Private Project

Unbowed

"Unbowed" spends a pivotal year in RI refugee Omar Bah's life. A decade after surviving a traumatic escape from The Gambia and a tumultuous refugee resettlement experience, his answer to this painful period culminates when Omar opens the Refugee Dream Center (RDC), a place "for refugees run by refugees" that addresses resettlement and specific assimilation challenges in an intimate and knowing way, as only fellow refugees can. Learning about his origin story makes one see Omar's "pay it forward" ethos, which shapes the RDC mission. We experience what happens when a refugee effectuates meaningful change for his community and alters the well-intended but inadequate refugee resettlement system by closing gaps and eliminating weaknesses in a system that often hinders resettlement while also facing personal life- changing events in his life once again. Unbowed expands viewers' perception and understanding of the otherwise politicized refugee discussion.

  • Mae Gammino
    Director
    Being Thunder, The Wrong Todd
  • David Helfer Wells
    Director
    Trap Fishing, Blending into the American Dream
  • Mae Gammino
    Producer
    Being Thunder, The Wrong Todd
  • David Helfer Wells
    Producer
    Trap Fishing, Blending into the American Dream
  • Mae Gammino
    Writer
    Being Thunder, The Wrong Todd
  • David Helfer Wells
    Cinematographer
    Trap Fishing, Blending into the American Dream
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    43 minutes 36 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    DSLR Video
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16x9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Mae Gammino, David Helfer Wells

Mae Gammino, director, producer, second camera: Mae produced her first documentary film in 2021. Being Thunder is a feature-length documentary about two-spirit, genderqueer teenager Sherente Mishitashin Harris from the Narragansett tribe (Rhode Island). It screened in festivals across the U.S. and Canada and was endorsed by GLAAD. It is an international co-production with Magneto Presse (France) and in association with ARTEFrance. Film Movement (N.Y.) acquired North American Rights in 2022. Being Thunder can be seen on AppleTV, AppleTV Canada, AmazonVideo, iTunes, and VUDU. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Mae earned a B.A. in Finance from Simmons University in Boston, MA. She later owned a successful manufacturing company for 20 years. She then fulfilled a lifelong goal when switching careers in 2013, becoming a Photojournalist/Documentary photographer. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, IndieWire, and The Hollywood Reporter, among others. She is a member of the LGBTQ+ community

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Director Statement

David Helfer Wells, director, cinematographer, rough cut editor and sound recordist: David brings three decades of experience making still images and, more recently, documentary films for publications and websites. Wells is a Senior Fellow of the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Institute. His imagery has appeared in magazines including Fortune, Life, National Geographic, Newsweek, The Sunday New York Times, and Time. He has received funding for past projects from the MacArthur Foundation's Program of Research and Writing on International Peace and Cooperation, the Fulbright Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine nominated his work on the pesticide poisoning of California farm workers for a Pulitzer Prize. Many of his short films have been juried into film festivals around the globe, including Ankara, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lahore, Lisbon, Mumbai, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, Rome, Sacramento, and San Francisco.