-Rwanda
By Andrew I.Kazibwe
Although not known to many, through her works, which have in recent years earned her not only awards but also secure acting roles in international films, closer followers of East Africa and the African Film Industry can resonate with Elianne Umuhire, a steadily rising Rwandan Actress.
Passionate about what she does, the 2004 National University of Rwanda Accounts graduate who further through several trainings ventured into theater where she was cast in plays like La ravizor, Umutego Speciale, and African Hope in 2012 rose-up to securing roles in Award-winning Rwandan films too like Behind the World by Clemantine Dusabijambo and Kivu Ruhorahoza’s Things of the Aimless Wonderer, which were both premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film festival.
The thirty-eight-year-old has in recent years been cast in several other films, with the notables being; Birds are Singing in Kigali, a film which scooped the Chicago International Film Festival’s Silver Hugo Award- for Best Actress, Neptune Frost by Saul Williams, Trees of Peace, which is a Netflix special, Omen by Baloji, BaziGaga among other films have scooped several awards.
Umuhire’s recently featured project is A Quiet Place: Day One, a horror and thriller film in which she stars alongside acclaimed Hollywood acts Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, and Djimon Hounsou, which is currently screening worldwide in cinemas and has garnered a stronger fanbase hence placing Umuhire to a global limelight.
ArtsGlo met Umuhire during her recent return to Rwanda under the invitation of the Kigali Cine Junction Film Festival, where she delivered an Actors’ workshop as part of the Festival’s programs.
Q: As a person from a Theatre background, unlike most Artists, even as we have for several years witnessed you making dominance in films, you again make appearances through stage plays, too; why?
A: It depends on what one desires from their career. The two practices do feed into each other; although one pays better than the other, for one really into the Arts I feel like theatre is always that place that challenges us to always be in the present and delves into creating more than cinema confronts ourselves into the power of presence, that everything happens in present time, no escape and with the audiences, a harder exercise I find very necessary for our creativity, which I prefer too.
Q; Your return to Rwanda after a while isn’t just a mere visit as a guest, but also conducting a workshop for Actors too; why is this necessary?
A: In my realization, too, through my previous practice, most of the previous trainings and workshops held were mainly for producers, directors, scriptwriters, and cameras, but not for Actors. This is mainly because most of the time, people tend to forget that Acting is technical, too, and there is a need to learn how to work as Actors. We are always fetching from our bodies, emotions, and something deep and personal, so there is a need for being appreciated and acknowledged, which influences our image and mental health too, to other technical aspects like building character, handling the sound, and camera. So dealing with all that matters, so a need for training too.
Q: As an Actress, how do you approach an opportunity when it presents itself? How do you deal with conflict in the nature of film projects as presented before you?
A: Sometimes you look into the work of the Film Director and realize that it doesn’t fit on your career path, not in terms of what is better or not, but at times the values and beliefs which a project might be against. There are some roles one might reject. For instance, most Western films have portrayed black bodies and skins as villains or victims and degrading, so I, at times, can say no to a role because I feel that it doesn’t portray the dignity, strength, culture, and beauty of my people. If we reflect on cinema and the danger of stereotypes, , if a certain culture is portrayed in a particular way, the audience tends to believe and perceive it that way in reality.
Q; Where is Africa’s status as regards telling our stories globally?
A: We have so many black creatives who, if they create stories about strength, empathy, and love, Africa will be explored. It’s more of getting our heroes realized out there through pushing our stories. We have many stories out, which aren’t distributed well enough for the world to discover. I am glad that our local film festivals are still alive and are serving this purpose, but more is needed to promote our stories further from local to the global scale.
Q; You have traveled out there. With this dawn of technology; is Cinema culture still alive?
A; It is. For instance, the film A Quite Place, Day One has so far generated closer to USD100 million from cinemas and streaming too worldwide, which serves as proof of how cinema is alive.
Q; To you, what would you say is holding back our African Film Industry from thriving internationally?
A; It is production and distribution. Our productions are still bad because local Filmmakers still struggle with funding them. There ought to be an active film fund for local Filmmakers, but we don’t have that. In some countries, Private funding and Banks give loans to filmmakers. Then it is distribution, which is to generate money back to keep the business running. Distribution requires an active film culture to generate revenue through cinema screening and streaming too.
End
