A couple of years ago, during an idle chat with a prominent young Ugandan film maker Ian Kimanje, he commented on how odd it was that cinema theatres in Tanzania did not screen Tanzania-produced films.
Well it’s a new day in Dar es Salaam, with the scheduled screening of the film Samaki Mchangani at Mlimani City on September 19-25. Samaki Mchangani is the second short film by Kijiweni Productions, a Tanzanian-owned film company run by director and young filmmaker Amil Shivji.
Kijiweni Productions’ 2013 debut film Shoe Shine won Best East African Short Film at the African Film Development Awards 2014; Best East African Short Film at Festicab 2014 (Burundi); People’s Choice Award at the 16th Zanzibar International Film Festival 2013, as well as being nominated for Best Short Film at Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards 2014; Best Director at Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards 2014 and for Narrative Fiction at the BornShorts Film Festival 2014.
Shivji is a Tanzanian of Indian ancestry and son of Prof Issa Shivji, a constitutional law lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam.
As the name of the production house suggests, the company literally operated from a kijiwe (slang for street hangout) in Upanga, Dar es Salaam for more than a year before it moved into its current premises in the same neighbourhood. It was here that I was lucky to be hosted to a private screening of Samaki Mchangani.

One of the lasting images I got from this film is of a woman in a kitenge riding a bicycle on a scenic road. The image filled me with joy since this was the first time I was seeing my own country on film and it was beautiful. Apparently, I later learned, I was not the only one impressed.
During the screening of Kijiweni’s debut film Shoe Shine at the Zanzibar Film Festival with 500 in the audience, the production team, Shivji included, were shocked by the reaction it elicited.
“The people just went nuts, they loved it, they were laughing and most of them told me it was the first time that they were seeing their culture on the big screen,” said Shivji, adding, “I keep emphasising Kijiweni Productions is part of the Bongo movie industry and I totally respect people like the late actor and director Steven Kanumba, who carried the torch of telling stories on camera for 10 years. But I’m doing a different genre.”
Indeed he’s not being arrogant but as with Shoe Shine, Samaki Mchangani is shot in Kiswahili with Tanzanian actors — Hassan Kazoa, Deborah Dickson, Bicco Mathew and Amby Lusekelo. Bicco Mathew as the lead character turns in a superb perfomance and the presence of Hassan Kazoa lingers in the mind long after the film comes to an end.
The story of Samaki Mchangani is a very symbolic one with the title having a double meaning. It loosely translates as “fish on sand” meaning “fish out of water,” and tells the story of the central character as being out of his depth.
This is a story of a man who starts a company in a market controlled by a monopoly and finds the going tough. The sub-story shows white collar professionals struggling to keep up with crooks, who steal their land and some even murder them.

The film was shot on a small budget of $20,000 going by international standards. Kijiweni Productions submitted the script to Africa First Focus Features and won the $10,000 Focus Features grant last year. Kijiweni raised another $10,000.
According to Shivji, depending on the success of the film, the production house will push for it to be screened around the country, and applications will be made to take it to the rest of the countries in East Africa. If it gets a good reception, it could also be released on DVD for a wider audience.

The film features an original Bongo soundtrack by musician Vitalis Maembe.