A Film Based on a Novel by Acclaimed Kenyan Author Ngugi wa Thiong'o Is In the Works
Nollywood director Kunle Afolayan is developing Ngugi's novel "Matigari" with Kenyan and South African filmmakers.
A novel by Kenya's own Ngugi wa Thiong'o is being adapted to a film, Brittle Paperreports.
Nollywood director Kunle Afolayan shared at the Africa Movie Academy Awards that Ngugi's 1987 work, Matigari, is in development with Kenyan and South African filmmakers, who have yet to be revealed.
"Ngugi is like the Wole Soyinka of Nigeria in Kenya and one of his books is going to be adapted into a film," Afolayan said. "It's going to be South Africa-Kenya-Nigeria co-production and I'm representing Nigeria."
Matigari tells the story of a freedom fighter who emerges from the forest after Kenya gains independence.
The summary of the story from Ngugi's website states:
Who is Matigari? Is he young or old; a man or fate; dead or living… or even a resurrection of Jesus Christ? These are the questions asked by the people of this unnamed country, when a man who has survived the war for independence emerges from the mountains and starts making strange claims and demands. Matigari is in search of his family to rebuild his home and start a new and peaceful future. But his search becomes a quest for truth and justice as he finds the people still dispossessed and the land he loves ruled by corruption, fear, and misery. Rumors spring up that a man with superhuman qualities has risen to renew the freedom struggle. The novel races toward its climax as Matigari realizes that words alone cannot defeat the enemy. He vows to use the force of arms to achieve his true liberation. Matigari is a satire on the betrayal of human ideals and on the bitter experience of post-independence African society.
Stay tuned for more news around the development of this film.
The film, directed by Casablanca-born filmmaker Sofia Alouia, uses a supernatural event to provoke questions about life in her home country.
The tagline for the film is enticing: A young pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco. And yet, Animalia is more than what you would expect from or think of a movie about extraterrestrials. Through the film, director Sofia Alaoui uses elements of allegory to pick at social norms between men and women, the class divide and human destruction of nature.
Born in Morocco, Alaoui studied cinema in Paris and moved back home to start her own production company, Jiango Films. Developing her style in fiction and documentary, she made a number of short films that have screened at festivals over the past few years. But it’s her short, So What If the Goats Die, that has drawn her the most attention. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, and France’s César for best short fiction film in 2021.
That film allowed Alaoui to explore shooting in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and to work with non-professional actors, something she develops further in Animalia, her first full-length film. She's back at Sundance this year, where the film is premiering. It tells the story of Itto, a young woman from a rural background who marries into a wealthy family and is waiting to have a baby when the country is thrown into disarray by some sort of otherwordly event. She co-produced the film with Margaux Lorier and Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral, who also produced Saint Omerand Les Misérables.
OkayAfrica spoke to Alaoui about aliens, shooting in Morocco and overcoming doubts as a filmmaker.
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you take me back to your first experience at Sundance, with So What If the Goats Die, which went on to win a coveted prize?
It was an amazing experience to have my short film selected for Sundance three years ago. I was completely crazy when I heard that we'd been selected to and then to win the prize, it was a life changer because everything went so quickly, thanks to Sundance and everything that happened around the short film. It allowed me to go deeper into the kind of film that I really wanted to make, to take a documentary narrative approach. There's a lot of documentary [aspects] in this feature; there's 80% of non-professional actors – the people in the bars and hotel are real, the furniture is from the place, the settings in the mountains. Also there is a little VFX and it’s a fictional story, but this mix of film has been possible because of the success of the short and because of Sundance, of course.
What was it like for you to make the leap into a full-length film - what was the biggest challenge?
Actually, it's more stressful because when you're making a short film you're not in the industry, really. With Animalia, I co-produced the film and I really wanted to still be able to try new stuff. But there's this stress, because we're in the industry and this is the first feature, and how do you be completely free creatively with the stress? [chuckles] Fortunately, I had this amazing producer [Margaux Lorier] who permitted me to go deeper in a universe that I could not maybe have gone into without confidence.
It’s a great premise for a film: aliens landing in Morocco, even though it's about more than that. Where did that idea come from?
