Orphans of Mathare
dir Randy Bell & Pacho Velez, 61 min, DV, 2003

Orphans of Mathare documents the lives of former street children – many orphaned by HIV/AIDS – now living at the Good Samaritan Children’s Home, an orphanage and school in the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya. By following the lives of several orphans, the film explores the complicated relationship between poverty, violence, disease, Christianity, tradition and the orphan crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Jean Prouvé: A Tropical House

dir Randy Bell, 12 min, DV, 2007

Jean Prouvé designed the Tropical House in 1949 as a prototype for inexpensive, readily assembled housing that could be easily transported to France's African colonies.  It was erected in Brazzaville, Congo, where it remained for nearly 50 years.  In 1999, it was disassembled and shipped back to France for restoration.  This film documents the re-construction of the House at the Yale School of Architecture in April 2005.

Modest Scarring
dir Randy Bell, 28 min, 16mm, 2002

"The urge to ornamnet one's face and everything within reach is the very origin of visual arts.  It is the babbling of painting.  And art is erotic."   -Adolf Loos

The filmmaker contemplates his youth, the impending doom of middle-age, and the absurdity of permanence.  A film about getting tattoos and getting tattoos removed.

Look Back Don't Look Back
dir Randy Bell & Justin Rice, 30 min, 16mm, 2000

We watched D. A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back.  We couldn't shake the Bob Dylan we found there.  He had wit, charisma, and energy. He was nervous, subversive, stubborn, and stupid.  He embodied youth.  He lived cool.  Fascinated by the mysterious power of the film, obsessed with the image of the young Dylan, we picked up a camera and headed to New York on an impossible quest. The goal: to meet Dylan himself.