A couple of weeks ago (almost a month), when browsing the internet and specifically on African Movies’ subject, I came across something that caught my profound attention. I came across a movie titled Taharuki that was/is scheduled to be screened at the New York African Film Festival. As you can guess, it is the name Taharuki Swahili word for Suspense, which generated my curiosity first. It is not very common to see “our films” in such prestigious festivals. And by “our films” I mean films from East Africa, made by East Africans.It was then that I learned that Taharuki or Suspense in English, a short film, is actually written, produced and directed by one of our own, Ekwa Msangi-Omari (photo above) and one of the actresses in the film is Miriam Chemmoss whom I interviewed back in 2008.
I was then introduced to Ekwa by Miriam just to learn later that she is actually a distant relative of mine! Few weeks after that introduction, I had an opportunity to sit down with her for the interview you are about to read on the film Taharuki which is set against the backdrop of the start of the devastating post-election violence that took place in Kenya in 2007/2008 and has left tens of thousands of Kenyans homeless, traumatized or dead. This film is the fictional account of a man and woman from opposing ethnic tribes who’re working for an underground liberation movement to expose a child-trafficking cartel when something goes wrong, and they’re forced to make tough choices in order to stay alive and complete their mission.
Ekwa has directed for some of the biggest TV shows in East Africa including The Agency (MNET) a 13-part TV series which she created, show-ran, and directed; the hit show Block-D (KBC), and most recently co-created critically ac-claimed Higher Learning (NTV) along with several short films. She’s written for TV and film, and produced several shorts. Weakness, a short film she recently produced, has screened worldwide, including New York, Durban and Brazil and was nominated for a 2010 Kalasha Award and a 2011 AMAA-Award .
Watch the Trailer for Taharuki and then go ahead and read the full interview that follows. Pay close attention on the question of what she thinks about current state of African movies;
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