Make America Love Again is a Music Video which is shot on phones during lockdown, a new American Anthem spawned from the thoughts of Spike Lee. It is our pleasure to interview ‘The Woolfman’, co director and musician of the project.
Make America Love Again is a Music Video which is shot on phones during lockdown, a new American Anthem spawned from the thoughts of Spike Lee. It is our pleasure to interview ‘The Woolfman’, co director and musician of the project.
Make America Love Again – THE REMIXES is released on September 17th in all digital stores. The video, which has now won 12 film festival awards across the world including ‘Best Film For Social Change’ ‘Best Music Video’ ‘Best Song’ and ‘Best Original Short’ is available to view on YouTube.
“Francesca Confortini and Maxine Sparkles serenade the spirit of America with the soulful offering…”
Matt Cassidy, Indie Eye Film Festival
The Woolfman was inspired by the words of American filmmaker Spike Lee on BBC TV and wrote the song in a dream. Driven by the wish to “Heal the Soul of America” the songwriter and producer collaborated with one of the UK’s leading independent filmmakers Tone Davies to make a music video for release during lockdown 2021. Shot in the UK on mobile phones the global pandemic has helped shape this video. It has gone on to catch the eyes and ears of music lovers the world over. At this time in history the message embedded in ‘Make America Love Again’ is more poignant than ever.
“Sometimes it’s the simplest of words and expressions that can resonate deeply within someone…”
Music Vein
Capetown- born, The Woolfman left South Africa for the last time at the age of 16 repelled by the inequities of the apartheid system which were in full force at the time. Since then, he has been a vocal and active opponent of racism and all forms of injustice. This has been a consistent theme in his songwriting. In 2018 he watched director Spike Lee being interviewed on BBC television saying : “We only have to make America Love again…”. This sentiment reminded him that what happens in America can often have an effect around the world. That same night, a tune came to him… the lyrics emerged all at once, as if from outside himself and a new American anthem was created.
“Director Tone Davies utilizes this old adage perfectly, by forgoing the bells and whistles of big shiny sets, decorative costumes, and stunning visual effects. Instead choosing to focus on what is really important to the world right now.”
Dream Machine International Film Festival
The Woolfman collaborated with singers Sparkles & Francesca Confortini on the original ‘gospel’ version of the track, which is fast becoming a new American Anthem, they also feature on the remixes along with the amazing Martha Lewis.
The Woolfman acknowledges: “Obama once said ‘Do we care to match the reality of America to its ideals? I am not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America.’ This is the message of ‘Make America Love Again’ – the possibility of America as a beacon of democracy, hope and justice, leading the way in an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable world.”
Make America Love Again – THE REMIXES is released on September 17th in all digital stores.
Adebayo George-LawalWhat has LGBTQIJLMNOP+ logo has to do with love. The Rainbow is sacred and shouldn’t be used to promote sexual immoralities and abnormalities.
Make America Love Again: The rainbow is indeed sacred and is a gift to all humankind of every race, gender and sexuality. The rainbow does not shine brighter on any one person because of who they are or where they come from. The rainbow is a celebration of the beauty of light, that within “white” – which is not truly a colour if we look we find all the colours that do exist. Which colours do you not like? – the beauty of the rainbow is that all colours peacefully co-exist and respect each others right to exist. When America learns this – “to love again” it will begin to fulfill it’s potential.
Make America Love Again: Let us bring all our children up to be not only respectful but celebrating difference. Do you want to live in a monoculture, palm oil plantation or a rain forest?!!
Ricky Chucky Diaz Trevino Please go to:
https://whosoever.org/?fbclid=IwAR0WzrmCEjiDIm68yt4ooxc5k7WRWnfoO_ofu9MWkL1myf4OXeNrDTNhFz8
My first words here bring me close to tears, they are for Jimi, Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole who died after jumping into the River Thames in central London to rescue a woman. He leapt after hearing a woman screaming, she was crying for her life, shouting: “Help, I’m going to die”. Jimi tried to save her but died in the cold and darkness of the River Thames. He was one of two men who jumped in to save her, but his body was recovered about six hours later. He died for a cause – the life of another – he took no time to think of himself or how much his own life mattered. I want to honour his bravery and wonder if I would have done the same.
