Some Fine Podcast - Episode 1

00:00:03: Hi, I'm Zarika Himila-Khanin, a producer and managing partner at Some Fine Day Picks.

00:00:10: I'm both German and Kenyan, and I'm excited to welcome you to this special podcast series.

00:00:17: At Some Fine Day Picks, we help emerging filmmakers across Africa and especially Kenya to tell their unique stories through film.

00:00:26: We're proud to work with incredible creatives from across the continent.

00:00:31: And in this podcast, we invite them to share their personal journey.

00:00:36: A special thank you goes to the support of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the GIZ.

00:00:52: In this episode, we talk about the powerful story of Act of Love.

00:00:57: The film follows Juliana, a mother who's struggling to hold her life together after losing her job.

00:01:03: She's faced with eviction and the challenge of caring for her two-month-old baby.

00:01:08: Juliana races against time to make it to a critical job interview at a high-level accounting firm.

00:01:14: But a series of obstacles push her to the brink, forcing her to confront the limits of her love and resilience.

00:01:23: I'm joined by director

00:01:24: Eric

00:01:24: Mwangi, producer Charlene Wangari and writer Shelley Getonga to talk about filmmaking, motherhood, and the everyday battles women face in pursuit of dignity and hope.

00:01:37: Let's

00:01:37: dive in.

00:01:42: Hello, Charlene Shelley and Eric.

00:01:47: Hey.

00:01:48: Hey.

00:01:49: A long time ago, we started this journey together on a masterclass series, which led to an act of love.

00:02:01: And the journey started with an idea shelly applied with

00:02:04: right

00:02:05: shelly.

00:02:06: can you tell us a little bit about.

00:02:09: I must say that because I think all of us behind in front next to the scenes a huge fan of yours because we all would say that your courage in telling such a personal story deeply impressed us and we are so grateful.

00:02:30: to have witnessed that.

00:02:32: so today and especially on this podcast i want to give a bit of room to you for sharing how that experience was for you.

00:02:43: Man

00:02:43: just as you just describing that i was kind of tearing up cause it's crazy.

00:02:50: it's crazy.

00:02:51: what time does it's crazy?

00:02:53: how looking back i just got in my second born.

00:02:58: And I saw this application.

00:02:59: So I am a fan of one fine day, some fine day.

00:03:02: So I've been applying really before being a mom and all.

00:03:06: I've been applying to get into the program, but each time I'll be rejected.

00:03:10: I have two kids, two lovely kids who are four and five and three years old right now.

00:03:15: So when the application came, I was like, yeah, sure, you know, like, let's do this.

00:03:20: because I really had this hunger to go back into the creative space.

00:03:25: But in my mind, I was thinking, if I get rejected, then what?

00:03:28: Because I was at the lowest of, I was just slowly getting out of the woodworks with depression, postpartum depression.

00:03:35: I was in a very dark space.

00:03:37: And I was like, um, so let me tell you about my story, my process with motherhood, because there was this hunger I was getting, how it is, I've never come across someone who went through what I went through.

00:03:47: So I wrote it with a phone.

00:03:50: With my phone, I typed it out.

00:03:52: I had no idea what a treatment is.

00:03:54: I had no idea how to really formulate.

00:03:57: Then the

00:03:57: email

00:03:58: came at night at seven o'clock.

00:04:00: I don't remember which day it was that night before supper.

00:04:03: Oh man, I screamed with jumping excitement.

00:04:07: Oh, I've never been that happy for the longest time in that very dark period I was in.

00:04:12: So that's my rap story.

00:04:14: Yeah.

00:04:14: Wow.

00:04:15: Wow.

00:04:16: I didn't know that.

00:04:18: Eric, you joined the story as a man directing a very personal female story.

00:04:27: The writers had to pitch to the directors and the producers.

00:04:32: When Shelley came in, we had the conversation and I read it and what I could see was a really frustrated young mom who's trying to get by this one day.

00:04:46: which maybe you can say it's a day from hell.

00:04:50: This day that has been curated by hell for this woman.

00:04:54: And so the picture there is frustration.

00:05:00: And so I asked myself, have I ever been frustrated or had such a day in my life?

00:05:05: And the answer is yes, then.

00:05:07: There might be a potential to relate to this character.

00:05:13: But I still wasn't settled in my heart.

00:05:15: I think when Shelly and I spoke is when now it was fully, fully settled in my heart.

00:05:20: There are some things she said that really brought it home.

00:05:23: And one of the sort of indictments she had against baby showers and such events is that they are too pink and they are too blue and too beautiful.

00:05:34: And then she said, I just don't think that's my story.

00:05:37: And when she said that, the expression you could feel like this is someone who's tired in her spirit, her heart is tired or it's frustrated.

