Ras Star
By: Wanuri Kahiu
Short Film
This film follows a teenage girl who wishes to be a top rapper and contest winner in Nairobi. Her struggle starts with the financial and familial (Muslim family) side of things. She prepares for a contest as her brother (the hustler), also her manager, encourages her knowing that there will be great reward (money) they can both split. They get caught fighting in the city because of their cousin Moha, and eventually get locked up in what seems to be Amani’s room. They escape and she gets to perform at the concert which is where the film ends.
The beginning of the film starts off at a foot angle then opens up to the main characters Amani (rapper), and her brother. As they go into a city on a taxi they cannot afford, they proceed to a crowd of rappers. Here the camera shot/angle is slanted or turned sideways so that the view is different. The film does a lot of transitioning from scene to scene and then back to the main scene. For example, when they are rapping in the city, the camera starts at the group rapping with a guy in the middle of the circle, then jumps to a scene of the cooking, hair braiding, sewing machine, and Moha walking down an alley, all this while the rapping continues as the background music. The transition focuses back on Amani who sees that Moha is in a fight and that breaks up the group.
Amani, her brother, and Moha (their cousin), get in trouble and each locked up differently. Moha gets taken by the police, and Amani and her brother get locked up in what seems to be Amani’s room. The day transitions to night quickly as the two long to make it to the concert. The change from day to night happens quickly, yet stands out the most with the sun going down and the blue night emerging. This representation of time flying by stays focused on the main location which is Amani’s room.
The final transition is made when they escape and her room door is yanked off and on the floor. The camera focuses on her room and moves up into the next scene of DJ equipment to then open up to the concert. This scene can almost be scene as freedom as they broke free from their jail (her room) and reached their destination, the concert. They present Amani and she begins to rap. The difference in this final scene than the rest is that the scene looks almost like a music video, it goes from impersonal to personal as she looks at the camera while she raps.
This is NOLLYWOOD
Director: Franco Sacchi
This documentary tells of the film making of Nigerian film directors following their struggle and success in the industry. The first, most significant and interesting thing to know about this documentary is that the film and other films produced in Nollywood take about 5 to 7 days to shoot. This is amazing as it is not the usual Hollywood film timing (which can reach up to years to finish one movie). Resources are limited, money is limited, locations are never promised (weather), yet so many films (about 2,000) are made a year for the people of Africa.
This documentary is explained easiest in terms of it being a movie within in a movie, then in a movie. Explanation: the movie is about Nigerian film directors and how they make their movies, while they are making a movie. The beginning scenes give different facts about Nigeria. The information that shows up on different scenes say: Lagos, Nigeria, Population: 15 million people, Average Income: $1 a day. The Nigerian film industry is a $250 million industry making about 2,000 movies a year. Auditions are held at different locations and everyone is outside waiting for their turn to becomes stars in Nollywood. As an actor says in the documentary, once you’ve done about 3 films, you’re a star.
The main man in this documentary is Bond Emeruwa, as it follows his process of making films, and in this case an action movie. Different African directors throughout the documentary share their pieces on Nollywood and the significance and purpose of the Nigerian film industry. Emmanuel France, Lancelot Imason, Patience Oghre, and Bond Emeruwa are African directors that cannot emphasize enough how the films are made for their people. Emmanuel France, with a huge smile on his face, says he is proud of Nollywood and can see it taking over in the next 10 years.
The filming done by Bond and his team begins with them in a room saying a prayer before they begin. The screen displays DAY 1 of the production. As Bond Emruwa is being filmed a lady pops in front of the camera to say hello, suddenly the camera freezes the shot and a director’s name is shown, (credits). Bond looks for the appropriate setting for the movie as he has about 9 days to finish. Music transitions from the home life, landscapes (lakes, trees), and back to the director talking about the film. One of the African directors talks about everyone’s willingness to help out when they arrive at different cities/areas to film. The Nigerian directors when filming in different places bring good business to the communities as much money is spent. The kids enjoy, and everyone on the outside is watching the filming. This is really interesting as it is the complete opposite of what we have in the United States film industry. We wouldn’t be able to sit outside of house to watch a movie being filmed as it is far more personal/secured, and indirect.
