Star wa Bongoland 'Mukama Morandi' Afunga Pingu za Maisha!

Stelingi (Star) wa sinema Bongoland, Mukama 'Jimmy' Morandi, amefunga ndoa mjini Minneapolis, Minnesota, jana na mpenzi wake Priscilla.  Mukama ni mcheza sinema na mwanamuziki pia.

Tunawatakia maisha mema ya ndoa!

Director wa sinema Bongoland, Bongolan II na Tusamehe, Josiah Kibira, (katikati) na Mukama na Priscilla.

Mukama na mke wake nje ya Kanisa, Minneapolis

 

Mnaweza kupata habari za Kibira Films kwa kuBOFYA HAPA:

Mnaweza kuona kanda ya Mukama, You Tube

TURN BACK TIME

What Has Juma Been Up To?

You may remember him from the movie Bongoland as Juma, the movie that put him on the world map. He is a self created artist with a solid inspirational vision for his future.

His real name is Mukama Morandi. He stands at 5’11 and weighs close to 180 pounds on a good day. When you meet Mukama, you automatically think “this guy is somebody”. 

It is difficult to describe, but he has an overwhelming presence that makes you do a double take each time you see him. Maybe it is his height but then again maybe it is his smirk smile. His stature was good enough to win him a leading role in Bongoland.


For the whole story click HERE

Umuhimu wa SInema Tanzania a Freddy Macha

Why are movies so important? - By Freddy Macha

From The CITIZEN PAPER IN TANZANIA

By Freddy Macha

Can anyone tell me the origin of the word dezo?

In standard Swahili it means anything obtained free of charge. Sometimes I like to think of it as dazzle or daze which is to stun and bewilder.

Surely that explains the feeling of happiness after being endeared?

Anyway, I recall sinema dezo, back in the sixties and early seventies. Movies would be shown for free across Tanzanian fields and football pitches.

We watched the Charlie Chaplin, Stanley Laurel and Oliver Hardy series, then known as Chalii Mnene na Mwembamba. They were not only funny they also help build the Swahili vocabulary.

Charlie or Charley became Chalii or Chale, which in Swahili is a funny or humorous person. Movies not only entertain but also create new words thus helping shaping a national language.

By the mid-1970s, sinema dezo was out and in came the cinema halls. Our mothers and sisters flocked to watch afternoon movies (matinee) from India.

Nobody spoke Hindi, but the songs were loved. Does anyone recall i (which means Sometimes) and Sholay? The stories were long; movies went on for three hours plus.

Some of these Hindi films had strong social political messages like Mother India and Namak Haraam. I recall seeing them without subtitles and loving them across Dar es Salaam halls – Empire and Empress (in the Askari Monument area), Avalon, Odeon and Cameo.

For those who did not like these Hindi movies with their exaggerated sentimental singing and tears, there was an alternative option: Bruce Lee and kung fu, whoo, whaa films.

These flicks razed and grazed our halls until early eighties when the economic doom chocked and slapped everyone. The only consolation were second-hand imported ‘B’ movies like the soft porn wave Emanuelle.

From then on until around the arrival of mainstream television in the mid-1990s we had nothing. The film industry in Tanzania has always been thirsty and hungry.

Before Josiah Kibira's efforts in 2003 with the production of the Bongoland series we had only Fimbo ya Mnyonge as a Swahili movie of any substance. Mwalimu Nyerere must have gone to his grave wondering, will it ever be?

Lately because of this hunger we have started munching Nigerian and South African films.

US-based Josiah Kibira says he used to watch the Nigerians and wondered. His Bongoland one and two tale is a convincing narrative about dreams of a young Tanzanian totally gone wrong.

Like Obama's presidential win in 2008, Kibira uses the Internet well to publicise and sell them in a well packaged and organised product.

And that is the story of May-June 2010.
Lovely Gamble, a Swahili-English, film has just been released in the UK by young Tanzanian filmmakers. I have seen the flick and attended the launch last weekend in Reading, a few kilometres out of London.

I do not think Lovely Gamble is anything close to Bongoland. The storyline is simplistic, with an ending that women especially will find uninspiring. However, its release has heralded a new chapter in our filmmaking.

