After a seven-year absence, British-Zambian director Rungano Nyoni returns to filmmaking with her surreal and funny sophomore effort. On becoming a guinea fowl.
Set in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, the film follows Shula (Susan Chardy), who is returning home from a costume party when she discovers the body of her Uncle Fred lying on the side of the road. As funeral proceedings begin, she and her cousins discover long-buried family secrets that shake their understanding of themselves and each other.
Guinea fowl Like 2017's film Neon, it debuted at Cannes. I'm not a witch. This film catapulted Newyon into a rare position of emerging British auteur. She says the hype is partly due to the film's decline at the height of an industry-wide “diversity drive” as people were “pushing to see other narratives from Britain”.
“I was riding a wave when everyone had all these great intentions, and then those intentions evaporated after a short period of time,” she told Deadline. Nearly a decade later, Guinea fowl It opens in a completely different political and cultural environment.
“I'm really lucky that this was made,” Nyoni says. Guinea fowl. “I thought no one would want to do that.”
Picturehouse began rolling out the film in the UK late last year while A24 will release the film in the US from March 7. Below, Nyoni talks more about the film's production, the difficulties of shooting in Africa with UK money, and why it's so difficult to release an African film. In Africa.
DEADLINE: The film is about to be released in the UK. How do you feel?
Rungano Nyoni: I'm a little nervous, but I'm grateful that the movie will be in theaters. It's such a niche movie that I thought maybe they'd drop it and put it on Netflix. I don't mind Netflix as such. It's just that I always want a theatrical release, even if only three people are going to see the movie, which will happen.
DEADLINE: Why do you say that?
Nyoni: I don't know. I always expect that. I just feel like it's super niche. There are a lot of films and it is interesting that films are produced and distributed. I never think that my films are specifically aimed at the audience. At least the first two.
DEADLINE: What strikes me about this film, as you suggest, is that it's an art film…
Nyoni: But in reality, what is an art film?
DEADLINE: Specifically. What strikes me is that this film is niche but also funny. There is a lot of humor that can appeal to a wide audience. I could see it blowing up on a streaming device like Netflix thanks to word of mouth, as opposed to showing it in places like Picturehouse and only targeting cinephiles.
Nyoni: I just thought it was frustrating. Who wants to go see a Bemba language film about a funeral that deals with such a dark subject? But that's just my personality. I always think the worst and then are very surprised if something different happens. I'm lucky this was made in the first place because I thought no one would want to make it. I was a bit precious about this project, so when I discussed it with my agent, we only sent it to one producer. I said if he rejects me, we can send it to someone else. I don't want everyone to reject me at once because I had that I'm not a witch. You had a lot of people saying “yeah, it's nice, but no.” I didn't want to repeat the same thing.
DEADLINE: Was that producer Ed Guiney?
Nyoni: Yes.
DEADLINE: He immediately said yes?
Nyoni: Yes, they said that sounds good and they could try to find financing. He was very calm and thought he could find the money for it. The same thing happened with I'm not a witch. All the rejections came when I was looking for a product. But when the financier joined the project, things came together very quickly.
DEADLINE: I remember you saying hello to the people who turned down your first film during your BAFTA acceptance speech in 2018. It was funny. Did you know this became a meme?
Nyoni: I wasn't prepared at all. When I'm not ready, diarrhea comes out of my mouth. I know everyone says this, but we were in the back of the room. I've been to BAFTAs before with my short films, and it's usually been a matter of where you sit, so I thought I wouldn't win. I thought I could get drunk. So it was a shock. I believed Lady Macbeth It was.
DEADLINE: I told some friends that I thought “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” was one of the funniest movies of the year. But when I explained the plot, they thought I was crazy. So I wondered what your scripts looked like because a lot of comedy is about where you put the camera or the tone of delivery. How do you explain this to your representatives? How do you make them look so funny in these painful scenes?
