Cinema Africa 2023 - A conversation with Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika
- Title
- Cinema Africa 2023 - A conversation with Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika
- Abstract
-
Duncan Tarrant interviews the leading actor Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika of the film "Tug of War" that was presented at the 2023 Cinema Africa film festival in Bayreuth. Apart from being an actor Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika from Tanzania is also a producer and filmmaker.
During the film festival he represented the movie "Vuta N‘Kuvute" (Tug of War) - a feature-length fiction based on Adam Shafis award-winning Swahili novel. The story explores a forbidden romance between star-crossed lovers against the backdrop of 1950s colonial Zanzibar. Young Indian-Zanzibari Yasmin flees from her arranged marriage and meets Dengé, a young revolutionary.
Cinema Africa 2023 in Bayreuth was organised by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth and curated by Prof. Dr. Ute Fendler. - Date
- February 14, 2023
- Language
- English
- Transcript
- foreign Columbus one UK as part of the Africa Cinema Festival in Byron and part of the Africa multiple cluster um goodrin who starred in the film tug of war is with us for an interview and the film was shown as the inaugural film at the cinema as part of this Festival um do you would you like to say a little bit about yourself before I go into the questions about the film yeah as you're ready to use me as my name is guran Carlos from Dar es Salaam Tanzania I'm an actor um and for my television Personnel also I can on theater too yeah great thank you so much thank you so um the film that we saw tug of war or Wutang yeah tells the story of your character denge and Yasmin and the love story and their struggle in the politically charged atmosphere of 1950s Zanzibar [Music] before going a little bit more into the details of of the film could you tell us a little bit about the filming process the casting process when and where you filmed how long it took those the basics of that sort of thing yeah okay so I'll I will say on my part as an actor because I mean the world production took like three to four years and I wasn't part of the pre-production so my my my my fifth look of photographer was in 2019 July where I saw the poster that there is a audition for the actors for the film called tiger 4 directed by emotions I personally know the director of machine he was my director at University of Larissa by the time I was taking my bachelor degree in theater film with the revision so I know how great he is and I had to take a boat from the restaurant to zarzba for the audition yeah it was one of the my toughest audition ever because on my day I think I went on the second day of the audition and my number was like 182 and there were like 300 people waiting on the line for the audition and so those were people who were all from Zanzibar they're all over there all over Tanzania and even out of Tanzania like class my fellow co-actor she's from Mombasa so some people came from Mombasa from Pemba from the restaurant and a lot of dasbarians of course so yeah I was part of their first round and I passed the first round I had the Callback and I went for the second edition this is much more on character character Chemistry Between I mean between the casting is part of the casting process so yeah I made it to the to the second part and I will start I was supposed to start I mean the research I mean of course I was given some some direction that you don't need to cut your hair and stuff yeah yes and starting my own research on the history of Zanzibar first and to get to know that by itself it is history and of course people of Zanzibar this was like a personal personal job and one month before we started shooting I was I went to Zanzibar and I stayed there like for one month specifically for research working with people in Salzburg get to know people talk to people older people young people just to make trust with them as you know how from Tanzania Mainland it's not easy to be accepted in Zanzibar if you're from Mainland and you want to work there especially in the thing that represent themselves so preempted one of my next questions already thank you I'm glad they did that so yeah I I created first with them of course I we had I mean during the pre-production of the firm there is this a a girl who also did the costume design called Hawa Isa Ali she did a very good research and write some papers so it will be easy for me to guide him I mean for the whole production team is like a guided land for for their for their research on their specific needs and so the filming was all done on Zanzibar yeah the film was all done on zazaba with like one month yeah I think one month shook like a very short timeline oh yeah okay for you [Music] um I think it was okay it was tough you know like I personally as a main character I was on set like every day for the those 28 days so yeah it was tough shooting but it was fun because the state was more like more International we are a cinematographer from South Africa with the sound guy from Fetch we had the production designer from America we had I mean the produce of course is also the Corp user other per user he's from South Africa so for me it was also part of learning process