In 2008, I watched and listened to Spike Lee, the African American filmmaker, answering a crucial question in London. Many of us asked him why he never makes films about Africa. He said we should do it ourselves and in collaboration.

“Be a gang, form a posse...,” said the creator of Inside Man, Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing and She Is Gotta Have It.

Makers of Lovely Gamble, known as Urban Pulse, have already ticked this box. Urban Pulse unites not only a group of Tanzanians, but other Africans and Caribbean youths. They are all multi-skilled and multitalented.

Launching the event, which also raised funds for HIV orphans in the UK and Tanzania, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation at our London High Commission, Amos Msanjila, made a lively speech that summed up why the film industry is so important for any nation.

Brand Tanzania, is what Swahili movies may create and help reinforce. Nigerian and Hindi films have helped popularise their countries, the diplomat said. Then there is the use of Kiswahili a language rated amongst ten fastest growing in the world.

Not to forget employment opportunities. Making films is an activity involving a lot of people: technicians, actors and business people. But before going any further we need to make convincing films.

Films depend on well-written stories, researched materials and high standard acting.
More info about Lovely Gamble or to get DVD phone Frank Eyembe on +44-7865594576. Email: urbanpulsecreative@gmail.com

Email: kilimanjaro1967@hotmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. www.freddymacha.blogspot.com

Zawadi za Krimasi kutoka Kibira Films

Looking for a Christmas present idea...try this one from Kibirafilms.com.

Order one to day and have it delivered before Christmas!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

Josiah Kibira: One Film at a Time

May 11th, 2009 - ANJ Online

From Tanzania to Kansas, comes a man on a mission to change the international film industry, one film at a time.

By: Nneka Onyilofor

Josiah Kibira is that man; the man that came to the U.S. to attend school at Bethany College in Kansas, and ended up founding his own production company, Kibira Films. For more than 20 years in the U.S., Josiah dreamed big, and turned those dreams into reality. By day he’s a software testing engineer, but during the rest of his life, he’s a writer, director, and producer. And it all began with an interest he had in writing scripts as he exercised this interest while he was in college. After college, he moved to Minnesota and began to recruit actors from local Twin Cities colleges and Universities for his first film titled, “Bongoland.”

Many Tanzanian’s may recognize the term “Bongo,” as it is a slang term for the country itself. However, Josiah added a spin to the title of his first featured film by calling it, “Bongoland,” which he describes as a more inclusive term. Bongoland was produced in 2003, which is a film about an immigrant who comes to the U.S. to look for opportunities and runs into a lot of issues that many immigrants can relate to. In this film, the main character makes a decision that brought about the film Bongoland II in 2007. With the support of UCLA, Josiah’s first film proved to be a success in a unique fashion. This uniqueness comes from the fact that both films are spoken in the Swahili language.

Josiah was motivated to do these films in Swahili because there was a lack of movies in this language that is spoken so widely in Africa and in the U.S. Bongoland was performed in about 60 percent Swahili, and in Bongoland II, Swahili was spoken throughout the entire film; 100 percent of the time.

“There are so many things that have to be done that are not known…Africa is full of those people that did great things but it’s only the Edi Amen’s that get the lime light.” There are so many things that are particular to Africa that Hollywood is not interested in,” stated Josiah. Thus, in 2005, Josiah produced a film titled, “Tusamehe,” which means forgiveness, and is about the AIDS epidemic. Swahili is spoken in about 70 percent of this film as well.

So what else can be said about Josiah Kibira? We’ll, his next goal is to continue to break down more barriers. “When you are in Africa, African Americans are looked at as heroes and when I got here, that’s what I was expecting. I was expecting my brothers to embrace me, but it was different,” he stated. This reality is going to open up a dialogue about the relationship between Africans and African Americans in the U.S. in Josiah’s upcoming documentary titled, “Two Africas in America.

” The ultimate goal of this documentary is to dispel the myths that both cultures have about the other and to begin the healing process that is well needed. Currently Josiah is marketing and promoting his films at film festivals in the U.S., UK, and Tanzania. His films have already been featured in various film festivals including the Pan-African film festival in Los Angeles.
“Most of the movies I do are very male centered…you need to find something that is female centered people told me.” Thus, a film that many women can relate to is another project Josiah is working on in addition to his upcoming documentary.
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For more information you can email info@kibirafilms.com or go to http://www.kibirafilms.com/. Look out for a preview of Josiah Kibira’s new documentary at the African Global Roots Art Festival on July 25th, 2009 from 5pm-midnight at the Grand Rios Ramada Hotel in Brooklyn Park, MN.

