Amakula Blog: Day 4
And the Golden Impala goes to...
There is something phantasmagorical about first timers beating favourites. It is a full house in Uganda National Theatre’s auditorium on the closing day [Saturday December 17, 2011] of the festival when Valens Haraburugira & Minani Jean de Dieu’s It Was Not the End is announced this year’s winner of the 7th Golden Impala Award for the Best Short Movie from Eastern Africa. Considering that there are more prolific names on the shortlist, a couple of festival regulars seem surprised.
Amakula Blog: Day 3
Is your mobile telephone financing the war in Congo?
Ever since the news first broke that diamonds in the west were financing civil wars in Africa, pandemonium broke out on the global scene.
Rights activists had major diamond producers for lunch [and supper], public pressure on international trade relations soared and the vicious negative publicity elicited was what most giant corporations would rather avoid.
Ever since the news first broke that diamonds in the west were financing civil wars in Africa, pandemonium broke out on the global scene.Amakula Blog: Day 2
Pirates; A Filmmaker's Best Friend?
If you picked a random East African filmmaker and asked them what gives them nightmares when they go to sleep, the word most likely to come out first is piracy. “We spend all this money making these expensive films and these lazy fellas dub our DVDs and sell copies for profit without the filmmaker ever seeing a cent,” laments one filmmaker. Every time a filmmaker hears the word pirate, their eyes bulge and their mouth froths with rage. It is no different here at the 8th Congress of East African Cinema. If it were up to filmmakers, the penalty for piracy would be the noose. Acclaimed cinema academic and ZIFF Director Prof Martin Mhando thinks otherwise.
“Piracy is not a negative element. It offers a new way to communicate.” This was the line behind Dr. Mhando’s thought provoking presentation at the Congress, which sparked off hours of debate that spilled over onto lunch tables when the Congress was done. Dr. Mhando challenges filmmakers to think outside the box and become aggressive in marketing their product. “Instead of fighting with them, we can work with them to get to our films to the local audience using the distribution infrastructure they have already built.” As you can imagine, delegates had a lot to say, and the Congress ended on a rather high note.
Away from the talk shopping at the Congress, the day’s screening highlights on Day 2 were Jean-Francois Mean the documentary White and Black: Crimes of Colour and Saleh Haroun’s feature film A Screaming Man. These films received the rave reviews from film lovers at the festival, pulling in the largest crowds of the evening and generating the most response during and after screening.
White and Black: Crimes of Colour digs into the terrible wave of albino homicide that has gripped Tanzania. For some in the audience for whom the events in Tanzania were simply lines in a newspaper, the documentary is both shocking and illuminating. Through the lens of Canadian-born Jean Francois’ camera, we follow Tanzanian journalist Vicky Mtemtema as she investigates the gruesome crimes against albino and talks to their families and survivors.
Angie Emuron, a Ugandan playwright who was present at the screening says she kept debating whether to stay or walk out. “Some scenes were too shocking and heart wrenching. I didn’t know it was this bad,” she says. She isn’t alone. When Francois is called to share insights when the credits are done, top on the viewer’s mind is how he managed to shoot some of the scenes that were intensely emotional. “On camera it was okay. It was behind the scenes where it got really tough sometimes,” he confesses.
But White and Black: Crimes of Colour is not all tears and gruesome info. It carries a high note of motivation too. We meet inspirational characters in two Tanzanian albino firsts; an MP and a beauty pageant contestant. These two women embody and epitomise courage. They are icons for albinos who rejected being characterised as half human and are breaking what limitations society has placed in their way. The film is touching and certainly does well to shine a spotlight on what several would rather have remained buried. James Oketa, a young writer who claims he has never missed a season of Amakula is in awe. “Documentaries like this are the reason I come for Amakula every year. There should be a way to get these films to a wider audience.”
If you are one of those sceptics who believe that African filmmakers are only good for documentaries, Chad’s Mahamat- Saleh Haroun has a message for you. In his movie A Screaming Man, Saleh Haroun brings to the screen a unique command of storytelling that is distinctly as African as is contemporary. No wonder this movie scooped the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Its dialogue is short and minimal but its picture tells a million words.
Set in mid-conflict Chad, A Screaming Man is a film with a storyline of epic and tragic proportions. The story evolves around Adam, a former swimming champion who gives his son Abdel up to the army to save his job as a pool attendant when civil war breaks out in Chad. What follows is battle of will and conscience. Adam’s internal conflict is intensified when he learns that Abdel has a girlfriend who is with child. His struggle to undo his deed falls inches short of being epic but his tragedy is insurmountable and the end leaves the audience gasping.
