Cannes: Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper": Revisiting the 7 August 1998 Nairobi terrorist attack

Cannes: Wanuri Kahiu's "From a Whisper" : Revisiting the 7 August 1998 Nairobi terrorist attack

 

Excerpt from a report from special correspondant Kèoprasith Souvannavong at Cannes translated from French featured on Radio France International - rfi.fr (15 August 2010)

https://www.rfi.fr/fr/contenu/20100515-le-film-kenyan-from-whisper-revisite-attentats-nairobi

 

From A Whisper presented at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival as part of “Cinémas du monde”, the first feature film by Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu, is inspired by the bomb attack against the United States Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. Wanuri emphasizes that this tragedy has left an indelible mark on the minds of Kenyans more than ten years later.

 

She states:

“More than ten years after the fact, we seem to be only interested in statistics. We still mention the number of dead, estimated at 200, and the injured, forgetting personal stories. Nonetheless, 252 families were also the victims. Even today, some still cannot forgive. In this drama, I preferred to focus on human relationships, on emotions.”

A Conversation with Branwen Okpako

Photo by Ines Johnson Spain, Cotonou, April 2009

Branwen Okpako is currently Associate Professor in the College of Letters and Science; Department of Cinema and Digital Media at the University of California-Davis. Below is the October 2010 interview from the African Women in Cinema Archives.

 

Branwen, could you first talk a bit about yourself, your background, how you developed the desire to make films?

My name is Branwen Okpako and I was born in Lagos, Nigeria to a Nigerian (Uhrobo) pharmacologist father and a Welsh librarian mother. My younger brother and I had a happy childhood on the beautiful campus of the University of Ibadan.

I later attended Atlantic College in Wales where I completed my International Baccalaureate, before going to University of Bristol where I studied politics. After that I came to Berlin to study at the DFFB (German Film and Television Academy), here I met Tsitsi Dangarembga, Wanjiru Kinyanjui and Auma Obama.

I have stayed in Berlin where I continue to make films and raise my children.

The decision to study film came from a desire to combine all my passions: painting, telling stories and directing actors, all of which I had enjoyed doing since I was very young. Storytelling runs in our family. My father‘s brother Kpeha was a famous poet of Udje. Film seemed to synthesize these loves and has brought an added element that I didn't know about before—montage (which is the poetry of film).

You are Afro-Welsh, living and working in Germany. What have been your experiences both on a personal and professional level?

My experiences have been the experiences of a Diaspora person settling into a new environment finding her place and defending her ideas, trying to serve a useful function and at the same time educate herself. 

Last year I had the most rewarding experience of teaching courses at the Humbolt University and the University of Art here in Berlin. With the students, we examined my films and their themes using literature and academic texts. We discussed the medium of film and the way images are used to manipulate perception. Teaching is one of the most fun ways to learn because you get to read and think about things deeply.

Much of your work has focused on Afro-European identities, a theme that several European women of African descent have addressed in their films. Could you give some reflections on this subject as it relates to your own work and as it relates to the broader issue of how Europe is dealing with its identity in an evolving multicultural, multiethnic continent? And also, there is an increasingly visible Afro-German community and of course, several of your films have focused on Germans of African descent. How do you locate yourself as an Afro-European?

I focus on experiences that resonate with me. Filmmaking is hard work and spiritually demanding work too. So for me it is key that I get some new understanding out of it for my own personal growth. I am not making films one to one about my situation. But I know what it means to feel "other", I felt that growing up in Nigeria too, so when I came to Germany and started to get to know the culture and the people, I was fascinated by the culture of the Afro-Germans and how they were working towards building an identity for themselves in an uncharted territory. The courage and resilience was inspirational and I found many universal themes to talk about that resonated with me. Now, I have Afro-German children so my involvement has deepened.

I locate myself where I am geographically and spiritually. My films are my witness to life as I see it. It is a great honour to be able to make films so I use every opportunity seriously. It takes so long to gather and order experience and then to translate what one has learned into a piece of work to share with others, it takes years.