Bongoland itaonyeshwa Dar (Mwenge)

Kutoka Kibira Films:

Haya wadau mlioko Bongo, tunawajulisha kuwa sinema ya Bongoland (Original) stelingi wake ni Mukama (Jimmy Morandi) itaonyeshwa Bongo mwezi ujao hapo mjini Dar katika tamasha la filamu za Ulaya. (European Film Festival 2008) Shoo itakuwa katika ukumbi wa sinema wa New World Cinema katika kitongoji cha Mwenge.

Bongoland itaonyeshwa siku ya Jumamosi Ocktoba 18 saa nane kasoro robo. (14.45). Kwa habari zaidi wasiliana na British Council hapo mjini Dar au piga simu namba 0755-481374

Kama unavyokumbuka sinema hii ni ya hadithi ya kijana Juma Pondamali aliyekuwa anaishi ughaibuni. Baada ya kupatwa na mizengwe mingi na milolongo ya kazi, ubaguzi na shida nyingi tu..akaanza kujiuliza ni kwa nini aendelee kuumia? Je angekuwa Bongo kweli hali ingekuwa hivi? Marafiki zake walimshauri kuvumilia na hadithi hii inamwonesha Juma akikabiliwa na swala la uamuzi ...ataendelea kuumia mpaka lini?

Kwa habari zaidi kuhusu sinema hii BOFYA HAPA

Kwa kuona trela ya sinema hii BOFYA HAPA

Kwa habari zaidi za Kibira Films International BOFYA HAPA


Mipango ya kileta Bongoland II iko mbioni...kwa sasa BONGOLAND II itaonyeshwa Scotland mwezi huu wa Oktoba mwishoni. Habari zaidi BOFYA HAPA

Kibira Films watangaza seli ya DVD

SUMMER PRICE SPECIALS - ON OUR MOVIES

In anticipation of the summer we are pleased to announce some price reductions on our existing movies. This is a good time for you to get your very own quality Swahili movies. Act now because these deals will not last forever.

Starting now: Bongoland I DVD can now be purchased at $12.99 was $15.00

Tusamehe DVD can now be purchased at $12.99 was 17.99

You can bundle both movies (Tusamehe and Bongoland) at $22.00CLICK HERE to order your copy today...

Hongera Mr. & Mrs Kataraia!

Natoa pongezi kwa Bwana Robert Kataraia na Bi Annette Kaduri, waliofunga ndoa huko Minneapolis Minnesota juzi, 9/1/07.

Wengi mnafahamu kuwa Robert alicheza kwenye sinema ya Bongoland kama Mukulu, rafiki yake Juma. Pia alicheza kwenye sinema ya Tusamehe. Ni mcheza sinema mzuri sana. Annette naye anaigiza kwenye sinema ya Tusamehe kwenye scene ya arusi.

Kwa habari na picha zaidi nenda:

http://bongoland2.blogspot.com/2007/09/bongoland-star-weds-in-minneapolis.html

Mheshimiwa Sumaye akipokea DVD za Bongoland na Tusamehe

Wiki hii nilibahatika kumkabidhi aliyekuwa Waziri Mkuu wa Tanzania enzi za Rais Mkapa, Mheshimiwa Frederick Sumaye, DVD za sinema ya Tusamehe na Bongoland. Yeye ni jirani yangu hapa Cambridge, Massachusetts. Anasoma Harvard University.

Mheshimiwa Sumaye alifurahi sana kuona DVD hizo na alisema ingekuwa vizuri vijana wote Tanzania wazione kwani zina ujumbe nzito sana.

Katika sinema ya Tusamehe waTanzania waliofanikiwa kimaisha Marekani wanakumbwa na ugonjwa wa UKIMWI, na katika Bongoland, MTanzania anapambana na maisha Marekani.

Sinema hizo zimetengenezwa na mwanafilamu wa kiTanzania aishio huko Minnesota, Josiah Kibira. Kwa habari zaidi za sinema hizo na hata kununua DVD zake, tembelea....
http://www.kibirafilms.com/index.html

Trailer ya Sinema ya Bongoland

Tazameni Trailer ya sinema ya Bongoland original.

