Take 1: Day’s Recap
Today’s big events are the Focuses; Uganda Focus, Kenya Focus and Mozambique Focus. In the Kino Hut there are all these American classics from the TCM (Turner Classic Movie) era but I have seen them all- nothing new for me talk about.

For most viewers, film is an escape. It gives them a chance to relax; to entertain themselves and drift away from the stresses of every day life. For the filmmaker, on the other hand, it is an avenue- a platform to communicate some vital message, whatever that message be.

My interest today is specifically to see how the film maker and viewer interact on the screen. From the Ugandan Focus we have only short films. The Kenyans give us two short documentaries and one full-length film while Mozambique gave us one short film and one full length film.

And now for the verdict! First let me say, kudos to those that rose to the challenge and embraced filmmaking. However, I have been told I have carte blanche so I am coming out all guns blazing.
About their efforts, this is what the audience has to say:

Celebrated filmmaker and Head of Makerere Literature Department, Sister Dominique Dipio had this to say. “The Ugandan Focus was very impressionistic and expressionistic. Most of the film makers were expressing their individual style, and it was very evident that a lot of them had a fine art background.”

Akaka Samuel, an artist, found the silent movie difficult to understand while Israel Kasirivu, a Businessman thought “African filmmakers are trying to come up. People outside do not think they have attained this level but they have and we need to get out.”
The silent movie in question is “Ink”, a 25 minute feature by Peter Tukei. He is the only filmmaker who had a Q&A with the audience and frankly I found him rather defensive and haughty in his replies to their questions.

Unfortunately, none of the Kenyan and Mozambican filmmakers are available for “interrogation” but their segment was a welcome relief. They displayed a more complete understanding of the technique of storytelling and their films are insightful.
When asked to compare the two, Sister Dipio suggests that the Uganda movies were more expressive of personal identity while the Kenyan and Mozambique movies were humanist; they focused on social issues and realities.

If you ask me, we showed immaturity. There was certainly evidence of concept and thought but it was either mired by absence of comprehensive storyline or depth. The fact that we had no full length feature is very telling of how far we still far to go so I guess more emphasis should be laid there next time.

Highlight of The Day
In the morning, we were treated to a 63 minute documentary by Cameroonian Filmmaker Osvalde Lewat-Hallade titled, "A Love During War". The documentary is about a journalist who is separated from her husband for six years when the war in DRC broke out. Later they are reunited in Kinshasa but Aziza’s loyalty to the suffering women she left behind in Bukavu drives her to return. That’s the short of it. What this film does is take us right to the heart of victims of war, bringing them alive from mere statistics in newspapers to show us the human side of the anguish they suffer.

For Israel Kasirivu, watching the documentary made him hate all war makers and left him wondering if human beings were really capable of such things. According to Sister Dipio, the documentary was touching. It brought out the point of view of women from many levels and highlighted the challenges of professional women; here was woman journalist balancing family, profession and loyalty to the cause of victims of war that she had left behind.

The humanity aspect to it was also well done- the story of an 80 year old who raped by soldiers and the neighbours were too scared to help, and of the 21-month-old baby, another victim of rape whose genitals were destroyed and screamed in fear every time she saw a man.

In terms of the festival theme "Visionary Histories", this documentary for me carried the most pertinent message, especially to Ugandans. The plight of the women in Bukavu whose lives have been turned upside down by rape is not far from our brothers and sisters up North who have endured unimaginable atrocities for over twenty years. It is only unfortunate there are no politicians in the room to draw a quick lesson.

Today’s Review
Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper"
Starring; Connie Onyango, Ken Ambani and Abubaker Mwenda
This brilliant movie from Kenya is perhaps the most important movie I have reviewed yet. It thankfully beat Nigerian cinema to win the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) for Best Picture and as I intimated to a friend of mine, it is worth its salt. The movie is set in 1998 Kenya and today. It explores the effect of the 1998 bombings on the US Embassy in Kenya through the eyes of a girl who lost her mother and a policeman who lost his best friend (the guy was the bomber). It’s a very interesting picture that attempts to show us the human side of what was for many of us a news event, tackling events that we here can relate to, which is something we do not get a lot of the time.

In comparison to its Nigerian counterparts, From a Whisper is a much needed breath of fresh air. Not that I have anything against Nigerian movies but they are for me a total opposite of Nigerian literature. They grossly lack in art and imagination and are in my opinion as a humongous misrepresentation of what African cinema has to offer. True, we are very dramatic lot we Africans but that is why theatre still thrives. Can we now give actual acting a chance? And this why I loved this movie; I won’t go so far as to say that the acting was top of the charts but what I can say for certain is that it will show the world that we too can act, take good shots and write excellent scripts for a movie.

When I was watching the closing credits rise, my heart swelled with pride at seeing mostly African names behind the technical crews. To have a movie this good by Africans was for me a big step for a lot; A vote of confidence that we have the stuff in us if only we apply it. There was however one minor glitch; it lacked in Afrocentricity. Afrocentricity is a concept developed by a friend of mine that calls for an African approach to modern concepts. Embracing African heritage and identity and applying it new technology and modern day living.

In terms of storyline, I felt I saw way too many western concepts- concepts that I am accustomed to getting from Western movies like the obsessive detective following a mystery artist, or the last scene where the detective decorates the memorial park to unite the girl in the story with her father (I deliberately skipped the story not to spoil it for those who have not seen it). That particular scene was beautiful and touching but the entire concept was contrived and did not feel home grown.

On my part, I would like to see more African filmmaking follow the example of this movie but focus should be turned to bringing Africa alive on the screen. Contrary to what most people think, the global village is about cultural sharing not cultural imitation and to understand what of our culture we need to bring to the table, we need to, as this years theme suggests, look back to the past.
*Written by Edgar Kangere