Unbowed (Sampler)

The sample is a selection of abridged scenes (Omar Bah’s backstory, his work as a non-profit founder of a fledgling social service agency, father and husband, and trauma survivor seeking closure), that embody some of Unbowed’s themes. It is a snapshot of the film, which is about a pivotal year in Omar’s life, a life that has always been shaped by pursuing truth through unflinching transparency, justice, and building community. One will have a sense that regardless of the place in which Omar lives, these values catalyze his choices. And while they placed his life at risk in The Gambia, in America he finds the freedom to safely live by his values, which inspire a new calling and life direction. By using mostly observational style and informal/on-the-fly interviews, we place viewers into this experience by letting them watch Omar as he literally moves through his days shaping the ambitious dream he has for fellow refugees to become self-sufficient, like he’s become.

The final film will have full versions of the abridged scenes and introduce others that support the film’s themes. The order in which the sample scenes appear here is not necessarily the order in which they will appear for the final film. Music, text slides, and subtitles will be added to clarify Gambian accented dialog/Gambian language, in addition to sound, color, and music work. In addition, the final film will show more of the challenges the year brings, and the personal side of Omar when he is with family, friends and co-workers. One will see him celebrate small victories and then tirelessly navigate days that inevitably contain the never-know-what-crisis-is-next ubiquity inherent to his work. Moreover, one will experience Omar’s public persona that belies the vulnerable and ambivalent feeling he has about ending his exile.