(Mbongeni Ngema)
Shooting on Asinamali!,
the film based on the multi-award-winning South African musical hit of the same
name, began on August 8. The 1985 theatre production by famous playwright
Mbongeni Ngema was his first major stage musical, followed by Sarafina! which was released as a film
in 1992.
A local and international success, Asinamali! is a show of immense vitality, sadness and humour,
combining exhilarating dance and acting with awe-inspiring choral music.
Asinamali! is
inspired by events surrounding the 1983 rent boycott in Lamontville township,
Durban. It was led by activist Msizi Dube, and the rallying cry was
‘asinamali’, isiZulu for ‘we have no money’. Asinamali! was revolutionary for its time and became a rallying cry
for the poor and oppressed.
The play had a sold-out run at The Market Theatre before
appearing on Broadway in New York, and throughout the world, winning numerous
awards along the way. Ngema is seeking to preserve the classic play by turning
it into a film that will be available for generations to come.
Produced by Ngema and Dual Films, the film version of this
seminal musical is in the hands of a crew headed up by Oscar nominated director
Darrell James Roodt and an all-star cast. Roodt directed the smash hit film
version of Sarafina!. Ngema himself
is the most seasoned theatrical, writer, director, choreographer and composer
to come out of South Africa. In this latest collaboration, Roodt has taken on
the role of technical director, sharing his directing knowledge and skill, and
working alongside Ngema who is at the helm of a production to which he has dedicated
many years of his life.
The narrative follows a group of prisoners as they think
back on their pasts and the events leading to their arrests. The hardship of
prison life is told through the experiences of the inmates, whose lives are
made even more difficult by sadistic prison warder Sergeant Mgwaqaza. At the
same time, the prison authorities are under pressure to accommodate Comrade
Washington, an exiled MK soldier working for Amnesty International, and
mandated to run drama workshops with the inmates at the notorious Durban
Central Prison. He is thwarted at every turn by Mgwaqaza, who makes it
impossible for him to carry out his duties at the prison. Comrade Washington
has an additional agenda, to see the love of his life. Her name is Soweto and
she languishes in the Female Section of the prison, soon to be transferred to
death row in Pretoria for her MK cross-border activities.
Washington believes in the power of music and theatre to
transform the lives of people: the political activists, the criminals and even
the hardened racists of the apartheid regime. Through sheer determination he
outsmarts the prison authorities, manipulating those around him into allowing
him to create a play which depicts how they came to be in prison. It represents
triumph over adversity, with the theatrical musical explosion becoming their
ticket to freedom from incarceration.
Ngema has already recorded the film's sound track at
Downtown Studios. It comprises 12 hit songs from the show, with notable
contributors including the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and Ladysmith Black
Mambazo, together with singers and dancers from Committed Artists, Mbongeni’s
theatrical company based in Durban.
The shoot is set to last four weeks and post-production will
be completed by the end of the year. The producers hope to release the film and
CD for New Year in South Africa and globally. Asinamali! will be distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film
Distribution.
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