In which Indonesian filmmaker Edwin shoots his movie in the East Nairobi slum Mlango Kubwa and production assistant Jenipher Nabs turns out to be a born diva.
On our way to the home of musician and main character of Edwin's movie Bikas, in the slums of Mlango Kubwa (Nairobi), we got the call that the master was not ready yet. They were cleaning his house. It would take a while. Later we would hear that there was no water to be found in the whole neighborhood, so it had to come from far. Kenya was suffering from a serious draught at that time and everybody seems to be looking for water. Everybody in the poor parts of town that is, so indeed almost everybody. Some people went for desperate solutions. Like in the picture below.
Draught In Nairobi. Tapping the watersystem.
Houses in neighborhoods like Mlango Kubwa do not have running water (nor electricity), but these men discovered a water pipe going through the neighborhood. They tap it (clearly illegally) and set up shop. The young man with the bottle in his mouth looking at the camera is not drinking water. He has glue in the bottle and is sniffing it all day. Many young and very young boys I saw sniffing glue in Mlango Kubwa. Most of them were already completely retarded. Too numb to even beg.
But not everybody is steeling or sniffing in Mlango Kubwa. There are a lot of little shops and little businesses. Some make a real effort. Like this bright blue barber shop.
Shining Salon in dirty Nairobi neighbourhood
Sometimes you get the impression in Africa that every other shop is a barber shop. And a lot of them have those nice hand painted models on them, but this one is really nice. Maybe also because the surrounding is so muddy, dirty and dusty. And, yes, the smell. After having time for an extended Eritrean coffee ceremony and a game of pool billiard, the call came that we could enter the house of Bikas. The great Congolese musician turned out to live in a kind of small dorm room and for the occasion he did not wear his gangster suit, but a kind of gangsta rap outfit. For a moment I thought Edwin would be disappointed by that. We had spent some time to find a dress that would go with a suit for Bikas' movie wife, to be played by assistant Jenipher. But Edwin gave no comment and in fact the seasoned singer looked cool enough.
Bekassy in his room.
Edwin had been looking for older women to play in the movie, but not with great passion I guess. Maybe he already felt the solution before realizing it. At the end of the audition interview with Bikas he took some pictures and suddenly asked Jenipher to stand next to Bikas for another picture. Then I also knew. The young Jenipher was in fact very fitting as the trophy wife of an ageing great musician.
Assistant Jenipher Nabs in the role of Bikas Wife.
Both Jenipher and Bikas were evidently not trained actors. Bikas had at least experience to perform, but Jenipher had the feeling everything she did or had to do was silly. There was also a language problem. The dialogues were written in English (by Tan Chui Mui) and translated into Swahili (by Jenipher), but Bikas was a French speaking Congolese and unlike Jenipher trained in improvisation. So Edwin had to show he was really a director. For a long time it sounded quite hopeless and Jenipher almost gave up, but suddenly it was clear to everybody in the room that it could work. Cut said the director and moved his tripod to the next scene without much comment.
Edwin Directing Bekassy.
I noticed before that Edwin is a very practical director. A craftsman. For somebody just visiting the set he could be the cameraman. On the other hand it is clear that he is the only one who can say cut on his set. And if it is not clear right away, he will make it clear.
Newly weds discussing their honeymoon trip to Indonesia.
It was nice to see how Jenipher and Bikas improved by the hour. The simple idea to leave Bikas just like he is and film him in his own home and neighborhood worked fine. But Bikas turned out to be even more eccentric than we thought and his neighborhood Mlango Kubwa is one of those places on earth you have to see before you believe it.
Shooting in Nairobi neighbourhood Mlango Kubwa.
I had seen it before now. As soon as you set up a camera in a neighbourhood like this you attract a lot of attention. Normally mostly a lot of jumping small children. But here we had the glue sniffers and water robbers. We had great help from the young local filmmaker Vincho Nchogu (Jenipher was wearing her dress to begin with), but even she got a bit nervous by the pushing crowd. Edwin however was cool and concentrated. Just like Jakarta he said and just continued shooting in the middle of what looked like a demonstration after only a few minutes. In the picture above Vincho is the girl on the left. Controlling the crowd. And also below. Vincho.
Edwin and assistant director Vincho.