Saturday June 12th marked the Tribeca Festival Spotlight+ World Premiere of Uncharted documentary from Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, Alicia Keys and her She Is The Music Organization’s songwriting camps for young women. The premiere event was followed by a phenomenal special performance from Keys and the subjects of the documentary.
DaVionne (Artist, She Is The Music songwriting camp), Maria Ayerbe (Audio Engineer), Lanita Smith (Artist), Alicia Keys (Recording Artist/Executive Producer for Uncharted) and Ann Mincieli (Executive Producer for Uncharted/Music Producer)
This photo courtesy of She Is The Music
In her interview with blackfilm.com, Keys said of the project: “1% of women are engineers, 3% of women are producers. We don’t have a seat at the table. So my engineer and I thought about what we could do about that and that’s how the idea of She Is The Music was born. She Is The Music is an organization that brings women professionals from across all parts of the industry into one database and one community. The organization is also about these songwriting camps for young women…It’s beautiful for women to write with women. It’s comfortable and a safe sisterhood. And, this camp is also about mentorship, so that young women can find themselves training under established women in all parts of the industry.”
Uncharted highlights the emerging careers of 12 female artists hand-picked to participate in a songwriting camp helmed by Alicia Keys and her She Is The Music team. It is a personal look at the music industry through the lens of black and brown female creatives, Uncharted follows as these talented ladies navigate an unforgiving industry where success seems to be far out of reach.
Courtesy of Jean Deaux Music
An intimate portrait of the many barriers young black and brown women In music face in their quest for success, Uncharted reveals issues including lack of access, opportunities and representation in a male-dominated culture. Keys even recounts in the film how difficult it was in the beginning of her career walking into recording sessions filled with only male energy. She recalls being hit on by those men and feeling out of place, uncomfortable and unsafe.
Overwhelmed yet hopeful, working along side other female talent in a safe space provided by the writers camp, our songwriters push past their comfort zones, pushing aside loss, family drama, financial hardships, self-confidence issues and more, to focus on breaking through the noise and landing the next big hit.
Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
The story centers on 3 of the 12 ambitious rising stars – Barbados-born pop/soul singer Ayoni, Georgia’s own R&B songstress DaVionne, and NPR’s “Artist To Watch” rapper Jean Deaux – chosen for their unique sound, talent, strong underground buzz and social media followings. Keys also hand-picked a team of all female She Is The Music seasoned professional producers and engineers, to guide this crew of raw talent in honing their sound and crafting their hits.
We watch as songs are crafted right before our eyes, as we are taken along for the ride, observing the process. Starting from a simple beat and a few scatted ad libs, through to flushed-out lyrics, hooks, background vocals and rewrites, and on to placement in a new HBO show, in one instance.
Photo Courtesy of DaVionne Music
Alicia Keys and Katie Couric Executive Produce and Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary filmmaker Beth Aala directs for Everywoman Studios and takes us on this awesome journey.
Through the film’s many featured recording studio and on the road performances, we see the confidence and talent of our 3 hopefuls bloom. These ladies also performed at the Uncharted Tribeca Film Festival Premiere event with Alicia Keys, and they were phenomenal! I can’t wait to see what they go on to become. Thanks Alicia Keys and She Is The Music for this important Women-helping-Women endeavor. And thank you Beth Aala and Everywoman Studios for documenting this story and bringing it to the screen.
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Directed by: Beth Aala
Producers: Everywoman Studios, Abby Greensfelder, Beth Aala
Executive Producers: Alicia Keys, Ann Mincieli, Jody Gerson, Sam Kirby Yoh, Katie Couric, Brenda Robinson, Abby Rodriguez