00:05:50: And I think that's what made me really interested in this whole affair.

00:05:56: So coming in as a man, the place where I could draw the bridge with regards to relating to Shelley, relating to the character without myself being a father or having an experience like this with a child.

00:06:13: You have to find another way to relate to them.

00:06:15: And that was brought in by the human feeling of frustration and anger.

00:06:21: And Shadeen, how did you relate to the story?

00:06:24: Hey, I talked to Shelly now.

00:06:25: That was reality.

00:06:27: Shelly was like, you know what?

00:06:28: We see Instagram.

00:06:30: I mean... We never see women sad.

00:06:33: We just see women smiling about their kids.

00:06:35: That's a lie.

00:06:40: After I listened to this, I was like, you know what?

00:06:43: Committed.

00:06:44: Let's go.

00:06:45: Let's roll with this by the way.

00:06:47: Let's make this happen.

00:06:48: Yeah, we were like, if we're doing this, we're doing this.

00:06:50: There's nobody here, fifty-fifty.

00:06:52: Are we all together?

00:06:54: And we put a timetable for rehearsals for the pitch and everything and working the scripts.

00:06:59: I think me and you, Shelley, it was like a daily for the script.

00:07:03: And then...

00:07:03: It was a daily thing.

00:07:05: Yeah, it was a daily.

00:07:06: And then making each other...

00:07:07: I remember you, Shelley, in the conversation.

00:07:12: The conversation between Shelley and I, because as the script was, the baby dies.

00:07:19: And we had a long Google Meets call.

00:07:22: It was like an hour long, just debating on the ending.

00:07:26: Shelly, let me ask you a question.

00:07:28: Is your first born dead today?

00:07:32: If the answer is no, yeah, we have to redeem the ending.

00:07:37: Even my mentor shouted to Howard and Heinz, because Heinz was like, do we have to kill the baby?

00:07:43: At the time during writing, during our workshop, I was like, yes, because I need to see mothers in like being shown these that even when we hear news of a mother killing their children, that's humanizing the aspect of it, what just put with throwing a stone at it.

00:08:00: But Charlene,

00:08:01: Eric,

00:08:01: Heinz, everyone pretty much goes this other voice of, don't kill the baby, let's give hope.

00:08:07: And I was like, OK, fine, let's give hope.

00:08:09: And it worked out.

00:08:10: So, yeah.

00:08:12: Does this also reflect, Shelley, on your journey?

00:08:15: Like, did working on Act of Love give you hope again?

00:08:21: Every time, true story, every time I watch the film, I still care, because I'm like, oh man, I am seeing my story there, and I know so many months of which it's a true test, and only so many months relate to that.

00:08:33: And that's the hope, that's the hope that Act of Love gave back to me.

00:08:38: How is it for all of you to screen the film now locally in Kenya?

00:08:44: It's been character development.

00:08:48: I thought screening a movie is so easy.

00:08:51: Just wake up and show people.

00:08:53: Personally, I was targeting entertainment.

00:08:55: Because if someone is not entertained, they're not going to watch a movie.

00:08:58: They're not going to understand the story.

00:09:00: They're going to be very bored on their phone and doing other things.

00:09:03: But then now, when you go to watch with other people, you find it's something a bit more different than entertainment.

00:09:11: People are actually relating.

00:09:14: I will not lie that people were saying they are being triggered by it.

00:09:17: So actually we've had to partner with a mental organization called Mental Three Sixty now for our screenings.

00:09:25: So when you are screening, they be there so that in case someone is feeling funny, please go talk to someone, you know, we don't want to cause problems in your head.

00:09:35: So it's been, it's been eye-opening in a crazy way.

00:09:40: I would agree with Charlene on that because At the onset, we did not intend to make a film for impact.

00:09:48: That was not the goal at all.

00:09:50: I think the goal was to deliver a film that is entertaining to meet some fine day objectives as well.

00:09:57: We had that objective.

00:09:58: I wasn't even aware of that.

00:10:02: And so you have this opportunity to create something beautiful that has been funded to its final cuts.

00:10:08: And so that's where we were.

00:10:12: as we were making this film.

00:10:14: Now that conversation, because I didn't know what Postpartum was, I didn't even know how it manifests, all I was doing was trying to make Shelley's story come out.

00:10:22: And as a creator to have something entertaining to offer, something dramatic, something bold, something very well-paced, something emotional.

00:10:33: But then it was at that moment when Docubock saw it and they were like, Have you guys thought about impact?

00:10:39: Like what do you mean?

00:10:40: Postpartum and maternal health?

00:10:43: and then maternal well maternal mental wellness?

