THE HOUSE ON COCO ROAD

DAMANI BAKER, DIRECTOR

A native of the Bay Area, Damani Baker is a Brooklyn-based director and filmmaker. His first feature documentary (with co-director Alex Vlack) about the life and music of Bill Withers, “Still Bill,” opened theatrically to critical acclaim in 2009 and was acquired by Netflix, Showtime, and BBC. Previous work includes “Return,” an award-winning film that explores the genius of traditional African medicine. Damani’s career spans documentaries, music videos, museum installations, and advertisements, and he has worked for clients including Rainforest Alliance, Puma, IBM, and Wieden+Kennedy, among others.

His current projects include over 10 films for museums in Nigeria and Chattanooga, Tennessee for Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Inc. Damani is a Sundance Fellow and alum of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 new faces in independent film.” In addition to his work, Damani is a professor in the filmmaking, screenwriting, and media arts program at Sarah Lawrence.

JON FINE, EDITOR

Jon’s a filmmaker and musician.  Over the years he’s worked as a producer, DP, director and editor.   His work includes “Still Bill” about legendary songwriter Bill Withers, “The After Party” about arrests during the 2004 presidential conventions,  “Jazz Days” a series of global concerts sponsored by UNESCO and Thelonious Monk Institute, “Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities”, the award-winning short “Flavio”, and videos for Herbie Hancock, Antibalas, Raul Midon, Kaki King, Lionel Loueke and Lizz Wright.   In 2015, Jon produced “Holy Forest” an album of songs recorded in The Gambia and the US.  He’s now producing “Africa Calling”, a project in partnership with UNICEF, USAID, Angelique Kidjo and students from Benin’s CIAMO school of music to raise awareness around malaria treatment and prevention in West Africa.

Meshell Ndegeocello, ORIGINAL SCORE

Mercurial and masterful, Meshell Ndegeocello has survived the best and worst of what a career in music has to offer. She has eschewed genre for originality, celebrity for longevity, and musicals trends for musical truths. She has lived through the boom and bust of the industry and emerged just as she entered - unequivocally herself. Fans have come to expect the unexpected from Meshell, and faithfully followed her on sojourns into soul, spoken word, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, rock, all bound by a lyrical, spiritual search for love, justice, respect, resolution, and happiness.