By Japheth Ogila and Steve Biko Abuya
Published July 15, 2014
A young and promising television reporter falls under the spell of a calculating man. That she is relatively well educated and married are no adequate protection against the ‘Master’ who tricks her into abandoning her matrimonial home and moving in with him. Sounds familiar?
That is the storyline of ME, MY WIFE AND HER GURU that is set for screening and discussion during the 78th monthly Lola Kenya Screen film forum (LKSff) at Nairobi’s Goethe-Institut on July 30, 2014.
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Running 50 minutes and produced in 2011 by Flick 7 Pictures of Nairobi, ME, MY WIFE AND HER GURU starres Lizz Njagah of Tinsel TV series, Ian Mbugua of Tusker Project Fame and Millicent Wambui Mugadi of Big Brother Africa. Other cast members in this comedy that appears to be based on a real life situation in Nairobi as attested to by the marketing slogan, When movies are the mirror of our society, are Alexandros Konstantaras, Kevin Onyango, Hesbon Ouma, Auma Njagah and Diana Nekoye.
The film that is set in Kenya and tackles issues such as religious hypocrisy, infidelity, crime and corruption, is scripted and directed by Alexandros Konstantaras who is the husband of Lizz Njagah on and off screen. Konstantaras appears to be specialising in comedies based on sex as seen from his works such as MEET THE KONSTANTARASES, HOUSE OF LUNGULA, FUNDI-MENTALS and, of course, ME, MY WIFE AND HER GURU.
Setting the pace for ME, MY WIFE AND HER GURU that is made in English and Sheng with English sub-titles shall be THE SKY IN HER EYES by Madoda Ncayiyana of South Africa that looks at the grief, confusion and rejection faced by a village girl and the redemption she receives from an unlikely source.
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THE SKY IN HER EYES is screened in the Childfare segment that was introduced in LKSff in March 2014 to encourage local entrepreneurs to invest in children’s movies. Other films for children from Africa that have already been shown are PETITE LUMIERE by Alain Gomis of Senegal, SUBIRA by Ravneet ‘Sippy’ Chadha of Kenya and AMAL by Ali Benkirane of Morocco.
The organisers of LKSff say they are looking for more films for children from Africa to screen and discuss.
Meanwhile, the 77th LKSff on June 30, 2014 screened and discussed PAMOKO, a documentary highlighting the efforts aimed at ending the stigma against albinos in Tanzania and a children’s fictional work called AMAL.
The documentary that is directed by Jean-Francois Mean of Canada features various art forms—theatre, road show, music concerts, radio call in shows, mobile cinema—to drive its message forward.
To attract a wider audience base, the campaign worked with several Tanzanian celebrity artists to help persuade their fans to put an end to the wanton murder and discrimination against albinos.
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Among those ‘celebs’ in the film that was made in 2012 are comedians King Majuto (Amri Athuman) and Bi Chau (Chausiku Salum), recording artist Keisha (Hadija Shaban), spoken word performer Fid Q (Farid Kubanda) and poet/actor Mrisho Mpoto.
The documentary also features people living with albinism recounting how society mistreats them. One such person is Josephat Igembe who narrates how, despite having passed his exams and leading to his admission to study theology at a seminary, was expelled from the institution the moment the Principal realised he was an albino.
On the other hand, 17-minute AMAL, set in Morocco, is about a 12-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a medical doctor contrary to the customs and traditions of her community that appears not to value girl child education.
LKSff, the initiative of ComMattersKenya/ArtMatters.Info in collaboration with Goethe-Institut in Kenya, runs every last Monday of the month. It screens and critiques movies with a view to exploring ways of integrating film production in Kenya and eastern Africa with other socio-cultural and economic activities in order to come up with a vibrant film industry.
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