00:10:45: and and that kind of those conversations started at that point.

00:10:48: so that right now that's what we're talking about in in terms of showing it to the public.

00:10:53: and the public's response is like my goodness you guys there are no words to express what we feel as women as moms.

00:11:04: There is no words to tell our husbands what kind of help we want.

00:11:11: And then you get response from men who have children and they tell you, okay, okay, now I get what my wife keeps talking about because it's not as simple as I understand.

00:11:22: A response such as I understand is not, it's too simplistic.

00:11:27: It's reductive, I would say.

00:11:30: And when you watch the film, without using many words.

00:11:33: And the film does not mention anywhere postpartum.

00:11:36: It does not mention maternal health.

00:11:37: It does not mention mental wellness.

00:11:39: It just shows.

00:11:41: And so the honesty of that even brought my own mother.

00:11:48: I found her speaking to Mui Kali Mutinda, who plays Juliana in the film, the main character.

00:11:53: And I found them talking at the foyer of the cinema when we were coming out.

00:11:58: And it's my mom who approached Mui Kali to tell her, thank you.

00:12:03: for showcasing my own story since nineteen eighty-eight.

00:12:09: and she started going on.

00:12:10: and as I was finding them talking my brother came and my wife was there and Then she re-narrated the whole story and she said I was just explaining to Mwekali how when I was pregnant with your big brother here back in back in nineteen eighty-seven eighty-eight.

00:12:30: This was my experience.

00:12:32: There was no one to help me just take care of the child for one day so that I can rush to the market and buy some materials for the clothes.

00:12:41: I'm tailoring, she's to be a tailor.

00:12:44: And there was no one to just hold the baby for me for a day.

00:12:47: The baby keeps crying and I don't have a language to make him keep quiet.

00:12:51: And so there's one time I just threw the baby on the bed and literally shoved the baby away like a bucket.

00:13:00: to the bed because of anger.

00:13:02: And my big sister told me that you don't do that to a child.

00:13:06: Why would you do something like that?

00:13:07: And all of that, that she would get into Amatatu to go to a bus to go to town with a child.

00:13:16: And everyone thinks the de facto solution to getting a baby to keep quiet is to breastfeed the child.

00:13:25: But here and you know, like literally that's what she said.

00:13:29: That's a very vulgar way of saying breastfeed your child and we need peace, you know.

00:13:38: And everyone was quiet as my mom was talking.

00:13:41: And to that moment during the premiere, we started this thing in twenty twenty one by chosen twentieth October, twenty twenty three, that I realized they made a film that was hitting home in a very personal way.

00:13:56: And I had never had that story before.

00:13:57: So.

00:13:59: It was very, it's that personal.

00:14:02: And a lot of women are coming out on DMs telling me, it's like everyone is seeing themselves in the film.

00:14:10: Personally, I see myself in El Saffan's role as Mark, who is very ready to help you with your little child, but at the slightest inconvenience, you know, return, take back your baby, take back your baby, take back your baby.

00:14:28: You know, she's, they are crying, they're crying, it's discomputing.

00:14:31: And so everyone is seeing themselves in their, in different characters.

00:14:37: There's a lady who wrote to me and she said, I, for the first time in my life, I feel vindicated because I was denied work under similar circumstances as Triliana.

00:14:50: And this was very painful for me.

00:14:52: I thought maybe it's something wrong with me, but after seeing this film, Now I realize where the road is.

00:14:59: Another one would say, I keep telling my mother that my child is giving me a lot of problems.

00:15:06: And my mom was very dismissive saying, now your life has ended and the life of your child has begun.

00:15:13: Now you don't think about yourself and now start thinking about your child.

00:15:17: And this is happening in very many places in the African setting.

00:15:21: This is usually the response that you get, especially in African homes.

00:15:26: and many more responses, many more responses.

00:15:29: Just the other day, my pastor's wife watched the film and she was like, you need to see me on Saturday so we can talk about this film because I have three children now and the one that I have right now is so calm, but they have a different story from the other children and my husband doesn't understand.

00:15:52: And you know, every... Story for every child if you have like four children, she says like every story is different for each and I didn't know this.

00:16:01: And this is her feedback to me and so with conversations from person to person you find that new layers are being revealed.

00:16:11: And I think that's what I really appreciate about this film.

00:16:13: It's a timeless film.

00:16:14: Yeah,

00:16:15: and I think that's what you so beautifully achieved is that it's not a teaching film.

00:16:21: And I think this is due to the authenticity.

00:16:24: It's a personal experience by Shelley and everyone acknowledges that she is sharing her story.

00:16:30: And by sharing in a very honest and an extremely brave way, I guess scriptwriting consultancies can be very torturing.

