TO MY DEAR TANZANIAN MOVIE STAKEHOLDERS!

Tweeted this Like this, be the first of your Friends

Asalaam alaykum!
I have always said it at every fora that Bongo Movies is an act of God, at the beginning, we never made and featured in them because we thought they were going to sell but God knows how He designed his things, it was a wonderful and magnificent design to usher in a new vista for entertainment in Africa not just Tanzania. Until now, we have not remained at the same spot. We have taken a leap, it remains to be seen whether it is forward or backward, right or wrong direction. Steps have been taken no doubt. You can agree with me that the cameras used then, the way things were done then has so much changed. In terms of how we are being appreciated by the audience, several things have also changed.
If you talk about the quality of production, we may not have gotten to the best but we have improved in a lot of ways. One thing we have not been able to do is build structures.

THE STRUCTURES THAT I THINK WILL TAKE BONGO MOVIES TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
I think the major problem is in terms of production and distribution. We had thrown in the towel before the fight started. We have created a market in Africa that we cannot sustain. People like me are clamoring for the enrichment of the content which we are giving out.
We have to start repackaging ourselves like America, India, China and even Nigeria did to sell its culture and character, strengths and weaknesses to the world. We have not been able to sustain the sale of our norms, ideas, world view and all the other Africa countries, the way we want them to perceive us. We have not been able to espouse the social relevance in our stories.
We need to tell them who we really are. We have gone to war but we have not won the battle. For us to win that battle, we must comeback home, build structures so we can sell all our movies around the whole world, especially Africa.
Africa has a large market and we must tap from it. Any one who releases a movie goes straight to DVD so you do not maximize the potentials of endorsement, cinemas and so on. We are losing a lot of money and these are not things to be very happy about.
The guys in the minerals, banking and others are building structures and they are getting more credible by the day but the actors and movie makers are they doing same? Are they respected? The answer is no.
Can I walk into Access Bank for instance or EXIM Bank and get a loan because I am Selles Mapunda (a movie director and producer)? They respect you and feel happy for you on television but do they respect you to trust you to take you serious? It is a big problem and I think every practitioner must begin to think about it.
Aside from this, those in the other end of the industry, I mean the marketers (such Steps Entertainment, Papaz, Game 1st Quality, Pilipili Entertainment e.t.c), retailers and all must start being honest to themselves. This idea of films are not selling is beyond the issue. They were screaming about the lion when there was no lion.
Now there is lion, no one believes them. People say that is the way they shout all the time. I had thought about writing a letter to the president J.K with a title-

”This patient will die tomorrow”.

This patient is Bongo Movies. Bongo Movies is dying off and unless something critical is done by all interested parties and every stakeholder, those who watch it and interested Tanzanians, this simple product that is 100%, Tanzanian is dying and has no hope of being alive in the next five years. Quote me I have my facts.
1. Every actor is supposed to have one element and that is flexibility and without flexibility, you cannot go far.
2. We must change our image and it is only us that can do this.
3. We must be good from the inside. And if we are good from the inside then every other thing would fellow.
4. Lacks of enduring stories share the same feelings and more.
5. A lot of actors felt they were not used very well and they started becoming writers, directors and producers. It is difficult to see outside this country some one who is a script writer, producer, director but here people are bamboozled by titles - I am a script writer, I produce and I direct, who gives a hoot about all those titles?
6. Where do you have the universal selling point? I am Selles Mapunda and I have an edge in directing movies and that is where I am and what I do. It does not mean I cannot act or market a movie. Without sounding immodest, I am one of the director in Tanzania who by experience can act comfortably. I have been through the school of hard knocks and it is experience on the job and this experience could enable me to do anything in the movie arena.
7. But I want the professionalism to be entrenched. Let the dead bury the dead, let the writer write the stories, let producers produce and division of labor will thrive. Now that the industry has reached this cul de sac, Am I not better off for telling the truth?
NB:
The movie industry needs me just like I need it. I am talking about building an industry that thinks locally but performs internationally.
GOD BLESS BONGO MOVIES
by:
 Selles Mapunda (Tanzanian movie Script writer, Director and Producer)