“I like the concept of 1 mobile – 1 minute – 1 movie.” The first pan-African selection of Mobile Film Festival Africa invites us until March 17 to discover for free films from 51 young directors from 23 African countries driving to the Grand PrixAfrica, equipped with 10,000 euros. Interview with Rwandan director JoëlKarekezi, winner of the prestigious Gold Standard by Yennengaau Fespaco and member of the jury for Mobile Film FestivalAfrica2021.
RFI: After your triumph at Fespaco 2019 at the biggest Pan-African film festival, we expected you more in a jury under Fespaco, Cannes Film Festival or the Venice Mosque than at Mobile Film Festival Africa online. Join as a member of the jury?
JoëlKarekezi:I was not a member of the jury in Venice, Cannes or Fespaco, but at the Carthage Cinematographic Days (JCC) and other festivals. I agreed to be a member of the jury at Mobile Film FestivalAfrica because I really love the concept. The fact that young people shoot movies for a minute with a phone so they can prove their thirst for filmmaking, and the festival will support them and provide awards that help them with the production of their short films.
In everyday life, filming with a mobile phone has become common, there are even very great filmmakers like Jafar Panahi, MichelGondry or Steven Soderbergh who have made films with a smartphone. You yourself, self-taught, you have, among other things, trained with an online film school to become a filmmaker, have you ever made a film with a smartphone??
I haven’t made a movie with a phone yet, but when I started, this digital world allowed me to shoot. My first feature film, I made it with digital cameras and a small budget so I was able to prove I could handle it. Telling is the beginning. Afterwards, it helps to get funding to shoot a film with professional equipment. Because I believe in this mobile film festival. It motivates people to work and tell their stories. It also helps them afterwards. At the festival, all the prizes awarded are awarded to the production.
In 2019, when you received the gold standard in OuagadougouYennenga du Fespaco for your film The Mercy of the Jungle, you said: «The message of the film is simple: our Africa is beautiful. We must continue to evolve and live in peace.»Was the mobile film festivalAfrica part of this road?
I have already seen a few short films and what touches me a lot is that there are films from many African countries and each film has a lot to tell. There are topics that really touch me a lot. I find that we need to give young people the means and opportunities to try to tell these stories, because this is our Africa, and it’s about telling our stories, no matter what it means.
At the festival site, you can discover the films in competition until March 17th. They come from all over Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, DRC, Togo, South Africa … there are both funny movies and very serious stories, and even at the technical level they have ambitions: track shots, close-ups, back dives … Without name a particular movie what struck you most so far?
At the moment I can not comment. What I can say is that these young people over the phone really got involved in this competition and tried to tell stories that touch them. It speaks a lot to me.
This is the first edition of Mobile Film FestivalAfrica. Among the 497 films submitted from 38 African countries, 51 films were selected. They talk about the future, the misery of education for the poor in Africa, the dream of a better life, freedom … According to you, such an initiative, what can it change for cinema in Africa?
Often, festivals are celebration times, but if a festival is also trying to invest in supporting projects, it can change things. It can help young people get involved in cinema and produce a lot. For me, a festival is not only the time to celebrate or present projects that we already have, but also the time to plan new projects for the future.
What is your new project in this era marked by the Covid-19 pandemic?
I am in the process of defining the criteria for my next feature film. It is a true story based on the life of a Senegalese, Captain Mbaye Diagne, who was in Rwanda in the years 1994 as part of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda. He was a soldier. When the genocide began, the UN left the country and there were massacres everywhere. But he, even though he was Senegalese under UN command, decided as an individual to save lives without funds. He rescued more than six hundred people, unarmed, by negotiating with words. And he sacrificed his life. He was murdered in Rwanda. This story I will tell it very soon.
►Mobile Film Festival Africa until March 17. The closing ceremony and the award ceremony –including the Africa Grand Prix equipped with 10000 euros– takes place on March 23, 24 and 25 in Tunis accompanied by a master class and film screenings.
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