00:16:41: And at times also, maybe someone feels slaughtered afterwards.

00:16:48: And you went through that process.

00:16:50: And I think that is what people, it looks like really connected because they're not being taught, they're not being told how to feel.

00:16:58: The audience is meeting another person and has the opportunity to make their own connection to the film.

00:17:07: So congratulations to all three of you of having taken that responsibility upon you.

00:17:14: Thank you so much.

00:17:15: Because as you now describe your experience, I wonder what it does to you because every time now you screen your film, It's the first time you screen the film for someone else and you're hearing their reactions.

00:17:31: You're exposed to their reactions.

00:17:34: What do you do to keep your mental health?

00:17:37: For me, it's making me relive it with a homo.

00:17:40: I don't understand, I don't know what I was, why I was feeling the way I was feeling.

00:17:44: Cause that's like looking back, I'm like, why was it really back down?

00:17:46: You know, like, like.

00:17:48: right now, even when I look at my kids, they're all grown and I'm like, you know, what was that?

00:17:53: What was that about?

00:17:54: But if someone comes up to me or whenever someone comes up to me and says that this is what they really do relate to this story, I feel like to tell them it gets better.

00:18:05: It really does get better.

00:18:06: It really does.

00:18:08: Everything actually does work out.

00:18:09: Everything will be better.

00:18:11: Everything will be OK.

00:18:12: There is that hope.

00:18:13: The hope which both Eric and Charlene were trying to make me believe in is there.

00:18:18: There is that hope that everything is that light.

00:18:20: Even at the end of the story, we can feel that light of hope for Juliana.

00:18:24: For me, my mental state is more.

00:18:26: Everything will be OK.

00:18:29: That's my mental state that everything will be OK, really.

00:18:32: It is never that serious.

00:18:33: It is serious.

00:18:34: Don't get me wrong.

00:18:35: It is serious.

00:18:36: But also everything will be OK.

00:18:39: Yeah.

00:18:39: Yeah.

00:18:40: So

00:18:42: we are living in a time of a plethora of crisis, so many crises all around the world.

00:18:50: For you, what is an act of love today?

00:18:54: oh man it's that aspect of you know.

00:18:58: you see what went on in Israel and the end and what went on there with with the massacre and the genocide that's going there.

00:19:05: a simple act of love is reaching and just sharing the news and people act of love is looking out for if there's any donation link you can send something.

00:19:14: a simple act of love is calling your mom today and asking are you okay?

00:19:19: a simple act of love is reaching out to a friend or reaching out to a stranger and helping them like, you know, with something as small as, for example, for a stranger is crossing the road, you know, if it's an old woman and stuff.

00:19:32: So it's that sense of humanity that I feel, I was hoping that COVID will reset people back to that factory setting of, and it's ironical that that's where the film or the concept of act of life came from.

00:19:46: It came from that time of the COVID time.

00:19:49: it was there.

00:19:50: Period where every human or every person had that moment of reflection of where they are at in life.

00:19:56: So it's that aspect of that sense of humanity in each and every day that is in my truth It's what is described as an act of love the sense of humanity everyone.

00:20:07: to add on to Shelly this film I feel like it was a pure act of love.

00:20:13: three strangers came together from different backgrounds and harmoniously.

00:20:21: We've been together.

00:20:22: How long now?

00:20:23: How long is this relationship?

00:20:26: About three

00:20:28: years

00:20:28: now.

00:20:28: We are going steady.

00:20:30: I feel like this movie has taught me actually the act of love because I feel like we have had to learn patience.

00:20:41: We have had to learn kindness because we all know what kindness is.

00:20:46: But kindness, until you're with people, it's like the way you, let's say you're married and you're living in someone, you're told that's when you get to know someone, not when your distance is across.

00:20:57: I feel like we've been together, very intimate.

00:21:01: I feel like now we know each other's lives and we know each other's flaws, we know each other's strengths.

00:21:08: We know when to back off from each other.

00:21:10: We know when to come closer.

00:21:13: We know when to support.

00:21:17: We know when to correct.

00:21:19: We've learned too much about each other.

00:21:21: The truth is, at some point, we were just shooting.

00:21:24: We finished.

00:21:25: We go our separate ways.

00:21:26: But now it looks like this is going to be a lifelong relationship.

00:21:35: It was not meant to go out for this long.

00:21:39: Like, guys, it was just supposed to be a touch and go of where we're still

00:21:43: in relationship.

00:21:43: Exactly.

00:21:44: Now, we actually have a very common goal.

00:21:47: And I think that could not have happened without a certain love.

00:21:52: So I'd say the film project is actually an act of love on its own.

00:21:55: Yeah.

00:21:56: For sure.