Music and Art do not have a separate existence from the rest of life, they both reflect it and create it. This point can be argued much better by Arinze Stanley, the Nigerian artist who says: “Fast forward to 2020 when I was having my solo exhibition. As soon as the show started, there were a lot of events that happened simultaneously. This was around the time I was assaulted by the police and almost lost my eye. There were a lot of other things that were happening in the background. News of young people like me getting shot by the members of the police special unit called SARS, which led to weeks of protest, a very strong movement #Endsars. I was proudly part of the movement. Even shortly after I just had my eye surgery, I went out there to protest and speak. Meanwhile, my works were speaking to the outside world in my solo exhibition in the U.S.
It was so amazing because I felt like, “yes, I am doing what I have been instructed to do in life.” Art gave me purpose in life. It was all connected. It felt like I was given this ability to speak, and there was a platform to speak. I had already made these works months ago, but then it was still relevant now because that is really my reality. That was surreal for me. I mean, I believe this is all I want as an artist: to be able to create meaningful change”.
“When he heard Chopin’s music, he turned pale. Every kind of music, even the simplest, struck him like a physical blow. The colour left his face and his lips trembled. Music communicated something to him that the others could never achieve. It seemed that the melodies did not speak to the rational portion of his mind. The discipline he demanded of himself relaxed at such moments as if his body too were releasing itself from its rigid posture. At such times he forgot where he was, his eyes sparkled, he stared into the distance oblivious of his surroundings. When he listened to music, he listened with his whole body as longingly as a condemned man in his cell aches for the sound of distant feet perhaps bringing news of his release. When spoken to he didn’t hear. Music dissolved the world around him just as it dissolved the laws of artistic unity” – from EMBERS by Sandor Marai.
In this story a man lives his life for music. I understand that, those of us who write and perform and those of us who listen all have a common bond. Music takes us out of ourselves, transcends difference and leads us to a common place, a shared place. There is a paradox – in this place we are lost in our individual experience, yet this is a shared place familiar to us all.
Music gives me purpose in life. Our project, Make America Love Again – is about music and shared experience transcending the bitterness of old and fixed political viewpoints. In hope, in desperation, I shout out for our common humanity and the possibility of shared values and humanity.
We are in the final – another film festival success for our project. For those of you who missed it I wrote “Make America Love Again” after hearing Spike Lee – in a moment of inspiration find those words. They inspired me and I wrote the song that night.
I have asked myself repeatedly if this ambition – to create a new American Anthem is of any value given the bigger picture, given the reality of what is happening in the USA. Can I really make a difference?
My answer fluctuates between “no” and “maybe”. In the “no” is a sense of powerlessness, at the seeming immutability of racism in the police and institutions in the US and across the world. In the “maybe” is the knowledge that change only comes when individuals have ideas, connect with others and start to agitate for change. Emma Dabiri says “linking our struggles together is the work of coalition-building, a vision wherein many people can see their interest identified and come together for the common good. We can start to tell new stories rather than fall back on fault lines that were designed to divide us”.
Thus I can and do care, I do feel connected and solidarity with George Floyd and all the other victims of brutality and violence. I have been subjected to brutality and violence in my on life. I have been bullied and picked on, scared for my life. I was once asked if I had any connection to the Holocaust. I was angry, for every Jew the Holocaust experience is ingrained in every cell and so is the fear of being singled out, that it could so easily happen again.
There is a part of me constantly vigilant, on a dark night, in a crowded bar – wondering who is out to get me, how can I be safe. WHO WILL BE NEXT? WILL I BE NEXT? If this is only a small degree of the experience of the experience of being focused on for the colour of your skin it is still too much and sometimes unbearable. Cultural trauma lives on through the generations and in our fight against racism and injustice we are looking for healing on an individual and a societal level. In Spike Lee’s film Black Klansman Ron Stallworth says “If one black man, aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, open-, and liberal-minded whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of white racists by making them look like the ignorant fools they truly are, then imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals can accomplish.”
I conclude that my efforts mean something, that they are worth it, that I can try in my own way to make a difference, to promote unity and solidarity. As Emma Abiri says “I am doing something not just saying something”. That is enough for me to keep at this for a very long time!
“Spike Lee – meet your thoughts in Cannes! Our New American Anthem, ‘Make America Love Again” is Official Selection at Cannes World Film Festival”
Dear Spike Lee,
We have been selected for Cannes World Film festival. You will be the official Cannes Film Festival https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/ jury President! Thank you for inspiring our song and our project. This is the most important act of a lifetime and came from that extraordinary moment of inspiration I witnessed when you spoke to the BBC.
