Before the Trees Was Strange, is a personal documentary, a journey of race and identity through a desire to unlock a mystery within my family.
I began interviewing my family three years ago but in fact I began filming 30 years ago, documenting my family in The Bahamas. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to make a film of a specific event that happened in my family and at the same time I decided to do a DNA test to get some information that was a mystery to me. I discovered that I had over 600 hours of footage and for the past four months have been, with the invaluable help of my editor, Indrani Kopal, a wonderful documentary filmmaker, working on the film to finally get to a fine cut stage. We are now in the post-production stage, working on color and sound to make this film available to audiences.
There is more to be done however as I work on materials for a web presence and for educational institutions to be able to use this film effectively. The film for me goes beyond my own work but speaks to a much larger vision of helping to expand the discussions of race and family, of love and forgiveness.