If my films about Afro-German experiences help to enhance the visibility of Afro-German experiences, that is useful. One of my short films that was shown at the Berlin film festival in 2007 is called Landing it is about a black woman who wakes up in Berlin to find herself invisible. It's a horrible experience being invisible. But nevertheless being visible does not automatically mean being seen. So the process is still ongoing.

Your films are very intense and very specific, in the sense that they on a very emotional level, deal with the psychological, social and political gut of the society. How do you choose the topics of your films?

Maybe I have answered this question already, but I would just add that the subjects for all the films I have made, including the one I am currently finishing, came to me. I was asked to do them sort of by circumstance, by people’s expressed wish sometimes. Certainly with Dreckfresser, a friend came over to my house with a newspaper article and said " you need to make a film about this brother", so from a sense of obligation, from a feeling that not just I want to know more about what is happening but others do too. And I just start from that impulse.

Do you continue to work in Britain and connect with the British culture in terms of your work?

Wales is my ancestral home as is Nigeria but I never lived in Wales as an adult, the two years spent there were in boarding school.

But I got my first commission from Britain while I was still in film school. It was a short for Channel Four about my Welsh roots. The film, Searching for Taid, is available to watch on the British Film Institute website. That is the beginning of my journey as a filmmaker. My brother is the protagonist and the film is really lovely and people get something out of it.

Since then I have not had the chance to make another film in Wales but I have a story. If it wants to be made it will come and get me.

Do you have contacts, connections with Nigeria? Have you had film projects that you would like to do in Nigeria?

My parents are there as I said, so I visit with my children whenever I can afford it. I have also made a film there in 2007 called "The Pilot and the Passenger" it is yet to be fully completed (it is self funded) because my current project (a commission) interrupted it, but I will be finishing it soon. It is about the poet Christopher Okigbo.

Some reflections on future projects, interests?      

For the past two years I have been shooting a highly demanding documentary in Kenya, Germany, Britain and the USA it is nearly finished so I hope to share it with people soon.

My interests are painting and teaching, as well.

Interview with Branwen Okapako by Beti Ellerson, August 2010

Mariama Hima : Trailblazer and pioneer of cinema of Niger

Mariama Hima : Trailblazer and pioneer of cinema of Niger

"Cinema has given us the possibility of putting ourselves in the picture, seeing ourselves in these images."1

Mariama Hima, cultural worker par excellence: cineaste, anthropologist, ethno-linguist,  has held positions as museum conservationist at the National Museum of Niger, National Director of Culture and Niger ambassador to France. She filmed her doctoral research under the direction of Jean Rouch and has long been interested in environmental issues and recycling, recurrent topics of her films: Baabu Banza (Nothing is thrown away), 1984; Falaw (Aluminum), 1985; Toukou (Barrel), 1986; Katako (Boards), 1987; Hadiza and Kalia, 1994. She has also written a book of proverbs, Sagesse africaine, 1998.

Summarizing her filmed research, Baabu Banza (Nothing is thrown away) she states: “Through a series of films, I attempt to address a subject that affects many Third World countries, particularly those of the Sahel. The phenomenon of recycling makes us witness to the birth of an ingenuity generated by necessities of all types. With the overabundant surplus from the West at its disposal the creative genius of these recycle scavengers, is brought forth. So I did not hesitate to plunge my camera into the garbage bins of the city of Niamey, passing through the storied market of Bukoki where everything is bought, sold, recovered, and transformed. I saw a tire turn into a sandal; a tire which, in industrialized countries, is rescued, recycled or quite simply destroyed. In Bukoki it is given a thousand and one faces. Therefore it is not surprising to see a Coca Cola can transformed into a pot, or a metal barrel into a trunk.”

1. Symbolic Narratives/African Cinema: Audiences, Theory and the Moving Image. edit by June Givanni London: BFI, 2000.

Profile: Aïssatou Adamou (Niger)

Profile: Aïssatou Adamou (Niger)

Excerpts from the interview held during the Vues d'Afrique Festival in April 1997, Montreal, Quebec by Beti Ellerson. Translated from French. Published in Sisters of the Screen: Women of African in Film, Video and Television, 2000. Sisters of the Screen: African Women in Cinema, film released in 2002.

