Bongo movies play a significant role in the development of the Tanzanian film industry. Characterised by limited resources and significant skills shortages, it takes sheer determination and willpower to produce a film, let alone an award-winning film, in the country. Kiumeni is a bongo film with a difference.
Kiumeni won the Best Screenplay and Best Directing awards at the 2017 Zanzibar International Film Festival, and is still going strong. The cast recently attended their Los Angeles premiere, which took place at the Pan African Film Festival. “The best highlights have been watching the film with a worldwide audience and enjoying the experience of their laughter and gasps while watching the film,” remarks film producer and lead actor, Ernest Napoleon.
The film is a Swahili love story that brings two distinct worlds together; when an affluent guy goes to visit his less privileged girlfriend at her home in the ghetto. Their young love is suddenly overcome with challenges, near-death experiences and hilarious comebacks that put their union to the test.
The film features a vibrant cast and some fresh talent that have never before worked on a production but were trained and guided by Napoleon.
“The majority of the main cast such as the female lead, the antagonist and other main characters had never done a film before. So they were pretty much fresh faces who were open to working hard and to new ideas. I had to take two weeks to train them, go through the script and through their specific characters. Many people who watched the film found it hard to believe that this was their first film because of how well they fit and played the roles,” he says.
Kiumeni is Napoleon’s second offering after the success of his first indie film, Going Bongo (2015), a tale about how an American doctor “mistakenly” volunteers to work in a public hospital in Tanzania for one month.
Napoleon – a seasoned actor and scriptwriter – wanted his second film to break the common stereotypes of bongo movies, which are usually done with a very low budget and display poor quality pictures that are often not watchable for most people.
“Kiumeni was a proof of concept that if done right, a Swahili low budget film ($15 000) can be done in a rush (shot in 10 days) and still be watchable not just by Swahili speakers but worldwide,” he says.
Kiumeni was produced by Napoleon’s production company Busy Bees, alongside D-Magic which belongs to his co-writer and co-producer Danny Manege.
The film is set in Dar es Salaam and shot at various locations in and around the city including Mikocheni, Kinondoni, Sinza, Mbezi, Mwananyamala and Mburahati. The high-speed action-comedy was shot on a small Canon C300 camera.
“We wanted it to feel raw and for people to feel as if they were going through what the main character was going through in the ghetto. We were also short on budget but we wanted to make our chase scenes realistic so there was a lot of handheld stuff where our director of photography, Takura, really shined,” shares Napoleon.
While the couple, Gue and Faith, are the main characters of the story, the real drama is brought about by the exes and extended families. Set in the affluent suburbs is Gue’s old flame, Irene. She is still in love with Gue, which makes her Faith’s sworn enemy. Furthermore, Gue and Irene’s fathers are business partners and part of the high-class society in Dar that thrives on relationships between the wealthy and successful; which puts Gue in an awkward position with his family.
As Gue sets off to the ghetto to be with the love of his life, Faith, he is haunted by Faith’s past lover, Gasper. Gasper is a ”Bad Boy” who has just come back from jail. He arrives back home and is shocked to discover that Faith has moved on with another man. The respected and feared druglord does not take kindly to the news and lets the couple feel the power of his wrath.
Additionally, there are other minor characters who are just as important as the main ones such as Masto, Faith’s older brother, with a speech impediment, who tries and fails spectacularly to help Gue; Deo, Faith’s younger brother and a die-hard football fan who gives Gue a very hard time throughout the film; and Afande Ngoma, a no-nonsense cop who persistently hits on women.
Kiumeni is still on its festival circuit journey, with the Belgium-Africa Film Festival and the Durban International Film Festival being its next stops.
“The film definitely has a universal appeal. It’s a small budget film done in a local language but the comedy of it is so on point that it didn’t really matter to the audience. It has been well received in America by people that have seen it,” Napoleon expresses.
The film has also been sought out by a couple of online distributors, but Napoleon and his team have not yet committed to any deals: “We are still keeping the cards to our chest and will choose a right platform for the film. There is no rush unless a big enough distribution deal comes along,” he concludes.
TECH CHECK
EQUIPMENT
- Camera: Canon C300
“Kiumeni was shot on the Canon C300 camera.”
KEY CREW:
- Director, Editor: Nicholas Marwa
- Writer, Producer, Lead (Gue): Ernest Napoleon
- Writer, Producer: Danny Manege
- Director of Photography: Takura Maurayi
- Post-production Sound: Dan L Brock
