The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
I DIDN’T attend the premiere of the new local film The Journey as I was in Harare for the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa). However, my friends who attended the premiere have no kind words for the organisers of the event. The feeling among them is that event organisers are taking audiences for granted. I am told audiences eager to see the film were kept waiting for more than two hours while organisers looked for the film which had strangely “disappeared” in their laptop. Some frustrated members of the audience ended up leaving before the film was found and screened. Yes. Someone did not do his/her homework there!
That said there is a general agreement, among those that were patient enough to wait for the showing of the film. Most agree that the camera work and editing on The Journey were much better than that of “Tsotsi — the untold ghetto love story.” But again, like in almost all local films, the story was nowhere near the cinema. The audience was left with the task of searching for the story between the frames and under the pictures.
The absence of an interesting and easy-to-follow story is a major let-down in our films. And this must be addressed immediately before local films lose audiences — and they are losing them fast these days.
I strongly believe that anyone who has attended a good film school or workshop will know that there is NO substitute for a story. People go to the cinema not to watch pictures. They are not really interested in beautiful locations or how beautiful the actors look or how well costumed they are. People go to the cinema for a story. A good story for that matter. Our filmmakers have to learn to tell good stories with the little resources they have. Filmmakers are storytellers. They are not different from other storytellers. The only difference is they use film to tell their stories. Bad storytellers blame their tools. Good storytellers tell stories. That’s all we need to know.
Now that DStv has called for Zimbabwean films and concepts I seriously expect to see an improvement in the quality of local films. Local filmmakers must know they are no longer making film for their friends and families but are now making films for Africa and the rest of the world.
This means every stage of the creative process must be given serious thought and time. Scripts must be properly developed. The crew must be well thought-out. Actors must also get roles because of their talent and what they bring to the film and not because of their relationship to the directors or producers of the film.
I know there is a raging argument about quality versus quantity on many social media platforms. Many believe that if you know you are not going to make a quality movie then don’t bother. Go and do something else. They say. Others believe that filmmakers should make movies, bad or good. With ZBCtv and now DStv on the lookout for local content there must be content to talk about first before we look at quality. I support the latter argument. Filmmakers must make films. What they make might not be the best at the moment, but it should be watchable.
Our people must at least be able to watch and enjoy local films. Personally, I don’t expect to see mind-boggling stunts in local films. That is for Hollywood. I don’t expect to see expensive sets like what we see in films from other countries. I don’t expect to see films modelled around big budget American films.
No. Not at all. I know our people want to see themselves and their stories in local movies. I know our people want to laugh at themselves, their friends and neighbours. They want stories they can relate to. It’s that simple.
All our filmmakers have to do is look for these stories, polish them up a bit and put them on the silver screen and everyone is happy. What our people don’t want is to be ridiculed, misrepresented and painted in bad light all in an effort to make film audiences happy.
