Sam Charo

Petna Ndaliko Katandolo is an artist, filmmaker and founder of the Yolé! Africa Cultural Center in Goma. He runs Alkebu Productions, and the Salaam Kivu International Film Festival which he has hosted annually at Yolé! Africa since October 2005.

He’s a multitalented artist and internationally acclaimed filmmaker whose cinematic style combines rhythm, image, colour, and social critique with innovation to challenge traditional narrative structures. His films skirt the boundary of fiction and actuality and provoke reflection on post-colonial African realities.

Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been embroiled in violence that has killed as many as six million people. The conflict has been the world’s bloodiest since World War II. The first and second Congo Wars involved multiple foreign armies and investors from Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad, Libya, and Sudan, among others, and has been so devastating that it is sometimes called the ‘African World War.’ Women have been raped and children maimed due to political and tribal upheavals that have purged the country.

Yet even in these challenges artists such as Ndaliko find their own voice in capturing these events.

“I think there’s more to film than telling stories,” he says. “Africa is rich with traditional lore and wisdom but the colonists demanded we cave in to their Western ideology, which they deemed superior, and most Africans grew up with this notion, which is totally distorted. That is why in my films, Africaness – if I can use that word – is important to me.”

With works of art such as Jazz Mama, Ndaliko vents his creative preoccupations through tales of Congolese women who have suffered rape and damnation during war.

The 30-minute doc aimed to raise awareness around gender based violence in Congo without portraying the female characters simply as victims. It’s a shot that denotes the agility and the compulsive métier of feminine survival vis-à-vis a violent environment.

“It is possible to use art as a means to an end. Jazz Mama was meant to pass a message about the strength of Congolese women and not their victimisation; this was the critical value of the piece for its audience.”

Born and raised in Goma, North Kivu province, Ndaliko graduated in stage direction from the Experimental, Cultural and Ecological Workshop in Tchimba. He remembers seeing victims of Rwandan genocide trickling through his hometown as they fled war, his mother offering food, clothing and accommodation to the devastated men, women and children.

It is this image that stuck in his mind for years, prompting his first play, Victims of War.

“I was sick,” he laments. “I wanted an outlet that could creatively document with sheer clarity that image of war and torture that the Rwandan Genocide brought with it.”

War broke out in his country in 1996, and he began his activism which eventually led to expulsion from his home country in 1997; he went to Uganda. And in the year 2000 he founded Yole! Africa with the help of Dutch anthropologist Ellen Lammers.

Yole! Africa is a creative platform aimed at giving youth the tools to imagine and create works of art and unhinge them from the trauma of war.

Ndaliko says. “Now we have trained thousands of children in film, music and photography through Yole! Africa and we hope to do more and instill the importance of activism through creativity and art.”

He also helped set the first international film festival in DR Congo; The Salaam Kivu International Film Festival (SKIFF) which is organised by Yole! Africa and Alkebu Film Productions.

SKIFF is a ten-day festival that includes film screenings followed by community discussions, a series of workshops including video production and editing, music video creation, audio recording, music composition and performance, poetry and storytelling, hip hop and contemporary dance, as well as hosting live concerts and a dance competition. Each year the events and activities of SKIFF are oriented around a specific theme that is relevant to current events in the region.

He’s perhaps best known for Mabele Na Biso (Our Land), an unlikely true account done in three acts. The story captures Congo’s autonomy, community innovation, and its evident success. Narrated by women, men, and youth, it uses their realities to define the place they come from and the daily routine of life as it unfolds.

“We wanted to use Congolese who tell about their daily realities with the use of local and global technologies in solving their problem,” Ndaliko quips. “These characters were critical to address their challenges and our main objective was to document these factors and show the audience that people still believe in themselves and can offer homegrown solutions to their problems without the need of looking to the West.”

But why cine activism?

