Director's Statement

Working as a teacher in rural Kenya in the late 1980’s, I met a remarkable young girl, my brightest student, Grace. One day she came to tell me her mother had died, she could no longer attend school. She desperately wanted to finish her education, but with limited resources, she ended up going off to work for a wealthy family in Nairobi.

Back then, none of us could have predicted the devastation the AIDS pandemic would eventually have on the world, let alone a young, vibrant African girl. Over the years, I began the process of trying to track her down, but have yet to find her. This project is to put her face on the map, and simply listen to what Grace might have had to say.

My background is in documentary filmmaking, my films are about labor unions, immigrants, the homeless-- exposing me to countless voices coming from the margins of society, uncertain if anyone is listening. In this medium I learned to let the story flow, however messy or non-linear, and to let the camera discover the “silences” between people’s words, between what they wish for and what is.

While writing the script, I made several trips back to Kenya, into the horror-field slums and garbage dumps of those who have been left behind by AIDS and crushing poverty. The kids I met there were industrious, cheeky, alive. They didn’t see themselves as victims, they were just living life on life’s terms. I want to tap into this energy, use non-actors where we can, and , shoot in actual locations , to capture the specific, colorful reality of markets, street vendors, slum innovators--the intricate, complex web of people living with nothing who barter and trade, surviving off each other .

I think of classics like LosOlvidados, Days of Heaven, and more recently If Turtles Could Fly, City of God,Whale Rider... all about kids in crisis situations, yet still able to bring humor and pathos to the table. There is also the horror and violence of Africa foregrounded in such films as Blood Diamond and The Last King of Scotland. For me what hasn’t been fully explored is the female voice, the young girl coming of age in Africa, a quieter, more personal approach. I also love the films of Ken Loach, the way narrative and documentary weave together seamlessly a powerful, focused story.

A recurrent theme in the script is about recycling what’s broken to redefine one’s identity, to deny one’s dire circumstances and accept life, captured in the Swahili phrase: ‘Maisha Yanaendelea,” or tomorrow is another day. Grace struggles with this credo, she wants answers to why her mother died, why she’s denied an education, and why she’s forced to live a lesser life as a result. She dreams of becoming a writer because she realizes no one else will document her story. Finding Grace. I never found her. But she lives on, I think in many young women today, faced with tough choices, and choosing life.

Amie's documentary films include UNCOMMON GROUND: FROM LA TO SOUTH AFRICA (1991), which won the IDA's David Wolper Award, to STRIPPED AND TEASED (1994), broadcast in Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Germany and Sweden, and theatrically released, winning "Pick of the Week" by LA critic Kenneth Turan, to FALLON, NV: DEADLY OASIS, an ITVS/Lincs Project, (2001) broadcast on PBS. Her recent critically acclaimed film, NO SWEAT, (2006) premiered at the AFI Film Festival, broadcast on KQED and Current TV. She is a graduate of Yale University (BA, 1985) and UCLA’s School of Film and Television (MFA, Directing, 1994).