Charles Abelmann’s newest launch of two brief documentaries, “Call Me Waya” and “Shifting Paths” illustrate the variety of his work in crossing borders and cultures to bridge our understanding of the human expertise with inside and exterior challenges. As a brand new comer to filmmaking after a protracted profession in worldwide growth and schooling management, Abelmann’s movies are being critically celebrated for his or her perception and affect, knowledgeable by his understanding of each little one and grownup growth. Each his new movies take a look at multi-generational views to know household however with completely completely different approaches and in several cultures. Abelmann, a Duke and Harvard alum, values the documentary type to contribute to world and historic understanding, celebrating particular person narrative.
Luray, VA, United States, 2nd Apr 2025 – Charles Abelmann’s documentary,
“Call Me Waya” has its world premiere on Saturday April fifth on the Quad Cinema in NYC. The NYC competition has acquired vital information protection for the standard of their programming over the past 25 years and discovering new and rising expertise. “Call Me Waya” supplies an intimate look into the lifetime of an octogenarian outsider artist, Julian Espinosa Rebollido — also referred to as Wayacón or Waya. Regardless of his age, he’s prolific, producing fantastical, childlike work that usually incorporates discovered supplies, a vital strategy reflecting the state of widespread shortage in Cuba. The movie displays Wayacón’s in depth physique of labor, his battle with substance abuse, his unstable relationship along with his household, and the position of Sandra Levinson of the Middle for Cuban Research in bringing Cuban artwork to america and past. Abelmann partnered with the Cuban artists for filming and music composition.
“Call Me Waya” is a compelling portrait of self-taught Cuban artist Wayacón (Julian Espinosa Rebollido), weaving collectively themes of artistic resilience, the realities of his context, and a lifetime of labor on the fringes of the artwork world. The movie resonates with broad audiences and college students alike, showcasing Wayacón’s potential to rework discarded supplies into profound expressions of life and reminiscence.”
– Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford Co-Director Chicago Floating Museum and Affiliate Professor Indiana College Northwest
To know extra about “Call Me Waya” go to:
https://callmewaya.com
“We are thrilled this April to have A World Premiere of “Call Me Waya“ at the esteemed Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) followed by a showing at the Gibara Film Festival in Cuba (Festival Internacional De Cine Gibara) and a community showing in the town where Wayacón lives, Remedios. I make movies to let audiences enter the life experience of others to deepen understanding of our universal hopes and challenges,” says Abelmann.
Abelmann additionally simply launched a compelling historic documentary – “Shifting Paths” on his household and their out of Germany path to america in 1939.
“Shifting Paths” is a multi-generational story of resilience, tracing the affect of Aryanization on the Abelmann household and the way Kamillosan—a once-banned chamomile medicinal product—survives at the moment, although few know of its origins. Abelmann’s grandfather, Arthur Abelmann, based the Chemiewerk in Dangerous Homburg Germany in 1920. After Hitler’s rise to energy, the Docs’ Affiliation banned all of Abelmann’s medical merchandise, forcing his grandfather to promote a household enterprise and to ship his household to Switzerland on the eve of Boycott Saturday, April 1, 1933. By utilizing first-person narratives, household images, letters, and archival footage, the movie juxtaposes Frankfurt’s vibrant Jewish life with the rise of the Nazi regime. The movie showcases resilience, Jewish heritage, and collective reminiscence, exploring themes of loss, privilege, survivor’s guilt, and discrimination. By preserving private and historic archives, it underscores the significance of remembering the previous to higher perceive modern struggles with immigration and human rights.
“Shifting Paths shows a touching and illuminating multi-generational story about the director’s grandfather’s dispossession of his Frankfurt factory in 1933 and his father’s refugee experience. Using a remarkable range of fortuitously preserved documents and photos, it connects us to a past at once still visible and tangible yet almost lost to the people who live where it happened. The film also is a shining example for us today of what can come of American openness to refugees.”
– Professor Peter Hayes, Northwestern College professor and chair of the Tutorial Committee of america Holocaust Memorial Museum
To know extra about “Shifting Paths” go to:
http://www.abelmannfilms.com
Abelmann brings his expertise in schooling analysis, coverage and apply to his viewpoint as a filmmaker. Abelmann’s profession contains work on the World Financial institution and being the pinnacle of college at varied private and non-private faculties. An alumnus of Duke College and the Harvard GraduateSchool of Schooling, Abelmann brings a brand new perspective to directing and producing documentaries that invoke reflection, dialogue, and motion. Abelmann’s earlier movie “English Hustle”is a part of the esteemed library of New Day Movies, a democratically-run cooperative since 1971, famend for its expansive community of greater than 140 filmmaker members.
For additional particulars, join with Charles Abelmann at cabelmann@gmail.com or
Go to https://www.abelmannfilms.com, https://www.callmewaya.com and
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-abelmann/< /a>.
All movies can be found for neighborhood, college, and college displays.
