Oliver Hardt: The United States of Hoodoo

For dates and updates check please check the project website: hoodoo.stokedfilm.com

The United States of Hoodoo is a road movie that traces the influence of voodoo on daily life and pop culture in the USA. For a period of two months, Darius James, the author of That´s Blaxploitation!!!! and Negrophobia, and German director and filmmaker Oliver Hardt (Black Deutschland) embark on a journey into the fabric of African-rooted, urban creativity. Their aim is to find voodoo’s contemporary forms of expression in music, arts and culture and to learn about their universal spiritual sources. Through meetings with musicians, writers and artists, miracle healers and gumbo cooks, Mississippi Blues men and black Elvis imitators, this documentary draws a picture of a culture that has always been hybrid and porous, and which has drawn on its unique mix of different ethnic influences to produce its cultural diversity, allure, and vitality.

Principal photography took place from April 7 – Mai 26, 2011 throughout the United States.

Production company: Stoked Film, Frankfurt
in co-production with tvt. film+vfx, Oliver Hardt/Signature Films
and ZDF/arte
Commissioning editor: Kathrin Brinkmann

Research, development and production kindly supported by the Hessen Film Fund.