Yeah, pitching the story like this is, of course, exciting, but also the film is not exactly like this because it's complicated and if people are waiting only for aliens that could be really disappointing. The idea came up when I came back to Morocco after traveling and living abroad for a very long time. And when I came back, I was confronted with the weight of dogma, the religious dogma, and how its infused in society. The place of women, the place of men, how to be a good woman? How to be a good man? It was really complicated for me, because I used to live abroad and in a different society, and was also seeing a different way of thinking. So when I came back there and I needed to accept this is how to be a woman, and how to follow the rules, it was really complicated.
I was questioning about how to question my society deeply, but in a different way that also can be accepted in my country. Because I don't want to make films from Europe, I want also to make films from my society. After I had this idea of aliens and science fiction, it was the beginning of creating a mix that [would allow me to] question my society. The short film was a trial, and I think that with a movie, you can say many things that could be accepted. So this idea of the film -- to preach in my society to let people to travel in a universe, and little by little, try to question themselves.
French Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui uses documentary elements in her fictional narrative stories, like her award-winning short 'So What If The Goats Die,' and her feature-length debut, 'Animalia.'
Photo: Sundance Film Institute
You filmed it in Morocco and the land looks so incredible, almost like the surface of the moon. What was the challenge in finding the right place?
A few years ago, when I was looking for a place to shoot my short film, I really wanted to find a place where the landscape can make you imagine that you are on another planet. I really wanted to find that "lunar landscape." So for the short, I was scouting for maybe a year, and I heard about this village, and so I used it for the feature, too, because I knew the place. It's far away from the main city so it could be really complicated, but it was an amazing adventure also for the team because you are disconnected from the main city. So, you are a part of an experience. Sometimes you get to the set and it's still dark. You are experiencing something really deep during the shooting of this kind of film.
For budding filmmakers who see what you've been doing, what would you offer as advice to them?
The advice would be like in life, actually. In life, sometimes people want you to do something, and they are waiting for you to act and to do something. The idea of the film is to be who you are, to be connected to yourself. It's so hard to do a film nowadays. As a filmmaker, you have a lot of doubts, but it's important to be connected to who you are, who you want to be as a filmmaker. Why do you want to do it? And never do something because someone wants you to do it. Even if you may fail. You will be okay because it will be true to you. I'm really sincere in my work, and so if people watch it or not, I am okay because I didn't try to be someone else. I think it's better to accept the failure than to try be someone else.
From established names to ones we've yet to become acquainted with, directors from the continent and the diaspora have much to offer in the coming year.
For many filmmakers, it can take years to get a project off the ground and finally onto a screen -- be that of a movie theater or a streaming network. This year will see some films make their debut that have been a long time in the making, while others will pick up steam after gaining a solid push in 2022.
Some of the filmmakers OkayAfrica has our eyes fixed on are well-known names already, some are still finding their way in the world of cinema. No matter where they are on their paths, these are the directors that have us excited for what’s to come over the next few months, as we dive on into 2023.
Ellie Foumbi's first full-length feature is an astounding work of film. The director, who is from Cameroon, has earned tons of praise for the redemption thriller Our Father, The Devil -- so much so that the film has deservedly found itself among the esteemed company of Everything Everywhere All At Once and Tár in the best feature category of the Film Independent Awards. Foumbi, who is also a producer on the film, will find out in March if Our Father, The Devil wins that statue, but she's already notched up a number of accolades since the film first premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2021.
Our Father, The Devil won best narrative feature audience award at the TriBeCa Film Festival, and jury prizes at the Mill Valley Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival, among others. It will make its African premiere at FESPACO next month, and will be screened in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Glasgow, Burkina Faso, Montreal and Toronto, over the coming months. According to Foumbi, a theatrical release is planned for late this summer.
Foumbi has been an exciting talent to watch from her start as an actor to her forays into writing and directing. She made her TV directorial debut on BET’s hip-hop anthology, Tales, and her short film, Home was commissioned by Netflix, for their Netflix Film Club’s Youtube channel. It will be a treat to see more people experience the moral ride of Our Father, The Devil as it continues to play around the globe.
What haven't we said about Blitz Bazawule that still needs to be said? 2023 will see the culmination of the rapper/painter/author/filmmaker’s major studio release, The Color Purple. The Ghanaian-born director, who made a cinematic splash with his whimsically delightful debut The Burial of Kojo, in 2018, has been working on the retelling of the Alice Walker novel alongside a cast that includes Fantasia Barrino (as Celie Harris), Colman Domingo, Halle Bailey, Danielle Brooks, Corey Hawkins, andH.E.R.
