Africa in Pictures
A sneak peak behind the scenes of Nollywood.
Commentary
Discussing cellphone filmmaking in Africa
Tutorial
Character development with Oladipo Agboluaje
With Emeka Mba
Director of NFVCB speaks on regulation.
Egyptian Animation
Mohamed Ghazala speaks on African animation.
The Figurine unveiled
Kunle Afolyan looks deeper into the film.
Spotlight Uganda
Kamya on her award wining film, Imani.
> Scene from Umeh's movie, Jozi Kings.
> Leading actor & co-producer, Anele Beke.
> Justice Umeh on set with leading actor.
Like a mustard seed; a new film – Jozi Kings – truly is an accomplished example of using a little to produce a refreshing piece of artwork.
Inspired by some hard-hitting issues faced everyday in South Africa; the Nigerian filmmaker, Justice Umeh, brings to the screen, a story worth watching.
African Screens’ Chinaka Iwunze speaks to Justice about his film, the process of making Jozi Kings and a newer, more economical technology, which he swears by.
Watch Jozi Kings trailer here
What inspired the film – Jozi Kings? How did the story come about?
All the characters in Jozi Kings are people I’ve come across from Johannesburg to Cape town, and [likewise] events that has happened on the street of Johannesburg.
I wanted to write about the everyday life on the street that people face, mostly foreigners but as well as indigenes. And it took me about three months to write the script.
What issues are you attempting to expose and tackle in the film? What is the underlying message of this film?
The film deals mainly on the issue of drug smuggling, but it also touches on other issues, like rape and fraud. But, for me, it is mainly about how one stays sane when everything around them is going insane.
As the filmmaker, where does your sympathies lie and how has this influenced your approach in the making of the film – Jozi Kings?
To me, filmmaking is not really about sympathy but to be able to leave the audience with the question of “what or who they think is right or wrong?”
How did you go about funding your film?
Funding a film is always the hard part.
I approached Anele Beke (the lead actor) for the leading role, and after going through the script, he and his partner Jamie Ramsey proposed for us to do a co-production.
So the funds came from our pockets and we ended up going way over budget than we planned.
Jozi Kings was shot on a 5D Mark ii camera; can you tell us a little about this camera? And how you shot your film using it? In terms of cost and aesthetics, how do you see other African filmmakers benefiting from such a technology?
The 5 D is a brilliant camera, it is able to capture good quality pictures and you can play around with the lenses. It is actually cheap compared to other cameras of the same quality.
I’ll definitely encourage other African filmmakers who are looking to get brilliant quality but for less money to try it out, they will really love it.
How did you go about getting your film crew? Are all the actors based in South Africa?
Seeing that we didn’t really have much of a budget initially, we had to call around for a few favours from the cast and crew. With casting we used a lot of unknown actors who are all based in Johannesburg. It was a small but very tight crew.
Can you discuss the style of filmmaking, which was used for Jozi Kings and why this was the preferred style?
We wanted to show the real Johannesburg; to reveal the beauty of the city as well as the gritty and ugly side of it. [In the film] We see the beauty of the city a lot in the background, which is a contrast to the houses these guys [the characters] live in.
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> Screen shot of Justice Umeh's hard-hitting film, Jozi Kings.
Interview by Chinaka Iwunze | Photos courtesy of Justice Umeh
'Jozi Kings rules!' - Filmmaker - Justice Umeh speaks on his new film
