Via The Reeler comes this link to Jen Cheung's interview with Brooklyn-based filmmaker Kareem Edouard in The Gothamist.

Edouard has recently made a short doc, Bling: Consequences and Repercussions that takes a look at the abuse of young African workers in the diamond minds of Sierra Leone. It's the subject tackled by Kanye West in his hit of last year, "Diamonds are Forever," but Edouard fills in more of the blanks, aided by a v.o. from Public Enemy's Chuck D.

The film is downloadable by clicking on the link above, and Edouard's site even allows it to be sampled in both video iPod and PSP versions.

Here's Edouard from Cheung's interview:

"The problem that we run into is that non minorities often tackle subject matters such as Hip Hop, Civil Rights and minority sports figures. Subjects specifically dealing with minorities. Much of the time non minorities have the access to the tools and financing to get projects off the ground. Another problem facing minority filmmakers is when they are pigeon holed into dealing with only certain subject matters. Some of the top DVD's tend to deal with the negative aspects of our culture.

Right now I feel that the industry is more about using minority agents to export their own culture. I want to take a critical look at some of the issues that make us who we are."

# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 1/07/2006 06:48:00 PM

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