“Because it matters. We have an obligation as artists to impact the society with our creativity and it behooves us to reflect its challenges, needs, progresses and successes without fear or prejudice but with pride and appreciation of who we are as Africans.”

By Sam  Charo

For the past eight years, Eritrea has been ranked last in Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. The country has been a dictatorship since 1993 after battling for independence from Ethiopia, a war that took 30 years and saw hundreds of thousands of people dead. The tension between the two Horn of Africa states still remains high. In the tiny one-party state, press freedom is a luxury and to date there are at least fifteen journalists who are serving jail terms while others are held incommunicado.

The country has also imposed a mandatory national military service to be completed by all Eritreans between the ages of 18 and 40, which has caused many to flee the country in search of greener pastures. Some people, however, like filmmaker Merhawi Meles, have chosen to stay and create stories that boldly tell about life in the capital city, Asmara.

Meles explores themes like love, betrayal, intimacy and romance. A director and actor, his movies have a sizeable following among the Habesha community, both in Asmara and the diaspora.

“Film is a passion that I have always had,” Meles says. “We are natural born story tellers and it takes the eye of a director to fulfill that story.”

But what is a great Eritrean story?

“We have gone through a lot as Eritreans,” Meles remarks. “Most of us have people living abroad, families we can’t access, siblings who died and our lives have been programmed with loss, so to me a great story is the one that does not deny but confronts these tragedies without prejudice and for me love is greater than hate, peace is better than war and that is why my stories, however basic, are fueled by human relationships.”

Shot in intimate close-ups in suburban cafés and empty Asmara streets, his films are constructed with a French New Wave sensibility that draws the viewer deeply into the characters’ worlds. His YouTube film Abzeyelenalu, is a work true to his style; Meles’s lens is a reflective tool that colours his vision with beauty and a sense of the sanctity of his country and culture.

The film is a story about a young man who is head over heels in love with a woman, but rumours have hindered his chances and he has to scheme ways of convincing her of his love.

“I like the fact this film has over 200 000 views from all over the world. I am not concerned with who watches it, but the fact that it’s different people from different parts of the world.” Why is that important? “It means everyone is interested in stories from different places and that means we are connected as story tellers and love as a theme goes beyond borders.”

At 26, Meles has shot music videos, documentaries and dozens of films that have made him a force to be reckoned with in his home country. He’s recognised as an avid filmmaker who bravely explores human emotions.

“He does not fear to tell love stories,” Eritrean TV producer, Yonas Solomon says. “We tend to get shy when it comes to relationships, but he goes beyond that and defines how we live in our bedroom, that’s why his films are loved here.”

In a bid to connect with the diaspora, his films are uploaded on a YouTube channel named Love You Erena –LYE, a one of a kind Eritrean online TV whose motto is, ‘Bringing to you Eritrean Documentary, Movies, Comedy, Music Video, Entertainment in High Definition.’

The platform is based in Frankfurt, Germany with coordinating offices in US and Asmara.

How about films about freedom of expression and democracy?

“After consideration and much thought,” Meles says, “we opted to stick with these themes for now, not out of fear but wisdom, to ensure we can survive and practice our art. I want to do as many films as I can that will maximise my creativity as much as it can regardless of any constraints, so that when the time comes for me to do other non love related stories, I won’t have to look back and wish I had done this or that while I had the opportunity.”

A passionate auteur, Meles was trained at the Eritrean Institute of Technology, graduating with a diploma in film production in 2011. It was after the graduation that he travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and bought his camera gear and went back to Asmara where he began doing films with his friends as crew.

“It was fun I remember, when I started,” he says. “We started as three and now people contact me from all over the world wanting to be a part of my crew and cast.”

For now, Eritreans’ homegrown interest in film will be measured by their undying passion to support their own, even in challenging times where art freedom is restricted and creativity is censored.

Meles concludes: “A time will come for us to do create other types of films but before that, we will keep doing what we are doing: bringing love stories to the people of Eritrea and the world, hoping to change the mindset of those critics who think this country’s art is dead’.

