Global citizens and the silver screen

18^th July2018 marked the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela who was born on July 18, 1918. In true South African style, there have been a lot of events lined up to celebrate Mandela’s centenary. Musical concerts and comedy nights among others have been held for the late South African father of the nation. A TV channel dedicated to airing just Mandela material from movies, documentaries, and series opened from 18-22 July 2018.

The Global Citizen festival, part of a movement to end global poverty fittingly celebrated Mandelas 100 years too. There would be festivals around the world, with the main one held at Central Park's Great Lawn in New York City on September 29, 2018 and was headlined by Janet Jackson, Shawn Mendes, The Weekend and John Legend as a special guest performer among others. These festivals climaxed with a main festival at Johannesburg’s FNB stadium on 2^nd December 2018 which was again broadcast on a dedicated channel the whole day and repeated the following day. This festival culmination was headlined by Beyonce’ and Jay-Z with further performances from Casper Nyovest, Pharrell Williams, Ed Sheeran, Usher Raymond, Femi Kuti, D’banji as well as appearances from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.

Make no mistake about it, there is enough Mandela film material for content of a 24 hour channel airing for about 5 days, as we saw between 18 and 22 July 2018. I have personally seen a portrayal of Mandela by over 8 Hollywood actors among them Morgan Freeman, Sydney Poitier, Danny Glover, Terrence Howard, David Harewood, Clarke Peters, Idris Elba and even Lawrence Fishburn.

Former President of Zambia, Kenneth David Kaunda,
fittingly deserves a block buster movie portrayal of his life 

I am not the biggest fan of movies, but biographies and true life events are perhaps my favourite genre, so I have done watched enough of the Mandela films. Of course Mandela is not the only African story to be portrayed in a film by an international cast and production as others have been done including Hotel Rwanda, The rise and fall of Idi Amin and A United Kingdom which portrays Sir Seretse Khamar.

A lot of people are also insinuating that soon there will be a movie on the fall of Robert Mugabe. This in my view will be welcome. However, a lot of people seem tired of western personalities coming to play African character. There have been questions for a lot of years now and the noise is getting louder by the day, questioning why Africans can’t play African characters. I have had one simple question to those that endorse such a school of thought. What is stopping Africans from making these films and casting Africans? Nothing. So let them do it.

We can’t surely do nothing about it but just wait idly and when Hollywood producers come and cast American actors with Africans mainly in supporting roles we want to complain. It’s their film and they will choose who to cast. Above all it’s a business decision so they will cast personalities they can easily market so they can sale the film worldwide and recoup their investments. It’s simple as that. Actually, our friends in Southafrica do have a lot of productions not only on Mandela but their other celebrated citizens. They have told those stories through film, and books of course, about a lot of that country’s icons.

The rest of Africa waits for Hollywood to come tell a story on Mobutu Seseseko, Laurent Kabila, Idi Amin or the Rwandan genocide. Unfortunately this is what the world will know about Africa. Genocides and dictators. We are not telling our stories. We do have a lot of good stories about Africa to be told. But we don’t do it. So the narrative of an Africa ravaged with war, famine and disease will continue. Although of course it’s true in a lot of African countries there is war, famine and disease and I may add to that shitty politics and politicians. It’s the more reason why I didn’t complain about the ‘shit hole’ comment from a ‘shit mouth’. Anyway, am digressing.

My main bone of contention is that we do not want to tell our own stories yet we want to complain when others come to tell us our stories. For instance, no one in Zambia has done a biopic feature film of first republican president Kenneth David Kaunda. What are we waiting for? We are not even talking about it and that is where the biggest problem lies. Even people like Mushala, or even Lenshina can be projected in film. What of the likes of Mwamba Luchembe, Steven Lungu aka Captain Solo or even those who were allegedly wrongfully linked to coups. The princes Nakatindi Wina and Sikota Wina come to mind. That can be such a juice story and a movie line from their side of the story can be made. There are many people who have been part of the history of Zambia. Posterity will judge us harshly and our history will forever be buried or told by those who only have a specific angle to portray.

There is already a lot of literature from which someone can start from. Unfortunately, I don’t know who or what we are still waiting for. Some years ago while going through some of my late father’s items I came across a book titled A Humanist in Africa, Letters to Colin Morris from Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia. I immediately read the book and for some of us who experienced the Kaunda rule only in the last years when things were not too fine with the economy and the population was beginning to turn against the man, the book gave me a lot of insight into KK’s (as we fondly call him) thought process. I read later from a book titled the Musakanya papers that the reverend Collin Morris actually not only authored that one book but two on his association with KK. Kaunda himself wrote the 1962 political autobiography, Zambia shall be free.

Our book stores do not sell these books but they are filled with Becoming: Michelle Obama. Posterity again will judge us harshly. While the books of Collin Morris may only cover the early years of the Kaunda presidency, there is need for other books covering the latter years especially his role in the independence of nations in southern Africa. Kaunda did put up massive resources in support for the independence of Namibia, Zimbabwe and the fight against apartheid in South Africa among others. This only explains why Lusaka Zambia was the first visit Nelson Mandela undertook when he came out of prison and those iconic pictures of Mandela and Kaunda on open top vans with raised clenched fists will always be remembered.

Make no mistake about it, the role of Zambia in the liberation of the region, became a detriment on the Zambian economy and infrastructure. Zambia itself was almost at war and we heard all the stories about the army and air force personnel who were gallant. One name that comes to mind is that of Peter Zuze who I believe is still alive today. As a young boy in primary school we gathered with friends to narrate and tell stories on the legend of Peter Zuze. I won’t narrate any such here. But as I have said, Peter Zuze is alive today, a journalist can visit him and do a documentary.

These are our stories and we need to tell them ourselves. Both in film and books. Where am seated as I write this blog, I don’t mind if Cuba Gooding junior or any other Hollywood act came and acted as Kenneth Kaunda before his presidency and all through his presidency and life after presidency to his present fight against HIV and homelessness. We are just not going to tell our own stories. We will do Dorika that is all. Granted, Dorika, Security guard and them have their place thus need the space for the entertainment value they give, but we need variety. We need our real life stories. Our friends in South Africa are trying to tell their stories, even if it means collaborating with A-listers from Hollywood. Infact that just increases the marketability of the movies.

Our real life stories especially for Zambia don’t get bigger than KK. Notice how KK got personal invitations to visit the likes of Martin Luther king Jr, Malcom X and many other iconic leaders of history. When he travelled to countries like the US, he was hosted at the white house and historical pictures are  there with American presidents among them Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. If my memory is right, the other Zambian presidents that have followed the closest they get is the Zambian mission in Washington DC or when they meet in the corridors of the UN building in New York at UN summits. Zambia’s place in the world is greatly owed to Kaunda and none other and the profile has not been the same since he left office. He is a global icon. He is a truly global citizen. The best time to celebrate him is now while he is still alive. A feature film can be the best start! We do have the literature and the man is here.

…and a collaboration with Hollywood would give the film a lot of clout and nous.