That is for the 2015 Feature Drama
“Aisha”, in next month’s The African Film Festival (TAFF), in the United
States of America. This festival (TAFF) is said to “celebrate films
that either promote African culture; address issues affecting the
Continent or explore its’ landmarks and historic leaders”.
It’s an annual event, which takes place
on the first three days of July, in Dallas, Texas. So imagine the
feeling he got hearing that “Aisha”,a 112-minute film, made right here,
from the collaboration of Uzikwasa in Pangani District of Tanga Region
with the Dar es Salaam- based Kijiweni Productions.
Now remember, Uzikwasa, the Executive
Producers of this film, is an organisation that prides itself in aiming
to reach out, listen and encourage voices amongst rural communities, who
they engage in various ways to find development solutions for
themselves.On the other hand, Kijiweni Productions is a filmmaking
organisation founded and owned by Shivji, who produced and directed this
film.
Therefore, the young filmmaker’s joy,
when talking to the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ earlier this week, should
be well understood. Added to the TAFF nominations, “Aisha” has been
doing quite well in the festival circuits and has already been selected
for screening in 14 different ones. The Zanzibar International Festival
(ZIFF) is one of the recent one, in which the film is scheduled for
screening on July 15, in the Old Fort.
The most recent one is these TAFF
nominations, which they got earlier this week. “So what I’m really happy
about is that althoughTAFF is a small festival, the prestigious part of
it comes from the fact that each department essentially of our film,
has been nominated and is put on a pedestal, as an African film out
there in Texas. So everyone who has played an active role in making this
film a reality, is actually getting some more out of this,” he
admitted.
These six nominations are for Best
Narrative Feature, Best Director, which is Chande Omar and Best Actor,
Adarusi Wali. The others are Best Actress, Godliver Gordian, Best
Soundtrack, which is the song “Minna Dada” by the local songwriter,
singer and musician, Vitalis Maembe and Best Cinematography by Takura
Maurayi. Being nominated, Shivji says means one has been short-listed,
therefore, selected from a larger pool.
This is something worth being proud of,
according to him, who has seen some of the other films that have been
selected. Going beyond this and winning the award in any of these
categories, he maintains would be a bonus. As the Executive Producers of
the film Uzikwasa, funded it and choose the topic, they wanted to
address.
Kijiweni Productions was approached
because their films, such as “Shoeshine” and Samaki Mchangani”, usually
address social justice issues. They don’t usually make NGO films but on
this occasion they liked the work Uzikwasa were doing on the ground. So
they agreed to make this film providing they had “Creative Control” over
it.
This involved conducting the research,
finding a script writer and other members of the production crew,
together with cast. They went on to handling all post-production from
editing to sound mixing and even the promotion right down to its
premier, there in Pangani, where it was shot. “So taking this into
consideration, I would say that Kijiweni Productions made this film.
The difference now is that we don’t have
copyrights to it. It’s owned by the Executive Producers (Uzikwasa), who
funded it. Therefore, when it comes to ownership and distribution it
will be them, but in terms of the Creative Control it’s definitely
Kijiweni Productions,”Shivji said. The film, which was shot in Pangani
in January last year was premiered right there in July of the same year.
Apart from the nomination success the
film has had in its first year, Shivji is also very proud of being part
of it for helping to bring out conversation and create dialogue on
issues of gender violence, within local communities.
Another person spoken to in relations to
these nominations is the independent local Filmmaker, Edgar Ngelela.
Apart from making films he also teaches at the University of Dar es
Salaam’s (UDSM) School of Journalism and Mass Communications
(SJMC),Television and Radio Production.
He pointed out the fact that this
locally-made film received such nominations, shows that “Tanzania is on
the world map” therefore, is seen by others outside. “It does not stop
there either,” he maintains, “for by so doing Aisha is actually paving
the way for other of our filmmakers to try as much as they can to
improve and do better films.”
“This increases the possibilities for
local filmmakers to have their productions showcased in the same
festival or any other one, in another country. This will help more local
films to cross borders, as Aisha has certainly now done.
This is what we’ve been trying to do for
such a long time,” Ngelela, who lists “Kosa” and “Sauti ya Kunese”
amongst his films, added. He is very optimistic about there being more
of such situations in the future, given the mind-set he has observed of a
number of young coming-up filmmakers.
These new stock, he maintains are
consciously trying to cross borders. One of the things he believes,
which has helped make “Aisha” a good film, is being able to see a few
things in it that relate to its ethnicity and traditions.
It is such things, Ngelela says, which
clearly shows the viewer what country it’s made in and that it’s trying
to say something about the society, plus local people’s feelings
concerning it. According to Ngelela there are those local filmmakers who
will see this as a big success and follow-on.
However, there will also be those who
will not even take notice at all, and will just continue as if nothing
happened. He has taken note.
Written by Imani Mani / 02-July-2016 / Dailynews