00:21:57: I think there's a type of like a brotherly love, familial love that is present.

00:22:03: I would say that an act of love for me has been interpreted as empathy.

00:22:08: Number one, I remember this moment when this script was read among the directors in the training.

00:22:15: And the thing that really touched my heart was that one of the responses from the other directors was that they said this, if I am ever in a tattoo, now I think I will help out with the baby.

00:22:29: If I am ever next to a mother with a crying child or a fussy child, even if they will not allow me to.

00:22:37: I'll offer health in some way.

00:22:40: So at script level, it brought up that empathy.

00:22:45: And as I'm thinking about this, you see when a mom is like in a public means, they have a bag full of the baby's stuff, and then they have the child themselves.

00:22:54: So as they are sitting down, you can offer to offset one or the other.

00:23:00: And that enough may even make them just rest just a bit.

00:23:05: as they settle in, and even when they are leaving or even during the ride between point A and point B. And I think act of love.

00:23:13: for me, the one thing that I really interpreted it as here is just empathy.

00:23:20: Try and understand.

00:23:22: Try and listen, even though you cannot understand, just hear, hear, hear.

00:23:26: Because there's a lot to be said.

00:23:28: What would you say contributed to the fact that you were able to share the trust, the confidence, the love amongst you in the process of making the film.

00:23:40: Let me tell you something.

00:23:41: If this film would not have been possible, if Shelley hadn't helped me on day one or day two of production towards the end.

00:23:52: Because day one did a number on us so much that I went home and just sobbed.

00:23:57: I was just sobbing because I really felt like a failure.

00:24:00: It was the first time.

00:24:03: We did the auditions and we had a really good character in Michali

00:24:09: who

00:24:09: brought out Juliana very well.

00:24:12: But then the script demands a fussy child, so to say.

00:24:19: There is no way to fake it because every page of the script, the child is there.

00:24:25: And if the child is not there in the frame, you can sense the presence of the child somehow in that.

00:24:32: in that location.

00:24:34: And so on day one, as you were filming, we started off.

00:24:37: the momentum was great until the child started crying on set.

00:24:44: It was places I felt like probably the child shouldn't cry.

00:24:47: It started affecting me negatively, creatively on set because I thought the proper thing is for the child to be quiet as we're shooting.

00:24:58: But in this month, child be crying.

00:25:02: And so we have a call sheet, but the baby has their own call sheets that I didn't know about.

00:25:06: The

00:25:09: baby needs to eat, the baby needs to be changed, the baby needs to... And so of course we have that.

00:25:14: And so for that first day, I was not in touch with those things.

00:25:21: And so I went home very discouraged because the weather was against us that day.

00:25:27: I felt like the child was against.

00:25:30: as on that day, but I think it was just ignorance on my part and a lack of understanding.

00:25:34: And so Shelley had a conversation with me and she came to me and she told me, I see your frustration.

00:25:41: And if you continue like this, you will not end up with a film.

00:25:46: So let me give you some advice.

00:25:48: And what she told me was so contradictory, but it was the right thing.

00:25:55: And she said this, she said, you're too much compassion.

00:26:00: will cause you not to bring up the story.

00:26:03: If the child is crying, allow Mikali to walk through the cries, because that's what I do in my house.

00:26:10: I have so much to do in my house.

00:26:11: I have dishes to clean.

00:26:12: I have the house to get to clean.

00:26:14: I have the babies to clean.

00:26:15: I have food to cook.

00:26:16: I have the market to go to.

00:26:18: I have extra shopping to do, so many things to do.

00:26:22: And the child is crying.

00:26:22: So what do I do, Eric?

00:26:24: How do I get the dishes done with a child whom I have tried, call me?

00:26:29: They will not keep quiet.

00:26:30: I have tried everything in the playbook.

00:26:33: I have googled how to, you know, and there is no single thing.

00:26:40: So Eric, what do I do?

00:26:42: And I was, I was, I called in Tansa because I have no reference points.

00:26:47: And Shelly told me, I let the child cry and I do my test.

00:26:52: It is not that I'm ignoring the child or I'm unsympathetic to them crying.

00:26:57: it's that the objectives also need to be met.

00:27:00: Because if I allow the objectives to not be met in trying to make the child keep quiet, then I create another crisis for myself that exists internally in my mind, and that's a mental health problem as well.

00:27:13: And so, you know, you just have to work through the crisis.

00:27:17: Is it very common that a script writer basically sees a director struggling and uninvitedly comes up to the person and gives them feedback.

00:27:28: I haven't seen that before.

00:27:30: I haven't seen that before.

00:27:31: No, no.

00:27:32: And it's interesting.