Salima and Rachael, two young ladies who had strolled into the festival on a happy chance could not get enough of the movie. It is their first time to watch African film outside Nollywood and they can’t believe it could be this mood. “I had never seen Chinese speaking French,” says Salima laughing shyly, “It was funny!” Day two ended on a high note and if you missed it tomorrow has a lot in store if anything to prove that African film is making huge leaps.
EDGAR KANGERE ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
Amakula Blog: Day 1
Itinerant Amakula cinema caravan makes Kampala stop
It’s a chilly Wednesday [December 14, 2011] morning when the 8th edition of Kampala’s biggest film festival kicks off to a patient start. A heavy morning rain threatens to poop the party as the minutes creep to opening hour but as suddenly as they went on the taps go off. Me thinks someone shook some calabashes. Hihi!
I make my brisk trek to the National Theatre as a light drizzle tickles my back. It’s an all new Amakula- new name, new festival. I am not sure what to expect. A lot of things are different. For one the festival is no longer the Amakula Kampala International Film Festival as you might expect. It is now the Amakula Kampala Cinema Caravan Festival. I ask one festivalite what he thinks about the new name. “I have no idea what it really means” he says, “but I can’t wait to find out.” I can’t wait too.
In his opening remarks Festival Manager Nathan Kiwere explains the reason for the change. Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation in a bid to take cinema culture closer to the people has taken the festival on the road. The new name is a result of the festival becoming a mobile cinema caravan. It was launched in Kampala last September and visited the towns of Jinja (September), Masaka (October) and Lira (November) before returning to Kampala for the grand finale.
The theme for this year is Translating Experiences and I can’t wait to see how it pans out in the selection of screenings. Today’s pick comes from what has now become a tradition at Amakula; a syncopation of rhythm and silent film featuring one of Uganda’s most electrifying Afo-jazz bands- Percussion Discussion Africa. For tonight’s reel we have The Zulu’s Heart by D.W Griffith and The Overlanders by Harold Shaw. Albeit small, the numbers in the auditorium are encouraging enough for opening night, and Percussion Discussion Afrika does not let down. Their musical rendering of the action on screen is soulful, delightfully sensational and hilarious in some parts. Job well done were it not for the content of the films taking away from their performance.
In one picture [Rastus in Zululand], white men with faces painted black portray Africans as a savage murderous people with cannibalism innuendo. The other [The Overlanders] celebrates a Boer massacre of a ‘savage’ Zulu army in its rendition of the battle of Blood River during the great trek. The films depict an occidental worldview of Africa in the 1900s and their content is disturbingly derogatory. Ironically, the audience sheepishly applauds when the show is done and I am shocked at the lack of reaction.
Fortunately I am not alone. Prof Mhando, Festival Director of Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), shares my indignation. He promptly takes the podium and questions the wisdom in selecting such films for an African film festival when the audience is not given the opportunity to discuss the historical context in which they were made. His voice is calm and tempered but the bile in his tone is unmistakable. The audience claps and again I am shocked when they do not pick up the debate. For an African audience to be this ambivalent at a Pan-African oriented event like this is stunning.
While I appreciate the historical value of screening the films from the viewpoint of translating experiences, I agree with Prof Mhando’s assertion that such films shouldn’t be shown without a conscious attempt at creating discussion that gives them context. Festivals cannot be reduced to showing film for film’s sake.
As a young Pan-Africanist, my pride is wounded but I am more disturbed by the impassivity with which the audience received the films and the critique they attracted. It points to a deeper problem in the ethos of modern African society, an issue patrons of the arts need to address. If the arts are ever to stand a chance of changing the way our society thinks, attitudes such as this need to be strongly sounded out and unequivocally addressed.
EDGAR KANGERE (
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
)
I make my brisk trek to the National Theatre as a light drizzle tickles my back. It’s an all new Amakula- new name, new festival. I am not sure what to expect. A lot of things are different. For one the festival is no longer the Amakula Kampala International Film Festival as you might expect. It is now the Amakula Kampala Cinema Caravan Festival. I ask one festivalite what he thinks about the new name. “I have no idea what it really means” he says, “but I can’t wait to find out.” I can’t wait too.
In his opening remarks Festival Manager Nathan Kiwere explains the reason for the change. Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation in a bid to take cinema culture closer to the people has taken the festival on the road. The new name is a result of the festival becoming a mobile cinema caravan. It was launched in Kampala last September and visited the towns of Jinja (September), Masaka (October) and Lira (November) before returning to Kampala for the grand finale.