you know we don't stop learning this production yes that's also your first feature yeah this was my first feature form and lucky me lucky you thank you so much experience and have such a success yeah as well yeah [Music] um then my next question comes to exactly what you were saying you did this research that you're from you're from Tanzania um you told me the other day that your Dar es Salaam born and bred yeah um so why why Dengue why did you choose to audition for this revolutionary zanzibari what was it about his character the complex character that Drew you to him and what did you like and dislike about him okay first I agree with you it's a very complex character but uh as we know the film is adapted from the novel called by the Adam Shafi I know the novel back in school I read the novel back in school in high school but I was in the boys school and by the time I mean you we we you know back in school you just relate to to to to to to pass the exams of course but that's what's different like it was touching everyone was talking about the the story of Yasmin not denge in the book The Story of Yasmine and because the chef who wrote her very very I don't know how to say it like you can use the Swahili if you want to so if it's easier for you even if I don't know how to say even Swahili you know the way yeah okay beautifully yeah I'm not sure but yeah beautiful so [Music] yeah and by the time I I I heard about the audition I had to read again the book so I could be familiar my okay my intern my first intent will fall was to be part of the production so I said to myself like okay you should read the book if you want to work on this project maybe we will get a chance to interview to you or to pitch for for to get a job so read again the book by the time of the reading it again I found a Dengue song connected to myself okay in my normal struggles in my normal houses as a as a Tanzanian guy who trying to make it in a life you know and then I also see the opportunity that I could have in your in the fall as Dengue to express the thing that you cannot say it like you cannot express in a in a normal environment so maybe use art and stuff and then I decided yo I'm gonna audition for this thing it wasn't easy it wasn't easy to be Dengue because drink is a reckless so reckless so focused is like it's it's not it's not a normal transparent guy or no more Tanzanian guy even no more African guy of course I don't know how to say it because the history of dick he wanted to he went to Russia yeah before Russia he went to Egypt the back story is that back in the days reasons Byron those young those barriers who are very interested in politics they were talking to Egypt learn some Russians and some you know some basic stuff and went to Russia to start their Communists and coming back to zalzner so he coming back with a lot of behavior different Behavior which yeah so I was at Smoky by the time actually I quit I was I was smoking but I quit smoking cigarettes yeah and by the time I have the the character in developing it I had to smoke it again so the sense you know of the character it wasn't easy so only when you see I mean for for what's good and what's bad yeah what's good I think denge is someone that people need in early Society we need people like Dengue two people who can speak out what people can say you know people can stand for others people can fight for the truth they can fight for the freedom or whatever which is they found that is supposed to be right and then he did it by his own ways it doesn't matter which ways but yeah he did it just was the that's what he he needed and his he was doing that for himself only but for the people of that Baron for the people for his friends his Society and I like it I like it because I grew up with I grew up as a lead I think since my since my childhood I was always in front you know asking questions trying to figure out things leading my fellow I mean my you know your classmate classmate I was a monitor I was a minister in the uni I mean in high school not only in high school in University is very political like you have to be a real politician to be part of the student cabinet in the University you know I started in University of Dallas and that's like the Hub of of politics of diplomacy for everything that brings me to my next question okay um so as we were saying before that the film is based on pre-revolutions Zanzibar and maybe for those who don't know the the revolution happened in 1964 and uh this subsequently Tanzania was unionized with the mainland of Tanganyika and this issue remains a sore point a topic of conversation and controversy amongst both zanzibaris and mainlanders in Tanzania um so I know that there were some screenings for the public in Zanzibar what I would like to know is how did they react yeah both to the the message of the film but also to some of the more perhaps intimate scenes whichever has a bit more controversial in that sense and what do you think they liked about the film and what did they not like uh okay we we we had our first Zanzibar Premiere in December 2021 it was Full House like we did it in the Old Fort my Congo one of the very famous just even in uh maybe right yeah in the movie yeah yeah in the prison the prison cells that we shot it there I think all the foot and we had like 1500 people I really love the the audience