Ron Stallworth speaks for me and millions of others when he says: “If one black man, aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, open-, and liberal-minded whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of white racists by making them look like the ignorant fools they truly are, then imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals can accomplish.” – Ron Stallworth, Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
For me it is poignant that he mentioned the Jews because I believe that we have a shared experience and a natural alliance. Most Jews will acknowledge the innate fear of a Klan that comes in every country, in many forms, in bars, supermarkets at school, college and the workplace.
Felix Kendrickson: You are going to take this lie detector test. Take a seat.
Flip Zimmerman: What is this? Is this your Jew den? Is this where you make your candles, you know, and your lampshades?
Felix Kendrickson: No, you’re going to take this lie detector test.
Flip Zimmerman: Open the damn door. This is some lame bullshit.
Felix Kendrickson: Lame or not, you’re taking this Jew lie detector test.
So we sometimes try and hide but the fear of being called out and attacked – and the experience of these things is always present.
In the dialogue between Ron and Flip:
Flip Zimmerman: Well, I’m not risking my life to prevent some rednecks from lighting a couple sticks on fire.
Ron Stallworth: This is the job. What’s your problem?
Flip Zimmerman: That’s my problem. For you, it’s a crusade. For me, it’s a job. It’s not personal, nor should it be.
Ron Stallworth: Why haven’t you bought into this?
Flip Zimmerman: Why should I?
Ron Stallworth: Because you’re Jewish, brother. The so-called chosen people. You’ve been passing for a WASP. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, cherry pie, hot dog, white boy. It’s what some light-skinned black folks do. They pass for white. Doesn’t that hatred you’ve been hearing the Klan say doesn’t that piss you off?
Flip Zimmerman: Of course it does.
Ron Stallworth: Then why you acting like you ain’t got skin in the game, brother?
Flip Zimmerman: Rookie, that’s my fucking business.
Ron Stallworth: It’s our business.
It is all our business and these are dark times. Barack Obama said he believes in the “possibility of America”. This is the message behind Make America Love Again. It is even more important today when both Ukraine and Taiwan face possible invasion. Only the USA stands powerful enough to protect us across the world, the same as during World War 2. There is much wrong with America but much can be right, but thank goodness America is there – right now.
Spike – thank you again…
https://40acres.com/
George Floyd’s death was absolutely preventable says a leading cardiologist, how bizarre that the prosecution was required to “humanize” George Floyd for the jury so he was not seen as an object. He was dehumanized by Chauvin, his death embodied the terrible history of the USA in it’s relationship to African Americans.
Why on earth are they required to tell the court GF was a “momma’s boy” if not for fear of the innate prejudices they might encounter in a jury? How bizarre they have to say how he was loved in the community. They want to give a “rounded” view!!!
In the end none of this is relevant, only the simple fact that Chauvin had a knee to his throat for nine minutes!! No matter who or what GF was or had done – this was the crime.
At the same moment as GF is being humanized Daunte Wright is shot dead in Minneapolis. A boy of 20 driving his car is pulled over!! He has to die. This feels endless and terrfiying. It is scarily reminiscent of the beautiful film Slim and the Queen which I recommend to everybody. https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a29993538/queen-and-slim-real-story/. IT “ follows a black couple on the run after they shoot a police officer in an act of self-defense”. As writer Lena Waithe and director Melina Matsoukas told OprahMag.com, the film is a love letter to the Black community. Even Rihanna gave it her stamp of approval.
This film captivated me, I cared for and loved the characters, I feel at one with them in their humanit. I have nothing in common with Chauvin or any racist person or policeman. Yet, I feel ashamed, not for the first time in my life. I take all this personally. I also feel powerless. What can I do?
Emma Dabiri has written a book called “what white people can do next”! She says “abandon guilt..as a white person dwelling in either state as a response to racism is self-indulgent and white-centred, it will also dictate that you prioritise making yourself feel better rather than bringing about meaningful change”. She is so right and it is an easy trap to fall into, I put my hands up.
What can I do? I chose long ago to challenge racism and anti-semitism at every opportunity and I have occasionally put myself at risk to do so. “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” – Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
For me Emma Dabiri’s clearest advice is “stop reducing black people to one dimension”. Black people are people with the full range of complexity, contradiction and emotion that comes with our humanity” I give myself a qualified tick for this one – but can I ever completely get rid of the shame – that is work in progress!
What are we to say about the loss of the Duke of Edinburgh? The BBC is doing it’s usual sterling job, swamping the airwaves and the news with stories, tributes and extended punditry. They talk of his influence as a father grandfather, his support for the Queen and the DOE Awards scheme.