00:27:33: you ask that because I remember an experience where I was doing a film and I was the writer in it and I approached the director.

00:27:40: And the thing which I give much due respect to Eric is the fact that he still fought for the visual.

00:27:45: It's very... Very, very rare, you find a director writer, Breaux, whereby the director really believes in a story and does not change as much or hardly changes anything as per the script.

00:27:59: What would one need in order to create this collaborative spirit on other films, on other productions?

00:28:08: On one hand, I think you really need to understand that.

00:28:11: And I think this thing needs to be spoken to directors all over the world.

00:28:16: If at all you come to a place where you're placing yourself on top of a story to control it, there's a problem.

00:28:24: But at least somebody taught us that I had every opportunity to try this on Act of Love and it worked every single time.

00:28:30: Is that if you allow the story to be on top of you and guide you to where it wants to go, then you have a chance at creating something authentic.

00:28:41: And that's where we lose it.

00:28:43: So many directors even here in my country.

00:28:46: is that we are trying to be directors.

00:28:48: We are trying to control and direct us to this.

00:28:53: No, no, no, you already did your job as a writer.

00:28:55: But part of honoring the writer's work, because it's a masterpiece, there is a category for it in the Oscars.

00:29:01: Like this is something that, this is a craft that is honored.

00:29:05: You asked about how do you have people come together to execute one vision and execute it well?

00:29:15: In all honesty, I feel communication, honest communication played a key role in this particular film.

00:29:23: And I'm so happy that we were honest in the beginning because now things are easier for us.

00:29:29: We know each other too well.

00:29:32: We know, like I said, we just know each other a bit too well.

00:29:35: So that honesty works.

00:29:38: And also our industry, as much as it's growing now, Honesty is not really respected on set.

00:29:47: Nobody knows all the information.

00:29:49: Let's say the producer maybe might hold the cards, but the other people don't have information.

00:29:54: So what we did with this particular project, we made it such that the crew, as much as there's hierarchy and whatnot, feel free, say something.

00:30:05: Okay, like day one after day one we went day two to shoot and we noticed our DOP was struggling and he was actually getting angry and he had a back problem, a gym.

00:30:16: So he was popping pills for the back.

00:30:19: So we were like, okay, we have to solve this today.

00:30:21: Even if you're just shooting five days, if you don't solve this today by day five, we might not have a DOP.

00:30:27: He might go home.

00:30:28: So what we did?

00:30:29: immediately after they shoot day two, everybody sat down and you are like, guys, Is there a problem?

00:30:34: Because the set is dragging.

00:30:36: Is there a problem?

00:30:37: Like, is there anything we can do for you to make this better?

00:30:42: And that's when the DP said, actually, my focus pool is struggling.

00:30:46: He cannot be the first AC.

00:30:48: We need a first AC.

00:30:49: So first AC is hard.

00:30:51: So I feel like that kind of open communication is really, really crucial to make.

00:30:57: I remember we discussed that over and over again.

00:30:59: We are treating our people well.

00:31:00: Even if someone is taking home two thousand shillings, we are treating them well.

00:31:04: They are equals on this set and that's that.

00:31:07: And it really worked for us when it came to things like the premiere and these other screenings, because now they share.

00:31:15: They don't remember that.

00:31:16: maybe they got very small amounts of money, but they are very supportive of the project and all that.

00:31:22: So I'd say Open communication creates really good harmony on set.

00:31:28: And if the vibes are good, I do believe in vibes.

00:31:31: If the vibes are good, the product will be good.

00:31:34: But if the vibes are wrong, it does not matter.

00:31:36: if we have a hundred million at our disposal, that product is going to fail.

00:31:41: It's going to be a bad product.

00:31:43: Yeah.

00:31:43: So you described earlier, Charlene, that that's not common in the Kenyan industry.

00:31:48: Not really.

00:31:49: No.

00:31:51: And as you are pointing out the importance of community in filmmaking, of networks in filmmaking, is there a way you see your network, your world of filmmaking different from before making act of love and after act of love?

00:32:09: Certainly.

00:32:09: I think one of the things I really got from Ali Samadi was artistic identity.

00:32:18: And in our conversations, you find that we're so eager to film things, but we don't know where we are.

00:32:27: We don't know our own context.

00:32:28: We have not taken time to do the homework internally to know that this is the kind of artist that I am.

00:32:34: This is the kind of stories I'd like to pursue.

00:32:36: And this is my voice.

00:32:38: If we had more people go in that direction, I think the technical screenwriting classes would go very easy.

00:32:46: because you'd find more Shelly's coming up to tell more authentic stories that relate to them, that relate to their context, even heritage-wise, culturally and all that.

00:32:57: Shaleen, what are your hopes for seeing what Act of Love has done to, for and with Canyon audience?

