The making of every documentary has its own unique story. Just about all of us max out credit cards and call in every favor. My story is that I was a local television reporter who met Milton one day over coffee and, by my second cup, began to consider leaving my job to see where his story led. I had never before even considered directing a documentary and certainly had no idea how to begin one.

It’s amazing, upon reflection, that this documentary ever got made. I had no financing, no equipment, and – within a couple weeks after that first meeting – no job. Fortunately, I was able to land a fellowship at the International Reporting Project in Washington, D.C., which covered my expenses on that first trip to Kenya in March 2006.

When I returned to Nashville two months later, my former TV station, WTVF, came to the rescue. For months on end, after each 6 o’clock newscast, a few friends at the station would set up shop and get to work piecing together footage that we’d shot. My colleague and director of photography Iain Montgomery would often sit down to edit for 6 hours straight after returning from an exhausting 10-hour day of chasing local news.

But he wasn’t alone. Soon there were photographers, graphic artists, and friends in the promotions department who heard about Milton’s story and volunteered to help. So surreptitious was our little after-hours undertaking that we began referring to it as The Manhattan Project. This was our way to bring change to Milton’s village: most of these people would never make it to Lwala, but they could pour themselves into this film and hopefully bring Lwala to an audience of millions.

This truly was a project brought to life by a few friends in Nashville who caught Milton and Fred’s vision. We were not professional filmmakers; at the time, the closest most of us had gotten to a film festival was interviewing actual filmmakers in the press tent. But we believe that we’ve captured something special – a unique look at Africa through Milton and Fred’s eyes – and we are thrilled to finally be able to show it to you.

Barry Simmons
Stone Castle Productions
Nashville, TN