In a universe of cells - who is not in jail? Jailers
In a world of hospitals - who is not sick? Doctors.
A golden sardine is swimming in my head.
Oh we know some things, man, about some things
Like jazz and jails and God.
Saturday is a good day to go to jail.
Bob Kaufman - Jail Poems (excerpt) 1965

Born in 1925 and considered “the American Rimbaud”, Bob Kaufman contributes a singular voice to the poetic/political imaginings of world literature. And when I die, I won’t stay dead is a journey into the ferocious beauty of his work, and his insistence that poetry is fundamental to humanity’s moral survival.

“The legacy of Kaufman’s poetry provides the dominant note in the film I ultimately made. But given my strong commitment to struggles for political justice, my film also weaves his artistic triumph as a triumph of radical politics surviving and inspiring against all odds. It is only justice to the facts of Bob Kaufman’s life and times that this film must attempt to recall and chronicle the countless odds he faced to find his voice and project his vision.” (BW)

Marseille Après La Guerre is a poetic, black-and-white portrait of dock workers in post-WWII Marseille, and is also an homage to the great Senegalese film director, Ousmane Sembène. Several years ago, while researching the history of the National Maritime Union (a radical union of sailors founded in 1937), Woodberry discovered a collection of images made by union photographers of the docks in Marseille, many portraying dock workers of African descent.