00:33:07: Shaleen, what is it that you want for Canyon audiences in future?

00:33:12: As you know, traditionally, the Kenyan people watch a lot of Hollywood, right?

00:33:17: Because of, I think, quality, maybe.

00:33:20: We had not matched the quality or something, despite some of our stories being so, so deep and so great.

00:33:26: So, in all honesty, I would love two things.

00:33:31: I would love us to, as Kenyan filmmakers, to up our game, to actually a level that people can watch a Kenyan movie and say they're not, and not use the word supporting, you know?

00:33:47: There's this,

00:33:47: I'm supporting Kenyan talent.

00:33:51: I feel like that just means you mean mine is so bad, it must be supported.

00:33:56: So...

00:33:58: Oh man, it's so painful.

00:34:02: I will not

00:34:03: use that word anymore.

00:34:04: Not

00:34:06: supporting Kenyan filmmaking anymore.

00:34:08: Oh, I'm sorry.

00:34:11: It means usually I'm watching Avengers, but I will support your movie, Shaleen, no problem.

00:34:19: Meaning they don't even want to watch it.

00:34:21: They're supporting it.

00:34:22: It's charity.

00:34:23: So I want a day to come when I know that the industry is... What?

00:34:29: Is it two hundred years old?

00:34:31: Independence is fifty years.

00:34:32: So the industry is fifty something.

00:34:35: Is it sixty already?

00:34:36: I don't know.

00:34:36: Bottom line, they are way ahead.

00:34:38: I understand that.

00:34:40: And I respect that.

00:34:41: But it's not an excuse to the audience.

00:34:44: The audience doesn't care that America is two hundred years old.

00:34:48: They don't care that Kenya is turning sixty or whatever we are turning.

00:34:52: They just want Avengers.

00:34:54: Can you make Avengers?

00:34:55: No.

00:34:56: Then I'll support your movie on that note, no problem.

00:35:02: So I want a day to come when people are saying I'm watching a Kenyan movie.

00:35:08: And it's an experience, they love it.

00:35:12: That will take some time, I'm sure, because we need to put the structures in place.

00:35:17: If there are no rules on the ground, we are all just playing in the mud.

00:35:20: So, and currently, sadly, we are playing in the mud because there are no rules.

00:35:25: Right now, there are no rules.

00:35:26: It's just the truth.

00:35:28: But I'm hoping that we can accelerate that process of creating the rules.

00:35:33: And honestly, I wanted two things.

00:35:36: Kenyans just watch Kenyan movies and just be happy about it.

00:35:41: And that might take a moment, but it will happen.

00:35:44: Me and Eric on occasion are called to give small master classes here and there.

00:35:49: When we go to these master classes, we usually tell these upcoming good people, colleagues of ours, that if you don't train yourself,

00:35:58: do

00:35:58: not assume.

00:35:58: you know you know people.

00:35:59: everybody assumes I know how to make a film.

00:36:02: oh because you know because phones now have made it so easy and everything and the cameras are really automatic and really good.

00:36:08: so everybody is assuming they know how to make a film.

00:36:11: but I keep saying it would have been such a shame if I'd done a feature film without going through this particular program because the amount of education I got from the mentor was so in excess.

00:36:25: I was like, how did I not know all this?

00:36:27: And I was going to shoot feature

00:36:28: films.

00:36:29: Oh my God, I would have banned so much.

00:36:33: It would have been so bad.

00:36:34: I would have just stopped being a filmmaker.

00:36:36: So I encourage that filmmakers actually get the education.

00:36:41: The education is crucial.

00:36:42: I understand going to pay for a degree and whatnot might be tricky, but I feel like just applying for these master classes and those kind of things and workshops, they're good ones.

00:36:52: There are some that you should just forget about for now.

00:36:55: So we will hopefully also have an international audience for this podcast.

00:37:00: Someone who has never set a foot or an ear to Kenya, to East Africa, to the African continent.

00:37:08: What would you recommend now that we have the worldwide web?

00:37:14: What would you recommend to find, to follow,

00:37:17: to

00:37:18: chase and look up?

00:37:19: What would you say would be a cool thing to know about your region and your continent.

00:37:25: Oh, wow.

00:37:27: Eric, go first.

00:37:30: Wow, there's a lot, Serika.

00:37:32: Oh, my goodness.

00:37:33: There is, I hear, I don't know whether this is true, Serika.

00:37:38: You can confirm because you're on that side.

00:37:41: There is a hunger for African content on that side.

00:37:47: And we have a hunger to create on this side.

00:37:51: Can we do something about it?

00:37:53: Can we create a relationship here so that we can make this?

