Young Abi is worried about his father. Has he lost his soul? Abi sets out in search of Nyawara, a mysterious woman with a cloven hoof who gives the boy seven tasks to fulfil. In a race against time, against death and his own fears, Abi manages to find the solutions. This magical film is set in Kibera’s sea of shanties, one of Africa’s largest slums. The cast of lay actors comes from the slum, and the film team includes filmmakers from Nairobi. Soul Boy was produced by the German film director Tom Tykwer who rose to international fame with films such as Run Lola Run and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Soul Boy is the pilot project of One Fine Day Films, a production company designed to carry out cultural projects in East Africa. It was founded by Tom Tykwer with his permanent companion Marie Steinmann. Soul Boy attracted great interest when it was shown at international film festivals.
Tom Tykwer’s inspiration for the project came from Marie Steinmann who has been setting up art classes in slum schools for many years with a non-governmental organization. Consequently, Tykwer decided to offer a film workshop. He came into contact with Kenyan writer Billy Kahora through a local production company, and it was he who wrote the screenplay for Soul Boy. Tykwer assembled up-and-coming filmmakers and film enthusiasts who had not yet had the opportunity to put their talents to the test. He brought in film professionals from Germany who guided the young people and integrated them in the production process. As a result, this authentic film was made in just 13 days of shooting – with a small budget but in big-screen format. “At first everything was pretty chaotic, but then the project developed into really close-knit teamwork,” says Tom Tykwer. The film was directed by the young, 30-year-old director Hawa Essuman who has Ghanaian-Kenyan roots. Until then she had only made short films. “It was a unique opportunity for all of us. Previously, each of us had just been working away on our own. Then we got together for Soul Boy to produce something big.”
The film industry in East Africa is still in its infancy. “Up-and-coming filmmakers rarely have the chance to present their own stories and their own subjective perspectives,” says Tom Tykwer. And this is precisely what he wants to promote. “We leave it to the filmmakers on the spot to make all the decisions on style and approach.” He doesn’t want to tell them how filmmaking is supposed to work. Hawa Essuman praises this approach: “That’s exactly what we need for our film industry.” At the moment she is directing a new project. “Of course the experiences will influence my approach to the next film, so I’m looking forward to seeing the results. Then we’ll discover what I’ve learnt.”
The experience with Soul Boy was so encouraging it was felt the project should continue. However, a solid financial footing was required. “Soul Boy definitely showed that the experiment worked,” explains Sarika Lakhani of One Fine Day Films. “It was important, because it enabled us to gain on-the-spot experience of the work.” For instance, the team discovered that the sound track in Kenya is usually produced in mono format, but that stereo quality is required for processing in Germany. It wasn’t long before support for the next two projects was gained from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as the main sponsor. In addition to supporting the actual production of films, there will now be a new focus on the training of filmmakers. With this in mind, One Fine Day Films has joined hands with the Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW-Akademie) and the Kenyan production company Ginger Ink to found a mini film academy: FilmAfrica! Together they worked out a training strategy. “The idea appealed to us. After all, we’re involved in development cooperation, too. Our aims are very similar,” says Michael Tecklenburg from the DW-Akademie in Bonn. “We like Tykwer’s approach – it isn’t Eurocentric.”
Then the idea took off. In September 2010 mentors from Europe trained 50 African filmmakers in two-week workshops ranging from directing to cinematography and editing. A team will be put together from these participants, and it will later be producing the 90-minute feature film. Interest was very lively with responses from more than 200 applicants. The screenplay workshop has already taken place. It was held at the end of last year. At the moment a team of three in Nairobi is fine-tuning the film script for the new movie. Each Monday the writers confer via Skype with the Soul Boy author Billy Kahora, Tom Tykwer and the production company to discuss the further development of the plot. Sarika Lakhani reveals that the story will focus on the contrasts between town and country and the associated conflicts. The story in a nutshell is: a young man leaves his village for the city, where he hopes to seek his fortune.
The film is due to be shot in Kenya in November. This time 20 days of shooting have been scheduled. After that comes the joint post-production process, which in the case of Soul Boy lasted for a whole year. “We have to remember it’s a training project, so the filmmakers shouldn’t be put under too much time pressure,” says Sarika Lakhani. One thing is certain: the new FilmAfrica! project will definitely attract attention again. But we’ll just have to wait in suspense until it actually arrives on big screen.////