Iko YOU TUBE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_2XKba__3Y

Clip from Bongoland film - Original - Juma and Mukulu

Juma on a date from the original movie Bongoland. See www.kibirafilms.com

Kwa wapenzi wa Bongoland, tazameni scene ya Juma kuonja uchungu wa maisha Marekeni!

Nani atakuwa Juma?

Wikiendi hii huko Minneapolis walifanya auditions kwa ajili ya kumpata atakayeigiza mhusika mkuu kwenye sinema ya Bongoland 2, Juma. Bongoland 2, ni sinema itakayapigwa Tanzania, mwezi Julai. Ni sehemu ya pili ya sinema ile ya Bongoland.

Pictured Front row: Director Josiah Kibira, na auditioners, Honest, Peter & Deus.

Kwa habari na picha zaidi someni :

http://bongoland2.blogspot.com/2007/04/where-in-world-is-juma.html

Kibira Films bado wanamtafuta 'Juma'!

Bado actor anatafutwa kwa ajili ya kuigiza kama mhusika mkuu wa sinema ya Bongoland 2!

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JUMA.....

We cannot find him and this is why this weekend on Saturday April 21, 2007 we are conducting a screen test.A screen test of the would be Juma - the lead actor for the movie...Bongoland II. If you are game and think you can act here is the venue...Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis - the address is 27 EAST 31st Street.

The screen test will start at 10:00 AM. Please check our site for the updates on the outcome.

Kwa habari zaidi bonyeza hapa: BONGOLAND 2

Wacheza sinema wanatafutwa kwa ajili ya Bongoland 2!

Kwa walio na ndoto ya kuigiza katika sinema, hii ni nafasi yako. Samahani lakini sitatafsiri posti na ni kimombo.

Ni hivi Josiah Kibira aliyetengeneza sinema za Bongoland na Tusamehe yuko mbioni kutengeneza sinema nyingine. Sinema hiyo ni Bongoland 2, na itapigwa Tanzania mwakani.

Casting Call ni hii hapa chini:

SWAHILI SPEAKING ACTOR WANTED

By, Josiah Kibira

Kibira Films International is currently looking actors for its upcoming project to be filmed next year in Tanzania - July 1st - July 31, 2007 This new movie is a sequel to the movie Bongoland which was produced in 2003 by Kibira Films. Bongoland was/is a drama about different challenges that immigrants face once they arrive in the foreign land. It dealt with issues of immigration papers, employment, school and relationships. The main characters asked - "would you rather be a well fed slave or a hungry freeman"? He asked this while contemplating whether to keep chasing the ever elusive American dream or go back to his native land.

The sequel is a continuation of that drama following the main character Juma to see if his dreams for a better life were fulfilled after he decided to go back to his native Bongoland. The working title for the movie is "Bongoland II - There Is No Place Like Home."

Here are the qualifications for the post:

[1.] Be a male actor. [2.] Fluent Swahili speaker.[ 3.] Some film or stage acting - not necessary but would be helpful. [4.] Have seen the movie "Bongoland" [5.] Currently living in the United States [6.] Have legal status to travel in and out of USA. [ 7.] Willing to work on a deferred payment contract. [8.] Ability to get along with people.

Additional Perks for the role:

[1.] Free round trip ticket to Tanzania. [2.] All accommodations provided while in Dar. [3.] Daily stipend while on the set. [4.] Possibility of earning a role in Kibira Films future projects. [5.] Exposure to Film festivals in USA, Europe and Africa. [6.] Screen testing in Minneapolis, MN if selected or being considered. [7.] Possible career move.

For consideration:

[1.] Send a headshot. [2.] Your resume OR. [3.] An essay of why you think you should be considered for the role. [4.] Any tapes, DVD, vocals showing your acting abilities - In actual production i.e. play, movie (if you have it)

[5.] Send to: Kibira Films International 2860 Zanzibar Lane North Plymouth, MN 55447

[6.] Email - info@kibirafilms.com Thanks and Good Luck.

More information about Kibira Films - www.kibirafilms.com

Phone #: Office: (612)-291-2719; Mobile: (763)-229-2495