“When I started off I wanted to be as unique and myself and authentic as I could,” says Malawian filmmaker Shemu Joyah. “So I explored stories that relate to Malawian life. I wanted to tell the Malawian story with a Malawian touch, because you only have your own story to tell based on your surroundings.”

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. With a population of more than 17.5 million, the country has had its fare share of challenges: population growth, ever increasing pressure on agricultural lands, corruption and the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

But despite all these social misfortunes, its people have a positive outlook on things and some transcend the issues to make a difference through storytelling.

Born to Zimbabwean parents in 1959, Charles Shemu Joyah is one of those creative voices that Malawi is proud to have produced. The award-winning filmmaker wears African prints on set and works with casts of ordinary people. He roots his scripts in things that affect his everyday life; themes like poverty and injustice are a recurring theme in his stories.

To him realism is critical.

“They have to be authentic, not fake,” Joyah says. “If you have a normal set, with normal characters as cast, you tend to get magic in your film and that is what I like about my films: the authenticity that brings the Malawian story to life.”

Joyah began making films in 2006. He saved and bought his camera and three years later he went out to release the film Seasons of Life. The story is about a young girl who gets impregnated by her employer and is forced to stay silent because he pays her school fees. The film won two awards at the Zanzibar Film Festival in 2009.

Joyah says: “That was really encouraging to see how creativity is appreciated by fellow Africans.”

The self taught filmmaker is a B.Sc. holder in mathematics and physics from the university of Malawi, Chancellor College, with an additional honours degree in surveying and mapping from East London University.

“Most people won’t believe it but I currently work as a land scientist in Malawi and provide consultancy services in land and real estate to finance my creative passion.”

Among the world’s least-developed countries, Malawi’s economy relies heavily on agriculture because it has a large rural population. For years the country has depended on external aid to meet its development needs.

“If you were to look at the challenges that we face as a country you won’t be able to look at the bright side of things because, every report is depressing: no jobs, no money, and no proper infrastructure to run things,” Joyah says. “But all in all art and creativity has its share of importance in our development goals.”

In 2013, Joyah released his second film –The Last Fishing Boat, a powerful narrative about the life of a fisherman whose source of revenue is transformed by the tourism industry. The story depicts how the fisherman copes with the massive changes to his traditional way of life.

The film went on to win numerous awards around the world including, Best Narrative at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival in California,  and an award for Best Soundtrack at the Africa Movie Academy Awards.

The entire film was shot in his house and his wife was by his side all the time, preparing meals for the crew.

Joyah adds: “It was a great experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life.”

Now confident and a household name in his own right, Joyah believes the things that will make Malawian film great are embedded in the challenges that he faces.

“I look at these shortcomings in film as a proponent to creating great stories that will be made known to the rest of Africa and the world.” He continues: “Most people associate poverty, lack, scourge with a dark theme, but we can lighten things up by capturing these subjects through a brighter perspective.”

With poor distribution avenues and piracy, the filmmaker thinks, it’s a lack of skills that is a major problem.

“As a filmmaker, I will understand if my film is out there without my permission because we live in the age of internet of things but more so, the greatest problem we face in Malawi right now is having unskilled filmmakers and creatives. That poses a greater tragedy for African creativity.”

He thinks this is one of the reasons why Malawian films are ignored on the international festival circuit. “The art of filmmaking is storytelling. It reaches deep into our souls. Filmmaking brings to life something that was just words on the page. It is only fair if films are done professionally to be appreciated by the rest of the world.”

34-year-old Dar es Salaam-based filmmaker Seko Shamte is no stranger to creating visual works of art. From a young age, she admired journalists and filmmakers, and even in that formative phase, she knew what she wanted to be one thing – an artist.

