A Director's POV: Joshua Bee Alafia
I met Tiffany “Hanan” Madera in November of 2003 at the Miami premiere of my first feature film, Cubamor. She was dressed in black with bangs and black rimmed glasses and had the furrowed brow of an intense thinker. We became friends instantly; in the way children become friends instantly at a playground when thrown together in play with a ball. I had no idea that our ball would turn out to be a documentary on the Cuban belly-dance movement that Hanan would span over a decade. In creating this film we have created family with one another. I was attracted to the courageousness of her story, her devotion to her students and the empowerment of her process of healing which she transferred into the art of letting go and blossoming. If only all of us were blessed to have teachers who gave us practices that cleansed our wounds and nurtured our spirits in the way Hanan’s students have thrived over the years.
It is my hope that we can share some of the profound inspiration we have had in making this documentary with the viewer and that the freedom felt in the process of the dance can free folks if even only for a short time while the lights are low and the luminance of the magic on the screen shines bright. - Joshua Bee Alafia
ABOUT THE ARTIST: Joshua Bee Alafia started making films in high school and graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a BA in Film in 1995. Since then he has been freelancing as a Cinematographer and Editor in World Cinema and writing and directing his own feature films. His cinematographer credits in documentaries include; Every Day Art in Cuba, We Just Tellin’ Stories: Rodessa Jones’ Medea Project, Making Tortillas with the Mayans, Besouro Preto, Behind the Green Line, the Road to Sao Tome, the Cuban Hip Hop All Stars, Dub Poet: Oku Onuora, Maybe Dreams Can Come True and Fashioning Peace in Kenya and Havana Habibi,. His editor credits include the documentaries Juneteenth Community, Maybe Dreams Can Come True, Louisiana Cane, and the Sundance Jury Award WinningWet Dreams and False Images. He has shot music videos for Luciano, Bikram Singh, King David, 77 Klash and Poets; Ainsley Burrows and Queen Godis. His film credits as writer/ director include the Anti Vigilante, Bold As Love, Se Safando, The Seed, Let’s Stay Together(the film, not the series) and the award winning Cubamor. He is a founder and CEO of www.rootsflix.com; Art in the Spirit of Liberation, films devoted to expanding consiousness. Alafia resides in Chicago, IL. (joshuabeealafia.com)
See it for yourself!
See the 2015 documentary, Havana Habibi, directed by Joshua Bee Alafia during Havana Habibi Week.