because they were shouting at the screen there is different to here I mean to everywhere people talk to the screen people connect with the character people connect to the spaces people connect with the everything of the lighting people they can tell okay as you can see the light guy the guy who put the light on and puts lighter actually okay the the guy on the phone his grandfather he used to do it in the real time wow back in the days so people still have those memories but it's not even written or people just heard the story from generation to generation and finally they come to see it on screen big screen it was amazing amazing how people react to the screen how people react to What character does and I think people also love Dengue because people I mean there are a lot of dengas in Zanzibar and they are forgotten you know those people they are forgotten people who fight for I mean behind the behind the scenes yeah behind the leaders yeah yeah behind they were not like we say Grand soldiers you know those ground soldiers of the yeah the political the Grassroots yeah the Grassroots of the the revolution there were a lot of those people and most of them were killed jailed you know running away from Zanzibar because of the British you know uh I apologize yeah so people had those stories they knew the story but it's it's not written anywhere or it's hard to find the story but for them to see it on screen and to see like People Like Us represent it it was so amazing people love it and enjoy the film also I think so and you talk you talk about the the scene I love you talked about the man on the Bible school and off the lights yeah which also for me was a very personally a very nice scene because it's shot in one of the places where Islands really yeah so um but I like this this link that you talk about of his grandfather used to do this and there's another grandchild in the movie yeah yeah City yeah the focal point between Dengue and Yasmine of this love story is majuma yeah and my dreamer is the one who effectively brings these two together and she's portrayed by cities could you could you tell us who her grand grandmother was and what it was like to work with her and why why is it so important that she was in the film uh okay so why she's important I can't tell that much because I'm not the director of form you know I did a customer but I enjoyed work with her I love her I know her before as a singer a very famous singer her grandmother City foreign she she was amazing singer she's also activist you know through through her poem through her music and finally I had a chance to act with her granddaughter who also she's very famous singer in zalba I love her music and she's amazing actor too but why is she is so important in the form like the character of moduma not like city of the city but the character of maduma is like when you represent the women of Love by transparent like they are the ones who keep the Dengue safe people like Dengue safe they are so welcoming you can see they they've they were coming as you can see you asked me she run away from her family her husband and she found herself to majuma with no guru she took her in and befriend the same way she took then get in in his crew in like the majuma's house was like our secret house you know your safe space yeah safe space we were all safe as you can see denga is taking perfect and putting majuma's house like I do believe here is a safe space because they know I mean the women of those but they know the struggle they know the movement I'm not sure if they believe it but they believe in their people like they know things are not right and this is the only way we can make it right by supporting these Fighters by supporting the movement and of course by by using our talent to to express what's going on through music through poetry I think is a very important card on the phone yes yeah so you said um you said that music and poetry is very important in the film um I'm personally working on my PhD on swiggly poetry so I know all about how important poetry is to Zanzibar congrats thank you um and that there are a lot of scenes where either mojuma sings famous tarab songs we see the scenes in the community for example yes we see the scenes in the clubs we see the theme in karamji all at the beginning yeah um how important was music and knowing about the music on set and for you whilst you were making the film like was it was it very obvious that these things were coming up or did you find out afterwards when you watched the film I knew that's gonna be kind of musical because okay I want to tell you this I think I've never tell anyone this I'm telling you this like you while we were doing table leading our first table living um there was this kijiti song where Dengue is just grown and kijito is one of the favorite Dengue song so I found myself interior while she was singing on table leading and that was very touching and that's I found out okay so that's means this I mean these scenes with this music it's make more meaning a special touching feelings and people connect with it if I personally connect with it I do believe people connect with it and of course I know a city there is karimji on set we heard the music uh in cities where perform Cuban marimba and those are very famous old band so I knew it's going to be Musical and it's kind