Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tanzania is the next movie hotspot

Hey y'all, 

So i came across this article on CNN news (Africa) and i thought i should share it with my people. Hear the words of Mr. Nick Broomfield on Tanzania being the next big thing for Movies. 

" Tanzania is a country known for its stunning safari landscapes, long beaches and towering Mount Kilimanjaro. And according to documentary film-maker Nick Broomfield -- best known for films such as "Kurt & Courtney," "Biggie and Tupac" and "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer" -- Tanzania is also the perfect natural film set.With his boom, audio recorder and recognizably extended vowels, Broomfield is journeying into East Africa this week for the Zanzibar International Film Festival, where he will be giving a masterclass in documentary film making. But though it has its own film festival, Zanzibar is paradoxically without a cinema. Broomfield is pledging his support for the renovation of a dilapidated art deco cinema in Stone Town, which is visited weekly by a small group of locals with a projector and fold-up chairs, intent on reliving the cinema's former glory. "In the past there were 50 cinemas in Tanzania and there was a film industry," said Broomfield, in the UK for Sheffield's documentary film festival Doc/Fest, where he was honored with the coveted Inspiration Award.

Now there are only a handful of cinemas left, while the last major feature film to be shot in the country was Howard Hawks's 1962 film "Hatari!," starring John Wayne. "Restoring something like the Majestic is also a symbolic thing, showing that there is a film tradition in East Africa and the cinema can play a part in showcasing films either made in East Africa or in conjunction with the film festival," said Broomfield. Cinema is a shared experience ... and it would be so great to it going again in Zanzibar--Nick Broomfield, Tanzanians are very film literate people, he said, and their enthusiasm for the medium is inspiring. "Cinema is a shared experience, it's something where you go and you talk about the movie afterwards and you share in each other's laughter and tears and it would be so great to it going again in Zanzibar." Newly enamored of the country since producing documentary "Albino United" --- about an albino football team in Tanzania -- in 2010, Broomfield is shooting his next feature film in the city of Mwanza on the shore of Lake Victoria in the north-west of the country.
It will be an adaptation of Ronan Bennett's novel "The Catastrophist," a love story set against the Belgian Congo's decolonisation in the 1960s. Actors in discussion to star in the film include Stephen Dorff, Steve Coogan and Mos Def, he said."I went to Kinshasa and with the best will in the world you're never going to get it looking anything like it did. It's very unsafe there, I think you'd wind up making a film about how you'd survived there for a week and still return with your trousers," he said.
Mwanza, he said, contains a lot of 1960s architecture that has remained more or less intact thanks to the country's comparatively peaceful recent history. Though this narrative feature film project will mark something of a departure for Broomfield, fans of his documentary work can rest assured that he will continue to make his famously chaotic documentaries: he is reportedly close to completing a documentary about Sarah Palin.

But Broomfield hopes that filming in Tanzania will encourage other filmmakers to do so as well, thereby encouraging locals to learn the tricks of the trade and make their own films."The last film I made, 'Battle for Haditha,' was shot in Jordan, which hadn't had a big feature film shot there almost since 'Lawrence of Arabia,'" he said. "And once we showed that that it was safe, a whole lot of other films were made there, like 'The Hurt Locker' and 'Redacted' and now the country has a strong and flourishing film industry that gives a lot of scope for local talent."Broomfield thinks that the same can happen in Tanzania and getting the Majestic Cinema up and running again is an important part of the plan. "It's an investment of faith that there is a future (there for film)," he said.

source, CNN (africa)

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

Hey guys,

So we all know that the Total lunar eclipse last appeared in 2010, I don't remember about it that well, but i'm glad i've got to see this one (15-6-2011). And according to scientist, the next total lunar eclipse will occur in 2080, I don't know if i'll be there by then, but i know am here now and am glad i've seen this. So here's the lunar eclipse (the last of it anyway) thru my eyes.


A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth so that the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a full moon. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes. The most recent total lunar eclipse occurred on December 21, 2010, at 08:17 UTC.[1] The next total lunar eclipse on June 15, 2011 will be a central eclipse, visible over Europe and south America after sunset, over Africa and most of Asia, and Australia before sunrise.

Friday, June 10, 2011

ISN'T SHE LOVELY!!!

Hey y'all, am back again. So am currently in Tanzania (homeland) Mama Africa!! I arrived on Saturday 4th of June 2011, guess what was happening that same night...MISS ARUSHA 2011. Leave the jetlag aside, i told myself i had to go see the show. So around 9p.m., i got my lazy self outa house and headed to the event. I'll not say much, i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. HAAAVVEEEE FFFUUUUNNNN!!!!!
the top5 ladies
Miss Arusha 2011
Miss Arusha 2010
Said Kessy (Miss Tanzania 1997)
Myself and CPWAA
Ndanda Kosovo and Watoto wa Tembo group
Myself and Ndanda Kosovo and Watoto wa Tembo group
CPWAAA's Dancers