The movie by Emeruwa is about the main fight against the bad cops. He talks about the edutainment, audio visuals to educate, and putting a message in the movie. 90% of the nation watches Nollywood. There is a scene where the kids of the community are watching a scene being filmed. This again demonstrates the direct (anyone can watch) and natural (open) flow of the Nigerian film industry. Zeb Ejino, an African director, talks about the fall of the entertainment, thus they started with small cheap movies. It then shows the movie, “Living in Bondage,” which was one of the first films made. The film looks very home-made, blurry, low quality-maybe because of the way they were filming a film. That, and I look at these movies from a totally different view. The view of a film industry with so many resources, actors, money, transportation, audience, etc and that is Hollywood . Therefore, no movie looks blurry, or home-made (unless intentional). Back to Emeruwa, he talks about films that can identify with the people and that is the main goal. He also talks about the movies made on video tapes and how it is not about the medium, as long as the people cane see and hear what’s going on, that’s a film.
The next scene says DAY 3 as people watch the filming going on outside. They are filming at a different location and different interruptions stop the movies. In this case, the Muslim prayer that goes on over a town microphone and the scenes fade out and then back with the two hour wait mark. The prayer is definitely a factor that stops the filming for a while as well as many other obstacles. Luckily, the people are going to turn down the speaker so that they can continue to film. Other obstacles are weather, the late arrival of a famous actor (Saint Obi), lack of props, and power outage. However, it is incredible that through these obstacles they continued to pull through and film. The power outage just means that they will continue to film with a generator or do some editing. They take time off when the weather changes, for example when it gets really hot, and when it rains during the shoot. Peter Ejvo (producer), discusses the arranging of the entire cast and crew. There are 50 people on location, 15 crew members, 35 cast members, and he has to book , pay, and feed everyone. Day 5 the women (actresses) get in trouble for leaving the group without telling of where they were going. Day 6 begins the scene with the rain puddle and is followed by a shot of a movie poster. The video revolution-Nigerian revolution. The African people can see and feel Nigerian films, it teaches children language, style, and culture, it is what works for them says Emeruwa. Day 7 Saint Obi arrives--HUGE ACTOR! The documentary jumps from interviews, to scenes, to landscapes, background music, producing an eclectic variety of sound and visual images. Another director says, the quality is coming, but the important thing is that the audience needs these movies. The people that make a dollar a day, these movies are for them.
The special effects in Emeruwa’s film deserves its own paragraph, so here it goes. The special effects technician is a woman, just one woman. A special effect in the movie is the gunshot wound. It is made of a type of snapping popper taped to a piece of cardboard, which is then taped on the actor. Special effect teams in the US film industry probably have hundreds of people working on a movie. In Nollywood, one is just fine. They improvise, they have to do their own stunts, the make the special effects. This is Nollywood. The last scenes on Days 10 and 11 shoot most of the action in the movie. Three scenes done before breakfast, the jeep for a scene isn’t on location because the owner is at a wedding, the weather is really hot, no electricity, yet they do it faster than anybody in the world.
“THE CAMERA SHOULD SPEEK.”
The last day of the shoot you can see how the director pulls the actor back to a certain spot. Each scene throughout the documentary displays a CHECK POINT mark at the top, this is where it especially looks homemade, which obviously it practically is. The ambulance scene is over and it is a WRAP!!! Everyone is excited as it is finished. The producer says this movie took many long days to shoot, but they finished. The movie took 11 days! The movie ends abruptly as it focuses on Saint Obi the famous actor, talking about the film industry and the screen freezes on his face and that is the end.
This documentary was very interesting. I was really impressed that in consideration of the low-budget of the Nollywood film industry, they were still able to pull off a decent film. I would be interested to see more of these kinds of movies, the themes and values they portray, and the genres they cover. The African film festival, as a whole, was in my opinion, a success of something counter-Hollywood, something that we Americans, are not accustomed to seeing. I think that these films overall, teach something important about the different approaches and perspectives that can be taken in regard to film-making. Maybe this can be somewhat of an inspiration for amateur film-makers, or those seeking to get into the business, but more than that, it can be an inspiration to us all of how passion and determination exceed money and resources. Thus, I’d strongly recommend others to go and view films from Nollywood and other successful African film industries.
