miami 5/6 november
Miami, USA, 5/6 november
As Alex wrote so beautifully it was a great night. For the whole world….It was truly fantastic to get the emails from Kenya, Amsterdam and Beijing as meeting so many people from other countries
The symbolic meaning of Obama, man with so many roots in so many countries, religions and cultures, is beyond measurement.
I even filmed a girl from South Korea who hoped that since he connects the black and white he might also connect North and South Korea…..
For one long night we all felt hope and endless possibilities.
Today everything went back to normal more or less and it feels almost surreal how connected everything and everybody was last night.
But it was there, and we al know that it is possible.
4 years ago at USA election night I stood in the middle of Amsterdam grieving with hundreds our friend Theo van Gogh, filmmaker in the Netherlands, killed by a muslim fanatic. Today I was celebrating with hundreds the first black president of the USA with a muslim middle name. 4 year ago everyone was connected by hatred and fear, last night everyone was connected by hope and love. On a certain level the intensity felt the same.
Back to last night: We went to Generation Engage party on the roof terrace of the Gansevoorthotel. Very hip and cool but no sound on the big screens, and we really wanted to hear everything. Besides there was a very arrogant crew of “ Real World” tv show who forbid me to film since the whole party was under “their copyright” and that made me very angry….People who know me, know that I hate the copyright issue it is killing the creativity in the world.
So we left and went to our Obama stand in 8th street where we were just in time to hear Obama being elected….After hugging der Erika,we all went to Jungle Island to celebrate while hearing the best speech in years of this fragile man with his great charisma. When th 2 families hugged on stage I could not stop crying: if this is possible, anything is possible.
It was all very touching, people crying, old people from 90 years old who were active in the civil rights movement living this day as a dream conclusion of their life. All the volunteers were happy, touched and proud. They have done the most amazing job.
Even the reporters and filmcrews were genuinely touched and it all created a fantastic atmosphere with great hiphopmusic as you can see in the little movies on his site.
Best things were the taxidrivers, we had about 6 in the 4th of November: from Haiti, Russia, Ethiopia and Cuba. The last driver came from Iran….had a great interview with him, will be on line in 2 weeks.
Florida is not only the biggest swingstate of the USA, but also the biggest mixstate.
Than we have the ongoing story of reporter “Adam Smith” from Birmingham who hopped on a plane on Friday to be with history. He became a Obama volunteer and was celebrating in Jungle Island as well. Well, I made 2 little movies with him who are on this site.
I ran in to him a few hours ago and he became famous overnight, all journalist love him but he is fired and in problems with the BBC.
But he still is proud of the movies so we keep them on the site. As for us:
We think he is a hero and says very true things about the lation between Europe and USA. Actually never heard it said any better. Indeed award winning prose.
So we all go back to do what we do, but for a brief moment in time we have seen a glimpse of that what we are as well: very and deeply connected.
