This unconventional film follows internationally renowned
philosopher-poet Bayo Akomolafe, a time-traveling fugitive
escaping the already-colonized future, through the demise of
modernity, Brazil, and the birth of a new Orisa.
Why this film?
We are dealing with increasingly greater global challenges, and we realize that we do not have the cognitive resources to create new questions for old problems. In this film, we will investigate how cosmologies and perceptions of the world can make room for other ways of living on a collapsing planet
What’s different about this film?
Plenty of documentaries and artistic projects address the climate crisis. However, we believe there’s a large gap, especially in Brazil, in taking systemic approaches that interconnect the economic, social, racial, political, and ecological crises, as observed in Bayo’s vision.His poetic perspective, which brings philosophical theories that rise from spiritual visions, resonates with many people who are eager to feel part of a possible transformation in the world.
Our
Story
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In March 2018, director Maria Clara Parente met Báyò Akómoláfé, a Nigerian philosopher, at Schumacher College and conducted an interview for the project This is Not the Truth (a partnership between Maria Clara and Camilla Cardoso).
Based on this interview, the documentary series What is Emerging? was produced, and Ana Clara Cenamo, Executive Producer, was invited to collaborate on its production and post-production.
It was the beginning of a lasting partnership between Bayo, Maria Clara and Ana Clara.
Bayo began to come to Brazil regularly and, in 2020, her first interview was filmed for the feature documentary Regenerate: Possible Paths on a Wounded Planet, released in 2022 at the Rio Festival.
From the friendship and synergy of ways of thinking and a growing interest in Bayo's ideas portrayed in his books and films, the idea arose to create a film focused on Bayo's authorial work, based on his vision of the climate emergency through an Afrocentric lens.
The Times Are Urgent, Let Us Slow Down was the name chosen by Bayo for the feature-length documentary that is now in the fundraising phase of its production.
“I offered an invitation to ‘slow down’, which seems like the wrong thing to do when there’s fire on the mountain. But here’s the point: in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises. We rush through into the same patterns we are used to. Of course, there isn’t a single way to respond to crisis; there is no universally correct way. However the call to slow down works to bring us face to face with the invisible, the hidden, the unremarked, the yet-to-be-resolved.
- Bayo Akomolafe
Creative Team
Bayo Akomolafe
Writer | Producer
Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, post-humanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak.
Maria Clara Parente
Director | Writer | Producer
Maria Clara Parente is a film director, author, journalist, and researcher. For nearly a decade, she has directed, scripted, and presented multiple documentary films focusing on climate change, decolonization, and feminism- granting her various awards and nominations worldwide- including winning “Best Nonfiction Scriptwriter” at the 2019 Rio WebFest (Brazil), Best Director at the 2023 Tietê Film Awards (Brazil) and Best International Feature Documentary at the 2023 OFFCINEDOC Film Festival (Spain).
Ana Clara Cenamo
Executive Producer
Ana Clara Cenamo is a producer, geographer, and psychologist who works with ancestral medicines through the musical project Emanazul. Ana has worked as a psychologist for over thirty years and, at the same time, manages creative work in communication companies. In 2014, she founded the production company Spanda, whose mission is to develop narratives with a positive impact. She produced the documentary "Regenerate: Possible Paths on a Wounded Planet" (2022).
Danilo Mantovani
Director of Photography
Since the beginning of his career in digital media, Danilo has gained significant experience that shaped him as a director and photographer. He founded two production companies, spent three years at Conspiração Filmes, and since 2015, as an independent professional, has been working as a director of photography and director on projects for Netflix series, films, advertising, and music videos.
Jon Marro
Art Director
Jon Marro is an artist and creative director who has collaborated with clients such as Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews, Maroon 5, Madonna, Whole Foods Market, MTV, CBS, and even His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He currently lives and works in Southern California within a community of artists and activists dedicated to changing the world by transforming themselves.
Bruna Trindade
Writer
Bruna Trindade is a Brazilian writer, director, and actress. She is also a partner and member of Ritornelo.
She has worked as a screenwriter for series on Globoplay, Paramount+, Disney+, and Multishow. She was the director and screenwriter of the series Terapia em Família (Cine Brasil TV) and the screenwriter of the feature film Down By The River, a co-production between the Irish company Morgan Brothers and the Portuguese company Zul Filmes.
Bruna is the co-creator and screenwriter of the comedy series Teia (Urca Filmes), whose pilot was a finalist at the Fade To Black festival, winner of the Prêmio Cabíria de Roteiro, and selected for the GRIOT Lab – Black Film Festival. The project also won a pitching award from Projeto Paradiso (2020).
Mark Benjamin
Producer | Assistant Director
Filmmaker and artist. Benjamin lived in New York for years, working on various projects, including short and feature films, both fiction and documentary, as well as major television productions.
His experiences as a trans man have inspired most of his projects—both documentary and fiction—aiming to highlight and present unheard voices and stories. The films he has produced have been screened worldwide, earning over 15 awards across multiple countries.
Behind-the-scenes photos from the filming of the teaser for the documentary "The Times Are Urgent, Let's Slow Down."
