in 2005 KoolKidz that has garnered over 200 Film Festival selections and awards throughout the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, broadcasted on the Education Channel as well as EATV’s, Kids Time programs and are available in libraries throughout the US and Canada. Rich has been the sole composer and producer all of the KoolKidz soundtracks as well as providing the additional voices to the principal narrators. He composes sound tracks for other filmmakers as well.
Rich is the producer of the award winning feature documentary American Beatboxer, which is currently broadcast on The Urban Movie Channel after enjoying a two year run on Revolt TV. The film was inducted into the New York University’s Hip Hop Education Center, the Harvard Hip Hop Archives and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives among others in 2014. He is also producer and exec producer for the award winning American Beatboxer: The Docu-Series Pilot based on the feature film is currently in the film fest circuit. As a public speaker and educator, Rich McKeown has conducted several workshops for the National Black Children’s Development and has presented to the students and faculty Columbia College of Chicago, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Harvard Office of the Arts.
In 2011 Rich joined FulleeLoaded Productions as a full partner, writer, producer and heads the team bringing his 15 years of experience working for publishing and entertainment giants, Prentice Hall/Simon & Schuster, Sony Video, Boosey & Hawkes, Bertelsmann Music Group & HBO, combined with an additional 12 years in sales.
In 2017 Rich will be attending his fourth and fifth residency at Harvard University presenting film beatboxing performances/workshops and fine artists for the 2017 Fall Semester and within the Cambridge/Boston area at the Perkins School for the Blind and The Cambridge School of Weston. He is also currently working on two documentaries on the subject of African Dance from the Guinea and Mali regions of Africa. The first film New York to Conakry will debut in February 2018 at Medgar Evers College followed by a performance from the 2017 Bessie Award winning Asase Yaa African American Dance Theatre.
[www.koolkidzpublishing.com]
[www.americanbeatboxer.com]
{https://nytoconakry.wixsite.com/film]

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I am a story teller through both film and music. My films are stories about or feature music and art. I’ve been classified as an urban filmmaker however I actually tell stories from Africa and throughout the Diaspora. With Drum and Dance I have the privilege as an African American artist to tell the story one of the earlier stories from West Africa combining all of what I have become as a filmmaker today. I was first exposed to these art forms when the great Baba Olotungi came to my elementary school in Flushing, NY, I had never seen anything like it. I have stood in front of many drum circles throughout New York City throughout my life, enjoyed African influenced dance in the Yoruba culture, and experienced the spectacle that is Dance Africa at BAM in Brooklyn and Africa Oye in Manhattan where I first experienced the great drummers and dancers of Guinea who left a huge impression on me.
As a Pan-Africanist I am honored to capture the brotherhood that exists between the African and African American brothers in this film that has developed over the years; dispelling some of the myths that exist between Africans and the Diaspora.