of musical actually it's very musical I'm not sure if it like I I was very I was very um touched by the the difference between this opening scene in karimji Hall where we have the singer and the um the musicians dressed in the their uniforms and their pheases and the singer is sort of very spaced out not nobody's really listening to her yeah um and then we have the the like attack to like yeah to like uh call for freedom in Zanzibar and you compare that to the the now and I think it was a really beautiful moment perhaps perhaps it's something more for the director but this idea of this difference between the sort of the oppressors coming and trying to take the music and not really appreciating it yeah and the the locals who live and breathe that music and that poetry yeah um and so I want to bring on Bring it on to that [Music] um kembunga the the printing press at the end of the film yeah they want to bring the printing press on to onto the island and they say that they're going to name the the newspaper this revolution newspaper kimbunga or the hurricane yeah could you explain what the significance of that is why why is that significant maybe you don't have to say that the political meaning just explain the background behind what is kingbunga where does it come from uh this most director's question you know what you know the poet yeah yeah I mean it's one of the very famous piece kimbunga uh I was really back in school I think taught in school and the way it was represented is that it is like a secret code for for those levels like if you recite kibonga in front of me I know you're one of me and that's what happened while yesterday took over dengue's job after Dengue goes to jail lipua the leaders they don't know your spirit no but they started to trust her just because of that code kibonga I think it has a very big meaning because okay you can tell about the Poetry I know I don't want to tell about the Poetry itself about the peace maybe a case so yeah the poem is very very famous from a probably the most famous zanzibario at recent times unfortunately he passed away just a year and a half ago two years ago his name is Gora um and as uh as goodrin is saying um this the images but is a of a hurricane that comes and destroys the crops and takes things away but um this idea and I really like it in the way it's used in the film and used as well as a metaphor for the revolution is that it it shows how much poetry is important Society yeah okay I have one last question one thing very last question um what one thing uh would do you want people to take away from your portrayal of dengue when people come and watch the film and see you what do you want them to remember about you about Dengue oh yeah of course uh honestly I want personally I want people to see Dengue as I mean as one of the people who were behind the revolution who like who did the very great job underground Paving the way to the actual Revolution and those people we are not really complicated complimented uh they weren't yeah they weren't mentioned they weren't uh credited yeah not credited they were going to inequated they've never written anywhere actually the the history of jazz blade so is so blinded like okay I remember I hate this from the director during the pre-production they were they couldn't even find a picture of Zanzibar in 1850s from the perspective of the Africans the old pictures about their from the from the the railway you know karafu the crop I mean is so British everything from the King stock yeah all the crops so the karafu is the cloves the spicy bar is very important for those prices yeah so it's very very Colonial there's an image of images of taking the crops yeah and the places that it is and the stories but nothing of the life nothing of the life especially the people of Zanzibar okay and that means even the people like Dengue who prayed the very major role in Paving the way to the actual Revolution they they are not seen everywhere so I want people to get to know that all those peoples like Dengue not only Dengue chande Mambo Bazi Dengue is cool there are a lot of those people and what is yeah I don't get this they are not forgotten that's what I really want people to garage so thank you thank you so much for all answering all of my questions even the difference try it just before we finish I'd like to give you a chance um what's next for you and how can people keep up to date with you do you have Instagram there's lots of things yeah so of course I'm working as I say I'm working on film theater intervention and actually currently I think after the next two months I move for the next film actually the very short film another political thing okay yeah like a Dengue of the modern day well kind of I don't think about it because I would really given the actual script okay so yeah uh I'm on Instagram as good one Columbus on Facebook good running Columbus Monica YouTube can also find my personal work there is Monica my short film that I did in like in normal days I mean yeah okay yeah we'll make sure that all of those are underneath the video to so people can follow those links thank you so much again thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here and thank you the rest of the festival thank you I can't wait for the tonight movie yeah foreign
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