“I always loved film, especially classic cinema, and really found my footing when I took an introductive module in the history of film in college,” Shamte recalls. “I had always loved music, I was the chairperson of the music club in middle school, I played multiple instruments as a kid. I also always loved writing, so the visual medium became a challenge and later on a passion and an obsession.”

Growing up in an academic environment, Shamte learned a lot from her engineer father and education specialist mother. She travelled with them extensively to different parts of the world including Asia and the U.S. where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BSc in Finance and a minor in Media studies from Marymount Manhattan College in New York, in 2005.

“I have just always been internally motivated,” she illumines. “I grew up watching my parents who have always had a serious work ethic and, either genetically or from emulation, I naturally work hard.”

That hard work saw her spending all her summers working at radio and television stations in the US during college and later in 2005, when she moved back to Dar es Salaam, she became the Head of Programming at East Africa TV for four years, a role that to this day allowed her to nurture her creativity and put her on the pedestal of shaping the future of Tanzanian mainstream media.

‘In EA TV, I was in charge of coming up with all the creative content, the shows, the programming, I am grateful to have initiated and introduced Ze comedy-the highest rated television show in the history of Tanzania during my tenure.”

Shamte founded Alkemist Media in 2008, after quitting her job in EA TV. The company produced content for CNN’s Inside Africa and later she produced Mkwawa, a feature documentary on Chief Mkwawa of Uhehe in 2011. The film tells the story of Chief Mkwawa, who hailed from central Tanzania. He’s regarded as one of the most brilliant military strategist in Tanzania’s history and one of the most successful chiefs of the pre-colonial time, who resisted the German colonialists.

‘Mkwawa was my dream project, I always wanted to do it and am glad and proud I did’.

Later in 2014, she produced and directed The Team, a series that ran for a year, and a Swahili-language cooking show for DStv’s channel 160 titled Jikoni Na Marion, translated in English as ‘In the Kitchen with Marion’.

Now she has completed her first feature film, Homecoming, a film she wrote, directed and produced. The picture is a coming-of-age story about Abel, a man in his late 20s, who returns home from studying in America and ends up working in a bank. While there, he unearths a conspiracy that puts his life in jeopardy and tests his ethical fibre.

“I wanted to take a snapshot of what Dar es Salaam life was like and also to explore how a person becomes corrupt,” Shamte says.

The film was shot with a RED Epic Dragon in 6k by Dylan Verrechia, an N.Y. based cinematographer. It is to be released later this year.

The question of morality is central in the film, Seko adds – in particular the idea of moral mutability, the question of how exactly one is able to sacrifice one’s moral standards. ‘Where is this turning point in our life stories? Does it happen so gradually that we hardly realise what or who we have become?’ Homecoming premiered in 2015 and Shamte is still seeking a distribution deal for the feature.

To Shamte, telling the African story to the world by Africans themselves is critical. ‘It is very important to me that we Africans tell our own stories from our own perspective and utilising our voice, we need to document them to save ourselves from internalising self-hatred and idolisation of foreigners’.

With a passion for the creative arts, Shamte works in other media apart from film.

“I love film so much that I don’t really think about an alternate life,” she says. “But if I had to, then I’d either work in music, be a writer or design furniture.” She still is able to pursue these avenues as a hobby.

Shamte, who regards legendary filmmakers Ousmane Sembene and Abderrahame Sissako as her role models, is focused on redefining Tanzanian film, which has been overshadowed by Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

‘I want to keep putting out interesting films and content on the Tanzanian experience to the rest of the world and Africa, and be the first Tanzanian woman to win an Oscar for best international film’. She also wants to give back. ‘I want to mentor young up-and-coming filmmakers in Tanzania’.

The filmmaker is married to Amour Shamte, a former telecommunication executive. ‘I always say that my husband is my biggest fan and inspiration, but there are also my parents and all the young Africans making their mark in the world.”

She believes every African has a chance to become anything they want to be. ‘No dream is ever too big. The only thing that can stop you, is you.”