SAVANAH LEAF | Free The Bid

Director Savanah Leaf, newly added to the Free The Bid database, shared her thoughts on her short film, “The Ayes Have It,” a beautiful and blistering visual interpretation of a poem of the same name by Tiana Clark. Both the poem and film meditate on the connections across time between Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and the long legacy of Black Americans denied justice.

“The Ayes Have It” was created with Stink Films and has been selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.

Savanah Leaf is a director, photographer, writer and creative. She is currently based between London and Los Angeles. Leaf has published and/or screened in Afro Punk, Cannes Short Corner, London Short Film Festival, Dazed and Confused, Pixar Animation Studios, San Francisco Black Film Festival, One Point Four, Okay Africa, Booooooom TV and many more.

“The Ayes Have It” has a unique Free Association pattern, that at times may feel random. But the words of the poem have a unique resonance with me, having lived in London, the Bay Area, and Miami.

I can vividly remember being in Florida for the killing of Trayvon Martin and reading the news documenting all the details of the trials. I can also distinctly remember riding BART in Oakland just a few weeks before Oscar Grant was murdered at Fruitvale Station, and then following the case across the media.

So when I read this poem I could tell Clark’s stream of consciousness is not random — it is a reflection of what she has gone through and seen in the media.

This film is derived from my own associations to the words of the poem, a reflection of my own experiences, the stories from others, the media and history. Untamed. Unfiltered. Insensitive. Truthful.”

CREDITS

For Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin and every family denied justice

A FILM BY
Savanah Leaf

 EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS 
Todd Boss, Egg Creative, Claire McGirr

PRODUCER
Edward Freeman

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Joel Honeywell

EDITOR
Pete Fullarton

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Stink Films

STORY BY
Savanah Leaf

STARRING
Ayesha McMahon
Isiah Chambers
Ajani Johnson–Goffe
Olivia Bright
Harry Tibble
Connie Freeman
Skyla Wilson
Ayaana Aschkar-Stevens
Mulan Itoje
Pippa Christian
Laurence Sessou
Jason Ryall
Victoria Blauss

VOICEOVER ARTIST 
Malina Tirrell

CASTING BY
Savanah Leaf
Tytiah Blake

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Sophia Dembitzer

FIRST ASSISTANT CAMERA
Andrew Bradley
Ondrej Rybar

SECOND CAMERA ASSISTANT
Carmen Pellón Brussosa

STEADICAM OPERATOR
Jake Whitehouse

CAMERA TRAINEE
Kairo Jones
Vivien Goddard-Stephens

GAFFER
Ben Miller

ART DEPARTMENT
Georgia Charter

HAIR
Susy Etionsa

MAKE-UP
Yvette Francesca

STYLIST
Sophia Dembitzer

STINK FILMS

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Andrew Levene

THE MILL

COLOURIST
Oisin O’Driscoll

PRODUCER
Dan Kreeger

SOUND DESIGN
Ben Chick

FOLEY EDITOR
Sophia Hardman

RE-RECORDING MIXER
Will Miller

VOICEOVER RECORDED BY
Warren Latimer

VOICEOVER DIRECTED BY
Alison Leaf

MUSIC
“_____45______”
Bon Iver

WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY
Michael L Lewis
Justin Deyarmond Edison Vernon

COURTESY OF
Jagjaguwar

MUSICAL CONSULTANT
We Are Theodore

SPECIAL THANKS
Stink Films
The Mill
Feral
ProCam
Panavision
Ide Verde
Stock Yard
Connie at Merton Film Office
Arnold Hattingh
Bon Iver
Stock Yard
Clara and Michael Freeman
Josh Posner Catering

Tags: Interview