The film, which is produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, is due to be released in December, after being in the pipeline for many years. Bazawule has said he intends to focus on imagination to bring this version of the story to life. As a multi-hyphenate artist, he's been known to bring a meticulous sense of wonder to his work -- from his paintings to his novel, The Scent of Burnt Flowers, which was released last year. It'll be intriguing to see how he brings that sensibility to a story as known and as loved as The Color Purple.
Milisuthando Bongela
Photo: Sundance Film Institute
South African Milisuthando Bongela has worked across the arts as a writer, editor and fashion consultant, all the while interrogating post-apartheid life from the perspective of Black middle class South Africans and women. For eight of what she calls "the longest and most profound years" of her life, she has been working on a documentary film. Soon, she will finally get to share that part of her life, as a director, when Bongela's long-gestating documentary, Milisuthando, makes its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.
Bongela has written extensively about the intersections of race, class and gender for publications like the Mail and Guardian,W Magazine, and Dazed and Confused, and we're looking forward to what will certainly be a very honest film. Described as a "coming-of-age personal essay documentary on love and what it means to become human in the context of race," the film will explore Bongela's own life, as a young woman growing up during apartheid, not knowing it was happening until it was over.
When he's not making music with Just A Band or creating award-winning advertising campaigns, Mbithi Msaya is making breathtaking work as a feature film director. His first film, Kati Kati, a dazzling spin on the afterlife, won several international awards, including the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Hailed back then as 'an exciting and unique new voice in cinema,' Mbithi has only continued to further showcase his talent as a creative in every sense of the word.
His latest work, the short film BABA, has picked up much acclaim, winning the Film Africa 2022 Baobab Award for Best Short Film. BABA is the story of a six-year-old boy living on the outskirts of Nairobi who has an unusual ability to escape any situation. While the film deals with an uncomfortable subject matter, it has a tenderness and humanity to it that underscores the filmmaker's craft. This year, Msaya will travel with the film further afield, to events like the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and hopefully shortly after then, should land an outlet for the public at large to see it, too.
Among the many hats Walé Oyéjidé wears -- of designer, writer, speaker, photographer, musician and lawyer -- is filmmaker. Fans of the Nigerian American artist have had the chance to experience his work in these various realms, especially his designs, which have been seen in films like Black Panther andComing 2 America, as well as in museums around the world. But 2023 is set to showcase his skills behind the camera even further, when he introduces the world to Bravo, Burkina Faso, his debut feature, at the Sundance Film Festival.
As the founder of Ikiré Jones and creator of After Migration, Oyéjidé has become known for using fashion design as a vehicle to celebrate marginalized perspectives. His debut film is supported by the Ethical Fashion Institute, and has been created in collaboration with asylum seekers, Italian artisans, and traditional Burkinabé weavers. Shot on two continents, it tells the story of a Burkinabé boy who flees his village to Italy, and promises to turn the traditional narrative of migration on its head. And if the trailer is anything to go by, to do so in stunning fashion.
Thierno Souleymane Diallo
Photo: The Berlinale
Guinean director, scriptwriter and producer Thierno Souleymane Diallo has been making short films since he started studying. He went to Niger in 2012 to pursue documentary filmmaking, and trained at Saint-Louis Gaston Berger University, in Senegal the following year. Eight years ago he pitched a documentary titled The Cemetery of Cinema (Au Cimetière De La Pellicule at a workshop, and now, this year, it will debut at the Berlin Film Festival (the Berlinale) in February. The premise sounds captivating, as he sets out with his camera to research the birth of filmmaking in his home country of Guinea.
Diallo also works for the Guinean public television, and the film notes suggest he has a deep passion for the importance of film archives and preserving film history. This film is sure to add to what is sorely lacking when it comes to the history of African cinema.
The Nigerian director saw a vision of Mami Wata, then made a film that became the toast of Sundance and won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography.