00:37:56: A lot of our scripts are in hard drives and everything.

00:38:00: So I think maybe they should look out for... I like pointing people to two places.

00:38:06: Number one is, let them go to the One Fine Day catalog and watch stories that have been written by Kenyans, by East Africans, and see, get a taste of... how we think about our own stories, our own people, ourselves, how we see ourselves, how we imagine things.

00:38:25: You know, we just put soul boy and katikati side by side.

00:38:31: There is the darkness of something necessarily and the joy of Supermodu right there.

00:38:36: There is the brilliance of Nairobi Half-Life and, you know, there is the boldness of Lusalla just standing there to be seen.

00:38:43: I think this is somewhere where one can get a sense of you know, the creativity that is coming out of these places.

00:38:51: That is the catalog for Soundfinding Day that is coming up.

00:38:54: I saw the website and it looks really, really nice.

00:38:57: Now, once this film become available in their own way, ours is already available on mymovist.africa.

00:39:04: So they can check that out.

00:39:05: The others are coming up in the year to come.

00:39:07: And so these things will give them an understanding of how we are shaping the narrative from our eyes.

00:39:16: And we are not limited to film, you know, anything gallery, paintings, literature, anything.

00:39:25: OK, first of all, if you want to watch Act of Love currently, it's online on mymoviesafrica.com.

00:39:32: So and I think it's in one ninety countries or so.

00:39:35: So I think it should be available.

00:39:37: So anybody wants to watch, please watch.

00:39:39: It's lovely.

00:39:40: And other Kenyan movies.

00:39:43: So.

00:39:43: This one I've said it before.

00:39:45: Kenyans are some of the funniest people I've ever met.

00:39:48: But now our jokes are in Swahili.

00:39:50: But there are some jokes that are in English.

00:39:56: Honestly, this sounds so small, but I know one day we'll win an award for just being funny.

00:40:02: So I would like the world to check out Kenyan jokes.

00:40:05: They're actually really funny.

00:40:07: It's just that we have not been able to compile jokes like Chris Rock and the likes.

00:40:11: We are funny and we are very happy people generally.

00:40:14: So I'd like the world to check out our jokes.

00:40:17: They're nice.

00:40:20: I really like the Kenyan dictionary on Instagram.

00:40:23: There's an account called Kenyan Dictionary.

00:40:25: It's really, really funny and you can get a sense of how Kenyans think on, you know, at our level.

00:40:33: And you, Shelly, do you have something to recommend?

00:40:35: Oh,

00:40:36: I would recommend... plane ticket to Kenya.

00:40:44: Come get some.

00:40:45: Yeah,

00:40:46: I feel like it's not, I feel like to experience Kenya, you don't experience it online.

00:40:50: You don't just Google it, you know, you come to Kenya and you experience Kenya.

00:40:55: Oh my God, Kenya is so beautiful.

00:40:58: I feel like if this, I know how someone mentions where is your dream destination for me in truth.

00:41:03: And I feel like this was a question I was asked during the writers, the first writers meeting.

00:41:07: In truth, it is Kenya.

00:41:08: And most specifically, the North Eastern region.

00:41:11: Like, I hear the skyline is so beautiful.

00:41:14: The stars are like, I don't know, the sunset and the sunrise.

00:41:18: Like, Kenya is really beautiful.

00:41:19: The people in Kenya, the food, oh my goodness.

00:41:23: The music, you just bought a Matatu.

00:41:25: It's called, it's a public means of transport.

00:41:27: And you experience Kenya by coming to Kenya.

00:41:30: So that's how you get to know Kenya really.

00:41:33: Yeah.

00:41:33: Thank you all for taking us with your stories to Kenya today.

00:41:37: So even if we haven't boarded in a plane, I feel that listening to your stories, to your experience, to your laughter, to your joy, that yeah, we were allowed to travel to you.

00:41:50: So thank you for that.

00:41:52: For your honesty.

00:41:53: Thank you very much.

00:41:55: Thank you for being so brave.

00:41:57: Keep on rocking.

00:41:58: And I'm definitely sure the world will see more of you.

00:42:02: Thank you.

00:42:03: Thank you for joining us for the very first episode of our podcast series.

00:42:14: It was a joy to share the story of the film Act of Love with you.

00:42:19: And we hope you had as much fun as we did.

00:42:23: If you enjoyed our conversation, share this podcast with a friend, follow us, check out our other episodes and leave a rating

00:42:31: on your preferred

00:42:32: platform.

00:42:33: It would be a huge help.

00:42:36: Take care and until next time.

00:42:47: A very big thank you to my fantastic colleagues at Sun Find A PICS and for their continuous support.

00:42:58: Thank you to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the great people at the GIZ.