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The Tunnel by Jenna Bass
Filmmaker, Jenna Bass
The Tunnel by Jenna Bass
The Tunnel is a visually stunning film set in 1980, just after Zimbabwe’s independence. It highlights, in a fictional story, the massacre at Matabeleland - which occurred at the hands of Robert Mugabe’s 5th Brigade.
The South Africa based director, Jenna Bass, stands out as a filmmaker for her conception and approach to this dark story. And while this is not an art film in the traditional sense; it’s very much the work of a person with the mind of an artist.
Told through the rich imagination of a young girl seeking sense of her father’s sudden disappearance, Jenna creates a beautiful intense visual experience mimicking the rich senses of a child.
African screens Don Omope speaks to Jenna Bass about her latest film and the need to develop an African film aesthetic.
I found ‘The Tunnel’ a most intriguing film, with a different narrative structure and strong visual. Can you talk us through how you went about executing your vision for this film?
I read somewhere recently that a director’s choices are seldom really ‘choices’, they’re just the way it makes sense to the director and this was partly true in my case. Much of the choices I made were the only way I could imagine them being done – for example, the young girl’s point of view – which, of course with hindsight, I can explain psychologically.
There were certain things I set out to do. I tried to create something very visually intense – almost hyper-real, like a child discovering her senses for the first time, and being very aware of everything around her. Taking this further, everything was to be on a human level – no extreme shots achieved by fancy equipment and not by human eyes, no high angles above the height of a girl - even the camera was supposed to ‘breathe’.
Everything was focused on the flow and the rhythm – the camera and editing were to evoke the telling of a good story, a smooth flow from past to present, from fantasy to reality.
What would you say is your approach and perhaps philosophy as a visual storyteller?
Firstly, I would look at the material, and ask myself honestly whether this is something that only I can do, or do in a way no one else could. If I can’t answer ‘yes’ to that question, then everything else is irrelevant.
Once that question is answered, I see my job, like anyone involved in the arts, to perhaps show people something they have never seen before, and this informs all the visual decisions I would make.
Of course, it doesn’t exclude being inspired and influenced, but I think if you’re doing something without really thinking it through from your own perspective, then I don’t see the point. Therefore, for me, the material dictates the style, so there are no rules.
Your film, in a very subtle but profound way, questioned our relationships with human right violations and highlights a singular experience that is not dissimilar to what happens around the world. Do you consider yourself an activist in your own little way?
It’s long been some kind of dream of mine to be active on a social political level. But I realized that the best way for me to do this is through film, I feel that if I am ever going to make any impact, that’s where it’ll be. Everyone has his or her own way of communicating, and mine is through the screen, I hope.
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Little Elizabeth on her journey to solve the mystery of her father's disapperance.
Interview by Don Omope | Photos courtesy of Jenna Bass
The Massacre of Matabeleland: Filmmaker, Jenna Bass speaks