C.J. Obasi’s third feature length film MamiWata has taken Sundance by storm. The mesmerizing fable, which marks the first time a home-grown Nigerian film scores a competition prize at the Sundance Film Festival, delves into the myth of the Mami Wata folklore, a terrifying mermaid goddess popular across West Africa. Obasi’s MamiWata tells a simple enough story of good versus evil, and the importance of maintaining balance while hurtling towards societal change. But Obasi is not your basic filmmaker, and his interpretation of this well-known folklore is a startling cinematic achievement that advances his singular vision.
Shot in dazzling black and white, and envisioned as an expressionist exercise, MamiWata tells the story of a beach-side community that must interrogate previously held beliefs when a stranger washes up ashore and forces a reckoning. At Sundance, Mami Wata impressed jury, critics and audiences alike. The film won the special jury award for cinematography for Brazilian DOP Lílis Soares’ striking work.
OkayAfrica spoke with Obasi from Park City, Utah about the seven-year process that brought Mami Wata to life.
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
C.J. "Fiery" Obasi took seven years to make 'Mami Wata,' which he started writing in January 2016.
Photo: The Sundance Institute
You really saw a vision of Mami Wata and lived to tell the tale?
After the lackluster reception of my 2015 film, O-Town, I was at a place where I was worrying about what to do next. I have had three or four encounters all through my life where even though I am awake, I kind of zone out and recall no presence of time. I went to this beach where I saw this vision of a goddess whom I believe to be Mami Wata. If you see a giantess standing in the ocean with red glowing eyes staring at you, you kind of assume she is Mami Wata. She was beckoning on this young woman who was walking into the ocean. I said to myself that I am going to make MamiWata as my next project. That began a process of figuring out what kind of Mami Wata movie I wanted. I envisaged an emotional narrative that speaks to individuality and our identity as (West) Africans. Instinctively I realized that to go on that path I would need to follow the journey of the young woman and not necessarily Mami Wata. Who was this woman? Where was she coming from? If I could find the journey of the young woman, then that would lead me to Mami Wata.
Guitar Boy, the classic song by Sir Victor Uwaifo about his encounter with a Mami Wata readily comes to mind.
Of course. And to my credit when I saw Mami Wata I did not run away…
Sir Victor Uwaifo’s music appears in the film also. This was deliberate?
Absolutely, those who know, know. I did not want to use Guitar Boy because that would be too on the nose, but I also feel that Victor Uwaifo’s style of music imbibes the style and aesthetic of the film. And if you notice the scene at the bar, we call the bar Joroma but it is obviously a node to this Joromi genre which he created.
Pidgin language, which is native to various communities in Africa, and the diaspora even, is central to the film’s narrative.
For me it is about the history of Pidgin and how the language came to the West African region. Before even the slave trade, the West African coast was a commercial hub and people had to find a common language. Then we had the Europeans colonizing this region for hundreds of years. There had to be a common language and Pidgin morphed out of that necessity. There is a misconception that Pidgin is derived from English - and there is Pidgin English - but Pidgin is not necessarily a broken form of English. It is a mash up of several local languages including English. If you go to Delta state in Nigeria, the Pidgin is different from that spoken in say Ghana or Liberia. The idea of Pidgin as culture is what I wanted to reflect in the film, which is why as a Nigerian you will understand the Pidgin but will not necessarily call it Nigerian Pidgin.
Even when the film is specific to the West African region, it travels because there are versions of Mami Wata in several cultures that people can connect to.
We hope that it translates. You start from Nigeria, Benin Republic, rest of West Africa, Africa, the diaspora and beyond, because, like you observed, even non-Africans have a mermaid story. But they also have stories about their folklore, about spirituality and tradition. So, whether the mythology is Greek or Nordic or Celtic, you will find common themes.
You mentioned spending five years on this project…
That was just for the writing process. It took seven years to complete the film. I started writing in January 2016, and we premiered at Sundance in January 2023. I wrote about eight or nine drafts, maybe even 10. It started as a traditional genre film because I am a fan of genre and that was easy for me to do. But I soon realized I had put myself in a box. Looking back, I guess this maybe could have worked but that isn’t the direction I was going for. I wanted to do something that had more layers of meaning. After trying and failing multiple times, I decided to destroy all those drafts and start from scratch. And this led me to the development labs like Ouaga film lab and Less is More.
The setting is such that the film appears timeless and could be happening anytime in the past, present or future.
