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Roadtrip Niger A journey with the Nomads in Niger

2013. Three Los Angeles residents travel to Niger, a remote and volatile desert region in Southern Sahara, which has been on the US Department of State 'travel warning list' for decades. The movie tracks their experiences and realizations in this country – about as far removed from L.A. as you can get. Our host is Leslie Clark, artist and founder of The Nomad Foundation and owner of The Nomad Gallery in Ojai.

  • Benedicte Schoyen
    Director
    first time director for film
  • Louisa Rosager
    Writer
  • Benedicte Schoyen, Born To Play Productions
    Producer
    Music Box - A Dance Along Fairytale
  • Jessica Tuck
    Key Cast
    True Blood, Judging Amy, Secretary, Batman forever, and more
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 11 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 15, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    40,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Niger
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • American Indian Movement International Film Festival
    San Fransisco, CA
    United States
    October 11, 2017
  • Dome Bar Cinema
    Gisborn
    New Zealand
    June 27, 2017
  • The American Cultural Center
    Niamey
    Niger
    November 16, 2016
  • Ojai Valley Community Center
    Ojai
    United States
    February 5, 2017
    North American Premiere
Distribution Information
  • Life is my movie Entertainment
    Country: United States
    Rights: Video on Demand, Ship
Director Biography - Benedicte Schoyen

Benedicte was born and raised in Oslo where she went to the Norwegian Opera Ballet School and became a working dancer in musicals and television at age 18. 4 years later she went to Los Angeles on a 3 week scholarship to study with an amazing teacher from LA whom she had previously trained with in Stockholm. 28 years later, she is still living in LA. She continued her dance career for a while and at age 30 she opened up her own studio, Santa Monica Dance Studio. (1995-2008). During these years she also continued working in Norway as a choreographer/director for Eurovision Music Contest JR, Norwegian Broadcasting and other engagements for stage and television. She is currently directing 2 cruise ship shows for Color Line in Europe, premiering September 2016.
While running her dance studio she was also teaching Ballet and Jazz at UCLA, Musical Theater Department and World Arts and Culture (2000-2011)
In 2008 she opened up Born To Play Productions in Santa Monica, where she still teaches ballet to children and adults. In the same year she produced and choreographed a 40 min. film for children: The Music Box - A Dance Along Fairytale, which is currently selling on Amazon.

Her interest for film making started when she bought a camera and started filming dance and editing on Imovie when that became available. She loved this for her new media and when she and her husband Ned were invited to go to Niger, she bought a broadcast quality camera and started learning Final Cut. Road Trip Niger is her first film.
With all her years of experience as a dancer and choreographer, she is now happy to have found another outlet to continue developing her craft as an artist.

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Director Statement

My husband, Ned Clark, who is featured in the film and helped me with sound, is born and raised in Ojai, as is his aunt Leslie Clark who made this whole journey possible. She is the founder of The Nomad Foundation and owner of The Nomad Gallery in Ojai. Several members from the Ojai Rotary Club including Dr. Bob Skankey, an 84 year old Ojai resident, came along to help Leslie on numerous projects she has going on there. They are all in the story of my film so of course with such an impressive group from Ojai, it would be really great to be able to screen the film at your festival.
I am not exactly sure what I was thinking, when I decided to shoot my first documentary film in Niger. First of all, the project was a huge logistical challenge due to consistent power outages, and because of the remote, totally unknown locations we were in. Often, it was impossible to accomplish even the most basic components of film making, such as charging equipment and loading footage, simply because there was no electricity for miles. My bad French didn't help either, as I was trying to conduct interviews and understand the people we met.
However, while working on this film back at my house in Canoga Park, CA, I feel I'm hitting a subject that is current in this time of age. Throughout our journey, I am able to show that despite religion and cultural differences, we are pretty much the same. In today's world I feel that this is a good message to pass on.
This whole process continues to be an amazing experience. In keeping with the promise I made to my new Nomadic friends, it was important for me that Road Trip Niger did not come across as a sad film about the poorest country in the world. This would have been hard to do anyway. Everywhere we went was filled with joy, hope, music and dance and what Leslie has done for them in Niger is simply pretty amazing.
That being said, I feel a strong need to address some of the internal troubles with the corrupt government and the Tuareg's fight for basic human rights. I got to spend over a month with some of the leaders in the 2007 Tuareg rebellion and they took us to places no Westerners have visited in decades, due to the political difficulties in the country.