Press Releases & Announcements

---

Philadelphia, PA  After more than 30 years, award winner Bob Lott and his colleagues at Teamwork Media Group International (TMGI), Producers and Distributors are shifting gears in the direction of original programming aimed at the global market, but with a twist.

It was over 30 years ago that Bob and then partner Walt Gavin pioneered Black Music in video form in the first syndicated Black music video show on commercial television with The Gavin & Lott Show that aired in 55 cities nationwide.  Since that time Bob has developed a reputation for excellence and customer satisfaction in the area of non-broadcast video and documentaries.

The African Genesis Theory was created by African and African American History scholar, the late Dr. Edward Robinson Jr., who passed in 2012. He spent 70 of his 94 years trying to teach African Americans of their true history of who they are and who they could be as a people. Robinson provides the basis for most of TMGI’s new programming slate including several documentary series that deal with the spiritual and cultural connection of African Americans with the Motherland.

It is important for all people to value the contributions that Africans and African Americans have made to world history, and to correct the false perceptions that lead to racial violence, chaos, and factionalism.  America can no longer afford to be torn apart from within by the age-old hatred that once splintered this nation.

Triggering the solution to the race problem, which is rooted in the lack of intrinsic value toward African Americans by all Americans, is the mission of the African Genesis effort. It seeks to do that by initiating the deprogramming of the mind-sets of all Americans concerning the African beginnings of African Americans.

The reason for reprogramming is to build race-esteem among African Americans, as well as build respect for African Americans by other ethnic groups.  Intrinsic Value is the root.  Race-esteem is the flower.  Self-esteem is the fragrance.  Without the flower, there is no fragrance.

TMGI’s goal is to bring more African American history to both the big and small screen globally. Projects completed and on the drawing board cover sports, film, ancient history, archaeology, music, finance, education, biographies of influential Americans, all from a “black” perspective, but for a global audience. We want to bring a new perspective to the African American experience before and after the so-called MAAFA (The African American Holocaust).

A documentary on the life and legacy of Dr. Edward Robinson, Jr. “On The Wings of an Eagle”, aired in Philadelphia in October 2014 and again in Black History Month 2015 on CBS’ CW Philly channel. An expanded feature length version "Journey Of The Songhai People”  is in production. The film focuses on what Robinson termed “The Problem” when it comes to the “black” experience in America. It offers, for what he terms “the ills” facing African Americans, a permanent, powerful, action-based “Solution!”

Some of TMGI’s films completed and ready for distribution include:

BIRTH OF BLACK FILM: A CINEMA APART

Another “historical” film called “Birth Of Black Film” hosted and co-produced by Beverly Richards, deals with the birth of an independent Black Cinema and its impact on America. It takes us on a journey through the early years introducing the pioneers – the studio owners, producers, directors and actors who created a viable black-owned industry. Birth of Black Film won a Gold first prize award in the PhilaFilm Festival June of last year.

RENAISSANCE PERIOD OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN IN SPORTS

Bob Lott, along with Executive Producer Herb Douglas, the oldest living African American Olympic Medalist at age 95, produced a documentary on the “Renaissance Nine.” The Renaissance film tells the story of the nine (9) African American Olympic medalists who were members of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games Track & Field Team. When the Games were finished, these nine athletes had collected 13 medals — four of them by Jesse Owens.

The film includes Olympic Gold Medalists Edwin Moses, and Gabrielle Douglas along with other notables. The film was screened as part of a reunion of Olympians from around the country, February 2016 in Las Vegas and received a silver medal in the 2016 PhilaFilm Film Festival.

I AM AN AMERICAN: THE MAKING OF AN ANTHEM, produced and directed by Bob Lott, is a documentary revealing the decades-long mission by legendary music pioneer Kenny Gamble of Philadelphia International Records fame, and utilization of Temple University’s Orchestra and choir along with superstar Patti LaBelle. The film had its world premier at the San Diego Black Film Festival.

GHANA, THE DOOR OF NO RETURN

Most recently, TMGI received the first place award from the Capital City Black Film Festival for his film “African Genesis: Journey Of The Songhai People”, subtitled: “Ghana, The Door of No Return”. The film was also screened at the San Diego Black Film Festival and has won several awards in three other film festivals including a silver medal in The Philafilm International Festival. Ghana- The Door Of No Return follows “a lost tribe” of 200 Americans of African descent who travel through time, space, history to the motherland and reconnect with the spirits of Ancestors whose epic journey from there to here, then to now, is the central theme, the central thread of the American Experience.

We believe that we have an opportunity to make a difference for our own and for the future of America.

####