Already a success on the film festival circuit, with screenings last month in Toronto and London, "Tall as the Baobab Tree" (2012), written by Jeremy Teicher '10 and Alexi Pappas '12, is set for release this fall. The film centers on a young girl's efforts in a remote African village to save her younger sister from an arranged marriage.
The inspiration came to Teicher, who directed the film, from his experience studying abroad in Mbour, Senegal, during his junior year. Teicher worked with students at Ecole Sinthiou Mbadane, a school whose students are often the first of their families to attend school. Teicher was struck by their resilience and struggles in adapting to education and coming of age.
Upon his return to Dartmouth, Teicher was unable to let go of his concern that many young girls, unable to attend school, faced the path of arranged marriages. He received a Lombard Public Service Fellowship from the Dickey Center in his senior year, and returned to Senegal to shoot the documentary short "This is Us: Video Stories From Senegalese Youth." The film later provided a springboard for Teicher's first feature.
During his senior year, he began working with Pappas, a creative writing student. Teicher and Pappas, who eventually began seeing each other, sought to use material gathered from Teicher's documentary for a fictional screenplay.
"The film is about what it feels like to live through a time where your way of life needs to change to fit the outside worlds," Teicher said.
Teicher calls it a humanist feature, meant to reflect serious issues from a "place of empathy," and credits his firsthand experience in Senegal with granting him this insight. While the film was not intended to be an overtly political piece, Teicher acknowledged the issues of child slavery and the lack of education for young women in Africa that it raised.
Teicher and Pappas financed the film through donations from high school friends and Dartmouth film alumni. The pair were able to save costs by attracting crew members to volunteer after showcasing Teicher's first documentary. The film was shot primarily in the summer of 2011 and post-production continued into the following year.
Both Teicher and Pappas said they felt their success was partly a result of taking advantage of the D-Plan, professors and a variety of social justice and arts course offerings.
"It provided me a place to pursue what I was passionate about," Pappas said.
Teicher said his demanding workload at Dartmouth prepared him for the realization of his vision.
"Working on post-production really felt like being up late studying in the 1902 Room," Teicher said.
Teicher and Pappas said they are hopeful about their success in the film industry and will continue to infuse creativity and art into their long-distance relationship.
"Tall as the Baobab Tree" will be screened exclusively at Dartmouth in the fall.