Do I feel compassion for the Queen, losing her lifelong partner, what does this touch in me? I/we have lost people over the last year, many before their time whereas the Duke made 99 years. If only he could have offered some of those years to those who died young!
Yet this man, this slightly racist remnant of a bygone era has been part of my whole life. Whatever I think of him he has always been there, a remote but constant figure ironically brought to life through TV’s “The Crown”.
I wish him no ill, and remind myself that each death I witness is a rehearsal for my own. I hold my hand out to him for surviving (albeit on a diet of caviar?) 99 years in good health, keeping himself fit and busy. I hope that I can go on that long in that way. The Queen says he brought “his strength” and Nick Witchell can’t stop repeating it on News 24, I think old Nick is very attached to the Royals and finds it hard to separate himself from them, he gets passionate in their defence. What was this strength? it was the strength to survive.
The Duke had a “rootless” childhood, many of us know what that means and the despair it causes in a young child. At Gordounstoun he made himself “strong” to survive. He had no clear identity – Greek but no Greek blood then was swallowed up the the Royal machine of the UK. It is quaint the way the BBC makes sideways references to his “social life” in the 50’s along side a photo of a busty blonde. His “misjudged” remarks”.
Good for him supporting the WWF and the DOE awards. He was a little ahead of his time. More than the gushing plaudits I would like to reflect on how he dealt with difference – his own difference – his own sudden isolation in a Royal Family with no real role, cut off from his beloved Royal Navy.
I would like less eulogies and more truths about Phillip. I feel sad for the Queen as I would for anyone who has experienced such loss – believe me I get it. In the end he is a symbol of that peculiar and outdated institution that this country – what is left of it – seems to be addicted to as the only glue holding us together. Perhaps he more than any other understood the tragedy of Dianna and more recently the hounding of Meghan and Harry.
This is one of those peculiar national moments where I cannot really be part of it but find myself part of it. Not really emotionally touched for Phillip, but touched for me, for this country for the tragic breakup we are experiencing at the moment – and Phillip – like him or not was a huge part of that national fabric.
“I have long harboured an irrational loathing for the word “content”, especially when used as a casual stand-in to mean something like a film, a television show, or a piece of art or music. Scorsese argues that “the art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator, ‘content’ ”, noting that a word used almost exclusively in the context of business is now applied to “all moving images”. It is worse than that. It is used for everything. A song, say, is content, as is the material around it, as is an interview to promote it, as is a post by someone about how much they like it. Scorsese is taking a stand, but I worry that it is already too late” – Rebecca Nicholson – The Guardian 20.2.21
MY THOUGHTS IN RESPONSE
Re-reading Rebecca’s comments I would add to that though art has always been commodified – throughout history – it stems from a deep place inside the artist. Each of us believes we are somehow unique and that we have something to say which is different and valuable. Our art is a means for communicating our inner world. The challenge and often the tragedy is that when we share our art we expose our vulnerability. The list of creatives who have died does not need recounting here . We have to remember that creative genius David Bowie, the wisdom of his words – “I suppose for me as an artist it wasn’t always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture I was living in”. He also said something along the lines of “once it is out there it is public property”.. This is hard for the artist, precious as we are, but the beauty of great art is that each person can find in it something of themselves and make of it what they choose!
Our second major film / video award in February 2021. We hope “Make America Love Again” will grow and become the NEW AMERICAN ANTHEM. Thank you to Vegas Movie Awards. May this be the start of an era of hope and change….
The story of David and Goliath is often misinterpreted, it is interpreted as the underdog winning against overwhelming force. Well actually David had a lot going for him. The slingshot was the latest technology, a devastating and accurate weapon. David was flexible, could move around and be creative. Goliath on the other hand was excessively tall, maybe had double vision and was weighed down by heavy armour. He was stuck in an old way of fighting and he needed David within sword range. NO WAY David was falling for that!
The moral of the story is that the new, the creative and the bold can win. Flexible creative thought, new ideas and a willingness to experiment can win out against brute force and apparently immovable objects. Remember the fall of the Soviet Union? Marcos? Franco? Dictatorships – cultural and political do end. We can and must question and re-evaluate old ideas. This does not mean automatic rejection of the old – thats’ kids stuff! – but reminding ourselves how they were reached and asking if they still have value. WE have reached the finals of #vegasmovieawards against the odds. We can hit the sweet spot and win!! Thanks to Malcolm Gladwell for inspiration https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_the_unheard_story_of_david_and_goliath/transcript#t-219186