About Aïssatou Adamou

The National Television of Niger was established in 1978, as an educational television.  At the time, only experimental programs were shown. I was the first woman to work as television announcer.  I had many problems at the beginning, because a woman presented on television speaking to the public was not highly regarded. Initially, the public was critical of my public image on television.  However, this did not discourage me, because I had the encouragement of my parents and friends to persevere.  Gradually, people realized that women could work in the television industry just as well as men. They realized that there is no difference. Because of this gradual change in attitude, as the years passed, more women became interested in television. More schools are directing their students, both women and men, to the Institut de formation au technique de l'information et la communication, the professional school here in Niger.  Today there are women directors and journalists—not one, not two, nor three, but we are, in fact, quite numerous.

I address diverse themes.  I deal with ethnographic themes with a cultural context, such as the film Gossi that was screened here in Montreal.  I also address social themes such as pre- and post-natal health issues regarding women and children.  Women in the process of national development is a general theme on which there is a great deal of focus.  This includes women from both rural and urban sectors.  I also touch on issues concerning children, because it is necessary to focus on children.  An example would be the education of the young girl, which is a prevailing theme today.

The role she wants to play as a woman in the media

I am a woman, I am a mother, I am a wife, and I work in the media. So one of the roles that I have to take on is to transmit my knowledge to my sisters who perhaps have not had the chance to go to school. The fact that I work in television is in no way an impediment, in terms of the role that I have to play in my household. I have my work to do on the public level and I have a role to fulfill regarding my husband and my children. I am able to combine them without a problem.  I am most happy to say that I have children who are very understanding, and I also have a husband who encourages me.  If I am here today in Montreal, it is because of my husband. He encouraged me to come; he insisted that I must come.

As a woman do you bring something particular to your work in film and television?

Yes, absolutely. I think women are in a better position than men to speak about the problems of women. Women are in a better position than men to speak about how to care for a sick child.  As mother and communicator, I think that I have the better advantage to go in the direction of my sisters, without any difficulty. Reciprocally, my sisters also encourage me. They encourage us during the production of each program, often by letter, often by telephone calls, and just as often at work or at home. They come to tell me that the treatment of a certain subject was well presented.  They encourage us to continue the good work. I think that women are the only ones who can truly touch their sisters; because there are certain things that a woman cannot talk about to a man, such as the problems around polygamy. A man may perceive it in a certain way, while a woman, as woman, perceives it in her way.  We as women can present themes without the problem of vexing either men or women.

What is the position of women in other sectors of society in Niger?

My country is a democratic country. In terms of raising the consciousness of women and sensitizing the population about the conditions of women, we have institutions that have done their best to change old attitudes regarding women. We have women's organizations, we have legal organizations whose goal is to sensitize women about the role that they must play. On the administrative level, we have many women who occupy positions of high-level responsibility.

On the governmental level, we have women officials, though they are not very numerous. Women constitute fifty-two percent of the population; however, we have a disproportional small number of women in the government. We have three or four women officials; but, in relationship to their actual number in the population, we think that the government can do more. In the parliament, we have women, women who are fighters. I would say that gradually the attitudes are beginning to evolve.  People now have a much better understanding of the role of women. They realize that there can be no development without the participation of women. Nigeriens have understood this and I think things are advancing. Any project without the participation of women is doomed to fail.

African Diasporas. Pour la nuit (For the Night) by Isabelle Boni-Claverie

 

Isabelle Boni-Claverie

Pour la nuit (For the Night)

France

25min - Fiction - 2005 

 

Pour la nuit (For the Night), the stirring film by Isabelle Boni-Claverie, is available online and may be downloaded on the French website Cine4me, payment through PayPal. Video-on-Demand, a distribution system that is gaining popularity, may well be the future distribution outlet for African films, often plagued by limited distribution. The film is in French with English subtitles.

(NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

 

Synopsis of Pour la Nuit:
On the eve of two events that mark an emotional and rapid departure from all that is familiar, Muriel and Sam are thrown together in a chance encounter.
With her mother's funeral the next morning, Muriel, the daughter of a French father and African mother, struggles to escape her sorrow and unrest.
Shot in black and white and set in Marseilles, Pour la Nuit opens with  death. Muriel, a beautiful young woman of mixed-race, has just lost her mother. She escapes from the tragedy in a taxi whose driver warns her of "hot-blooded men" that frequent the district where she asks to be dropped off. She meets a man in a down-town nightclub and they share one night of passion and stark honesty. In the early morning they part - Muriel to attend her mother's funeral, the man to attend his wedding.
This evocative short film, by French/Ivorian filmmaker Isabelle Boni-Claverie, is a passionate depiction of beginnings and endings.

During an interview with Isabelle Boni-Claverie for the African Women in Cinema Blog, she had this to say to my questions about the film:

Could you talk about the film Pour la nuit and its reception?

It is a story that I wrote spontaneously in one night. I submitted the synopsis to my producer who said, “let’s do it!” At the time, I do not know why, I wanted to shoot in Sweden. I wanted my character to be in a city where she would feel completely foreign. And I like the North Sea, its vast desert beaches. The producer thought that Sweden was a bit expensive... So I suggested Côte d'Ivoire, a very urban film where Abidjan would be a character in itself. I crisscrossed Abidjan a lot at night when I was a teenager. I had very unique experiences, often poetic, that I've never seen transcribed in a film. The producer gave the OK. Yet, it was not that much cheaper! While waiting for replies for funding the political situation began to worsen in Côte d'Ivoire. There was so much distrust, so much violence, including the lugubrious "death squads", that it no longer seemed possible to make a film there that would be shot almost entirely in the exterior and at night. I settled for Marseille, which like Abidjan, is a city built on the edge of the water, with long roads, and a cosmopolitan environment. Of course, I did not make the same film. But I think that I was able to keep most of what I wanted to say: How each copes with life’s grief, even in a less conventional way. I was very touched by the reactions of audiences at various festivals in which I presented. Many times women came to me spontaneously, saying they had responded similarly during a loss. While this is a film about death, many have said it was a wonderful call to life. I very much appreciated receiving the Signis Ecumenical Jury Prize or that of the "prix du public" at the Amiens prison. The prisoners told me that they felt good to hear about love and to see a "little rascal" who also had her share of humanity. These are the kinds of reactions that give meaning to the films that one makes.

I really like the film. I see it in the context of identity, especially identity in movement, in Africa and Europe. Muriel seems very at ease as a Frenchwoman but I sense ambivalence in her bi-racial identity, especially vis-à-vis her mother, though I also feel a tension with her father. In reflecting on the debate raging about identity in France right now, could you reflect on your identity as a Franco-Ivorian and your film Pour la nuit in this context?

The debate over national identity in France is a false debate about a false problem. The French nation has always been diverse. This diversity is visible more now than ever and people no longer want to deny a part of themselves in order to melt into a model of assimilation. It irritates some disgruntled people. But the French have rejected this debate by an overwhelming majority. However, there is still some way to go for a “metissage”, whether cultural or ethnic, to become fully accepted. When you are mixed, you are always asked to choose. As if you could amputate a part of yourself! I feel completely French in France and fully Ivorian in Côte d'Ivoire. I'm not accountable to anyone, and certainly am under no obligation to prove my nationality, which, in fact, from the very start I had no choice in the matter! As I enjoy saying sometimes, the only person in my family who actually migrated was my grandmother. She was white, French, and she came to settle in Côte d'Ivoire.

Undoubtedly, it is hard to situate my character Muriel in Pour la nuit. She made her choice, to identify with her father who is white. Perhaps her mother did not give her sufficient reason to be proud of her African-ness or, she simply did not transmit her culture to her daughter. So, Muriel finds it very difficult to connect to the black part of herself. At the same time she feels that if she does not, something is missing, hence her aggression towards her father. Her encounter with a young man of Arab origin will enable her to connect with that part of herself which comes from elsewhere. Then and only then, will she finally be able to mourn her deceased mother.