Zach Niles
Directing
Biography
Zach Niles is an American filmmaker and band manager. From 1998 to 2004, he worked on the production and promotion of major music tours by artists such as Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Paul Simon. He lived in Haiti from 2011 until 2016, and is the co-founder of WeOwnTV, a film and multi-media educational program for disadvantaged youth in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Known For
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars is a documentary film about the musical band of the same name composed entirely of refugees from Freetown displaced to Guinea during the civil war of Sierra Leone. The film follows the band for three years as they are relocated between various refugee camps in Guinea, and concludes with their return to Freetown and the recording of their first studio album, Living Like A Refugee.
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
In 1791, in Haiti, Dutty Boukman presided over a Vodou ritual in Bois-Caïman that led to the creation of the first Black republic. Since then, rituals of transformation and artistic expression have been at the core of a thriving culture as the country faces oppression, poverty, and natural disasters. "Kite Zo A” (Leave the Bones) is a sensorial film about rituals in Haiti, from ancient to modern, made in collaboration with poets, dancers, musicians, fishermen, daredevil rollerbladers, and Vodou priests, set to poetry by Haitian author Wood-Jerry Gabriel.