Documentary ‘Buay’ to be shown Thursday night in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — A couple of local filmmakers have produced a documentary about their friend, who has not seen his family in Africa for more than 20 years, since he was a little boy.

The film is called “Buay,” and it tells the story of Buay Tang, whose family fled South Sudan during a war and settled in Ethiopia. When Buay was just 5 years old, he was chosen among dozens of children to be sent to the United States as a refugee, where he has lived ever since, never once returning to see his family in Ethiopia.

Buay attended Maharishi International University in Fairfield, where he befriended Nina Ziv and Nahom Abegaze. Those two have produced a documentary about Buay’s life, and they will show it to the public during a screening from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 16 at Phoenix Rising Hall at 207 W. Burlington Ave. in Fairfield. The event is being sponsored by the City of Fairfield’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and the Office of DEI at Maharishi International University. A question-and-answer session will follow the screening.

Abegaze is the executive producer of the film, while Ziv is its director, director of photography, editor and executive producer, too.

The idea for this documentary began a few years ago in 2018 while Ziv was enrolled in film classes at MIU’s Cinematic Arts & New Media Department (CANM). She learned about Tang’s heart-wrenching story of never having seen his parents or his five siblings since leaving Africa as a boy, and she asked if she could feature him in one of her film assignments.

In 2019, Ziv asked Abegaze to join the project because he was headed to Ethiopia, and she wanted footage from the country. Abegaze said he was happy to help, especially after watching Ziv’s 8-minute short she had already produced.

“As a native Ethiopian, an amateur filmmaker and a friend of Buay, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be part of this project and help tell Buay’s story,” Abegaze said.

After Tang came to the United States, he lived with his aunt and cousins in Omaha, Nebraska, and later with his uncle and cousins in Seattle, Washington. Since he was not born in America, he was not a U.S. citizen and was reluctant to get his citizenship, making international travel more difficult. He also planned to save enough money that when he did return to Ethiopia, he could generously take care of his family.

To produce the documentary, Abegaze and Ziv raised more than $15,000, which would cover productions costs, plus pay for flights for Tang plus the two of them to Ethiopia. They did this through crowdfunding platforms, selling cookies, and receiving support from CANM and a generous donor who sits on MIU’s Board of Trustees.

However, the project ran into a couple of snags due to factors beyond their control. The group tried to go once in March of 2020, but that trip had to be canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak. They tried again in June 2021, but that had to be canceled, too, because of the ongoing pandemic and civil unrest in Ethiopia. By then, they had secured a director of photography, Amine Kouider, who was head of the CANM department at MIU and had personally advised the filmmakers during production.

“We were initially quite discouraged from the first cancellation, especially Buay since he had waited so long to take this opportunity,” Abegaze said. “By the time the second trip was canceled, we had developed thicker skin and were determined to make another plan. We have retained most of our flight credits and await the next production meeting about a trip east.”

Tang graduated from MIU with a master’s of science in Ayurveda and a minor in Sustainable Living. He resides in Los Angeles, where he works as an Ayurveda wellness and integrative health consultant at Wellness First.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com