This was always there from the beginning, even when it was still in the genre drafts. We had this line in the script where the description was, “set in a West African village frozen in time.” I did not keep that line but that allowed me get into that world, and I think that is intricate to the story. I love period pieces, but I did not want to make one because I think there is something about them that can put up a chasm, and prevent the audience from going fully into the experience. The mind engages with stuff it finds relatable. We didn’t want that for this film, and one way we went about this was with the symbols that are related to the present. And also, with conversations around modernity, such as wanting schools and hospitals, that are present in the film.
The performances are great but also framed and delivered in a certain stylized way. The lead, Evelyne Ily Juhen, is a revelation, and Rita Edochie who is a Nollywood veteran has such a strong presence.
I have always been a huge fan of Rita Edochie, from just watching her in stuff. She is someone who elevates whatever she is in. But I always felt like she could do a whole lot more. When MamiWata presented itself, and she agreed to do it, I was excited to try. It is actually the first time she is doing a project that is cinema and she is very proud of that, which makes me very proud. I remember when she first came on set for her costume and makeup test. She put them on and everyone on set went crazy, and this was just the screen test. In terms of the framing and the stylistic choices, these are things that were already rudimentary to the storytelling. How do you capture the intermediary between the people and the water goddess? How do you capture the people themselves? This is all rooted in the cinematography and the conversations I had with DOP Lílis Soares. We wanted a specific gaze to capture Africans, one that is more empathetic rather than sympathetic, which is usually the go to style whenever rural Africa is represented on film.
Not only is the cinematography amazing, but also, everything from production design to costumes, hair and makeup is stunning.
I am glad you said this because the cinematography is great, but it works because of all these other elements. They had to come together to make it work.
What were your influences for Mami Wata?
We watched a lot of stuff, I must say, but mostly to understand what not to do for our film. We did not have a lot of direct references for what we were trying to do so we were watching things and consciously eliminating them. On the other hand, we watched things that inspired us in terms of innovation, but even those were not directly related. We would watch western genre films and classics from Asia. There are a lot of African filmmakers that inspire me, and my favorite film of all time will always be Yeelen. It is a very different film from MamiWata but the thing I love about it is Souleymane Cissé’s unabashed way of telling African folklore. That kind of audacity will always be influential to me.
You mentioned at the premiere that it was tough convincing people to back a MamiWata story because of the spiritual dimensions.
It was hard convincing investors. We actually had one who was interested in investing in my film but as soon as we said MamiWata, she actually said, “Holy Ghost fire,” and sent us packing. This is not a joke. But with the actors, there was no push back. They had questions certainly, concerning what I was doing but they were mostly excited. The job as a director is to constantly reassure your collaborators that they are in good hands, and I am pretty good at that.
Renowned dancehall artist Popcaan has released his album Great Is He, via OVO Sound, and it features none other than Burna Boy.
Jamaica's Popcaanhas shared his anticipated album Great Is He, and the body of work features Nigerian superstar Burna Boy on the track "Aboboyaa."
The album showcases the Jamaican musical giant's signature dancehall sound, while also exploring the depth of genre's versatility. In addition to featuring Burna Boy, Great Is He includes features from OVO Sound's boss Drake, Jamaica's Chronic Law, and Toni-Ann Singh, among others.
On "Aboboyaa," the two musical powerhouses merge their signature rhythmic melodies and intonations in a way that is both compelling to listen to on the first listen, and in turn inspires a second and third listen.
Ever since he released his debut album in 2014, Popcaan has become an international dancehall sensation, and his repertoire includes a list of impressive features.
His album Forever, which was released in 2018, debuted at number two on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums. Commercially, Popcaan has made a mark on the music scene too. His last project FIXTAPE — which included “Twist & Turn,” the mesmerizing dancehall hit featuring Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR — has garnered over 191 million streams and continues to receive accolades from outlets like Pitchfork, who described the body of work as “a testament to his place at the forefront of the genre.”
"Aboboyaa" is not Popcaan's first international collaboration. In the past, the Jamaican icon has worked with several international music acts including Davido, Jamie xx, Young Thug, Gorillaz, Kano, Jorja Smith and a host of others. He also founded Jamaica’s annual Unruly Festwhich brings stars across the globe to experience Jamaican culture.
The Nigerian American director has long used the tools of his multi-hyphenate trade to expand the ways Africans are seen. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, 'Bravo, Burkina!' gives him a larger canvas on which to paint.