The theme for this year is Translating Experiences and I can’t wait to see how it pans out in the selection of screenings. Today’s pick comes from what has now become a tradition at Amakula; a syncopation of rhythm and silent film featuring one of Uganda’s most electrifying Afo-jazz bands- Percussion Discussion Africa. For tonight’s reel we have The Zulu’s Heart by D.W Griffith and The Overlanders by Harold Shaw. Albeit small, the numbers in the auditorium are encouraging enough for opening night, and Percussion Discussion Afrika does not let down. Their musical rendering of the action on screen is soulful, delightfully sensational and hilarious in some parts. Job well done were it not for the content of the films taking away from their performance.
In one picture [Rastus in Zululand], white men with faces painted black portray Africans as a savage murderous people with cannibalism innuendo. The other [The Overlanders] celebrates a Boer massacre of a ‘savage’ Zulu army in its rendition of the battle of Blood River during the great trek. The films depict an occidental worldview of Africa in the 1900s and their content is disturbingly derogatory. Ironically, the audience sheepishly applauds when the show is done and I am shocked at the lack of reaction.
Fortunately I am not alone. Prof Mhando, Festival Director of Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), shares my indignation. He promptly takes the podium and questions the wisdom in selecting such films for an African film festival when the audience is not given the opportunity to discuss the historical context in which they were made. His voice is calm and tempered but the bile in his tone is unmistakable. The audience claps and again I am shocked when they do not pick up the debate. For an African audience to be this ambivalent at a Pan-African oriented event like this is stunning.
While I appreciate the historical value of screening the films from the viewpoint of translating experiences, I agree with Prof Mhando’s assertion that such films shouldn’t be shown without a conscious attempt at creating discussion that gives them context. Festivals cannot be reduced to showing film for film’s sake.
As a young Pan-Africanist, my pride is wounded but I am more disturbed by the impassivity with which the audience received the films and the critique they attracted. It points to a deeper problem in the ethos of modern African society, an issue patrons of the arts need to address. If the arts are ever to stand a chance of changing the way our society thinks, attitudes such as this need to be strongly sounded out and unequivocally addressed.
Mobile Phone Film Competition
Film-buffs who would like to get more functionality from their smartphones can take part in the Arterial Network/ DOEN Foundation inaugural Mobile Phone Film Competition. The short films will be shot on cell phones for its first Mobile Phone Film Competition. Experts in various fields will evaluate the films while public awareness and participation will be increased through on-line voting. Application forms are available at; http://arterialnetwork.org/page/competition
In other filmmaking news, STEPS is commissioning 30 short films as part of its cross media project “WHY POVERTY”. The short cinematic works should challenge preconceptions about poverty, provoke discussion and action. They should also be almost impossible to forget. The run time should be one to five minutes long because they will be used on the web and broadcast supporting eight long films that are in production. More information is available at www.whypoverty.net.
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And for young people aged 18-24, UNESCO has launched a YouTube and Youku-run 90-second video contest as part of its special programme for the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. Each video is intended to provide a personal vision of the meaning and future of cultural diversity. All genres and means of recording are accepted. The videos will not be subtitled or dubbed, so that verbal communication should not be essential for their understanding.
The final winner of the contest will win a video camera (approx. 2,500 USD dollars value). The winning video will be selected by an international jury of experts among the first five videos resulting from the pre-selection of the public. Information and participation information is available at: www.unesco.org/new/video-challenge.
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Hot Docs-Blue Ice Film Documentary Fund
Ugandan documentary filmmakers do not have to keep their cinematic ideas stuck in their heads. The Hot Docs – Blue Ice Film Documentary Fund is a grant program providing financial support to African documentary filmmakers for development and production. Development grants of $3,000 - $8,000 and Production grants of $5,000 - $40,000 are awarded to four to 10 projects annually.
In addition to financing, the initiative also offers valuable resources to support production, and professional development, and offer filmmakers opportunities to access the international documentary community. Through an accompanying peer-to-peer mentorship program, grantees may team with international production partners to bring their projects to international markets, festivals, broadcast and online audiences. Additionally, grantees have travel, accommodation and accreditation support to attend Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and Hot Docs Blue Ice Filmmakers Lab. Applications for the 2011 funding cycle end Wednesday, December 14, 2011 and are open to professional filmmakers who are citizens and residents of countries in continental Africa. More information is available at http://www.hotdocs.ca/shawmedia/hot_docs_blue_ice_film_documentary_fund_guidelines and http://www.hotdocs.ca/shawmedia/hot_docs_blue_ice_film_documentary_funds_faq. Contact:
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for more information.
Viva Riva! Vivacious all the way
Viva Riva! makes good on its promise of sex, oil and scandal. The Congolese film noir written and directed by Djo Munga has been racking up awards at international film festivals with Time Out New York calling it "one of the best neo-noirs from anywhere in recent memory". The film is showing at Cineplex Cinema, Garden City and for more insights into the mind of it's first-time director, this interview by This is Africa tells more about Djo Munga.
