NEO•GRIOT

Ugandan director Caroline Kamya

on her award winning film, Imani

Interview by Don Omope |

Photos courtesy of Caroline Kamya

> Screen shot of Actress Rehema Nanfuka in the award-winning film, Imani.

IMANI is the debut feature film by award wining documentary filmmaker Caroline Kamya, born in Uganda, lived in Kenya and studied documentary filmmaking at Goldsmith college London - Caroline brings a different approach to filmmaking – an approach influenced by her experience living abroad and her background in documentary storytelling.

The film Imani, which is a product of Caroline’s tenacity and drive, won the best film in an African language at this 6th African Movie Academy Awards which took place this year in Nigeria.

African screens’ Don Omope speaks to Caroline about her film, her approach to filmmaking and the Ugandan film industry.

 

Tell us about the Ugandan film industry.

The Ugandan film industry is still in its early stages; we have got three different types of films being made in here.

1) There are those who make short experimental art films for the art house crowd. 

2) There is Cina-Uganda, which is like the Nigerian Nollywood pop films shot in a week and edited in a week. 

3) We also have the type of film I make, which is cinema film aimed at local and international film audience.

 

 

> Stephen Ocen in Kamya's Imani.

 

Why these characters, a break-dancer, a maid and a child solider?

The three main characters reflect Uganda society, most families in Africa have maids, it’s just common and I have always being intrigued by the way people treat those that work in their homes and how the maids feel themselves.

The child soldier, Gulu is a part of Uganda were there has been conflict for many years but the war is over and most film about Uganda don’t reflect this, they still look at Uganda from the view point of Idi Amin or child soldiers.

Break dancing has been going on for many years but it just kicked off big time in Kampala and people now make a living from it, so I wanted to also reflect this in the film, though my initial idea was to make a documentary about them.

 

> Screen shot from Kamya's Imani.

 

 

How long did it take to shoot the film? And how did you go about funding it?

I raised the initial funds for the films myself; I saved some money from producing content for brands, NGOs and fixing for the BBC and Channel 4 when they come filming here in Uganda. I also applied for funds from the Global Film Initiative.

We started filming in 2008, we film through November and December, then we edited through January and February 2009.

What was your budget?

Well we spent about 100,000 pounds on the film.

 

> Kamya & Rehema Nanfuka at AMAA.

 

 

Your film is popular in Uganda and also internationally, you won the AMAA for best film in an African Language. What’s your response to this?

I was chuffed Don, you just caught me a couple of days after our VIP premiere. I went back to my box office to check on my publicity materials and heard a few people ask that they would like to see my film Imani and my heart was filled with joy, and skipped a beat for a minute, to hear that at home is so powerful and I think any African filmmaker will understand the way I felt at that moment.

For people to pay three pounds to watch a Ugandan movie over Blockbusters films from the States is a big deal and it’s amazing.

 

 

> Behind the scenes of Kamya's Imani.

 

You shot your film using the RED camera; can you talk us through your production experience?

I travelled to Vancouver were I mange to shadow a director on the set of a HBO production, I had a chat with the crew about my film and the camera assistant said he was interested and suggested we shoot my film on the RED camera and that’s how it all happened.

We didn’t have much money but we had lots and lots of passion. We got a camera, a focus puller, a camera operator and a really wicked fantastic D.O.P, Andrew – this was his first feature film, so he was happy to volunteer on the shoot.

We paid for his ticket and that of his crew and everyone worked for free. Making films is not easy even in Hollywood but boy, in Uganda we have no film infrastructure, our actors were not trained we had to teach them what to do it was a crazy but very wonderful filming experience.

What would you define as your filmmaking style and philosophy?

I have been influenced a lot by my background as a documentary filmmaker; the way I inter-cut the three main characters will be familiar to anyone who has seen my previous works as a documentary filmmaker.

I didn’t want to plan everything with military precision before hand, so I got my material and started to work with it, which is pretty much my style.

What other projects are you working on?

I am working on one Swedish projects which is called Doc’s Lab were they select filmmakers from all over the world and get them to work with Hollywood filmmaker, so I will be going to Sweden a couple of times this year to submit a projects for that programme.

What films have influenced you as a director?

Many African filmmakers from the 60s and 70s, especially francophone filmmakers like Ousmane Sembene and more recently Abderrahmane Sissako who made the film Bamako, he was actually a mentor of mine when I was doing the Director’s lab in Kampala.

I have also been influenced by filmmakers from Europe and America.

Where have you screened Imani?

We had our world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2010 and the local premiere in Uganda just recently on the 6th of May.