Nyoni: You get funny people. I try to make the script funny because you need it for financing. You need to improve your tone of voice, but I always find people to be funnier than me. So, for this one, Elizabeth [Chisela]who plays Nsansa, is the funniest person in real life. You don't need to do anything to manipulate it. It's just from another world. So she makes things funny without even trying. But I never told them I wanted to make a funny movie. I'm saying I don't want you to get serious. If it starts to get a little serious, I rethink things because I'm starting to feel like I'm preaching. I generally put the actors in the situation. This helps bring up some silly things.
DEADLINE: Did you grow up in Wales?
Nyoni: Yes, Cardiff.
DEADLINE: It's rare for a European filmmaker of African origin to return to his homeland and make films. Why did you start this way?
Nyoni: I ask myself this all the time because I get frustrated. It's hard to get financing, and filming is always difficult. When I'm working I always say to myself, oh my god, it would be so much easier to shoot this in the UK. I think it has to do with the fact that I romanticize Zambia. I still have this longing for it. When you're in the UK, you feel like you know everything and you can't add anything to it cinematically. Also, I feel blocked in some way in the UK. I have a lot of half-baked ideas that can never be realized set in Cardiff. But somehow when I set the story in Zambia, I write more. It's practical. Maybe it's also because I want to work in comedy. Zambia has more space to do that because we are more direct and conclusive. While filming this film, I told myself that I would definitely never do another film in Zambia. But I will actually come back. It's early days but I might come back.
DEADLINE: How do you feel after the “I'm Not a Witch” explosion? I think you have become, very quickly, one of the leading faces of the new generation.
Nyoni: I didn't think about it that way. I don't feel this way. I watched an interview with Ridley Scott and he said when you make movies you always start over. He said he always had to re-present himself to financiers. But it's Ridley Scott. I feel the same way now while shooting my second film. You don't feel that praised. You just feel like a little cog in the wheel. I look back on that time fondly. I remember being a bit stressed out and having some insecurities about it. I was lucky, and I think I came at the right time because there was a push for diversity as people were pressing to see other novels from Britain. I was riding a wave when everyone had all these great intentions, and then those intentions soon evaporated.
DEADLINE: Has 'Guinea Fowl' been released in Zambia?
Nyoni: Yes, they showed it for one night during the festival.
DEADLINE: What's the theatrical situation like there? Will he get more offers?
Nyoni: We are supposed to have an African distributor. I don't know this distributor and I don't think he would be interested in Zambia. No one is ever interested. It's a small market. We even offered as local producers to distribute it ourselves, but they wouldn't let us. I don't think this will happen. I think one night is probably all we'll get. Most people will probably see it when it's sold to Netflix at some point, which is sad. I've had this conversation many times with African filmmakers from across the diaspora, but distributors aren't interested. Africa is not a market for them unless it is Nigeria or South Africa. Beyond that, it's not on their radar and they don't even want to put any effort into it.
DEADLINE: What do people in Zambia think of you?
Nyoni: Depends on who you ask. There is one colleague who I worked closely with on set. He became my right hand man and performed many jobs. One day, he turned to me and said, “I'm glad I never listened to anyone when they asked me not to work with you.” I said I'm sorry what? I don't use social media, so I avoid all the carnage. I have no sense of these things. But you hear murmurs. People think you're lucky because you're British. They don't understand the battles we are fighting in Britain. They think you have some kind of good luck. I'm the equivalent of a white dude. So whatever criticism comes from that, you have to accept it.
DEADLINE: You're often lumped in with a group of filmmakers like Mati Diop to point out what people describe as the renaissance of African cinema. I always think that's a weird phrase. Not sure what it means. I think people who say that are actually talking about the closeness that some African filmmakers now have to the West. What do you think about being in that group?
Nyoni: Yes. This is also because people see you as special. I'm careful when I'm giving interviews to make sure people don't point to me as the first person to do anything because they're obsessed with it. Sales agents always describe him as the first Zambian to do an “X” film. I always tell them I'm not the first, so stop saying that. There have been many before me. And I think that's true, it's that closeness to Europeans or Westerners. That's why this conversation about diversity in films is really only about Britain and the US, because films everywhere else are being made by a lot of black filmmakers. I see them all the time on M-Net. If movies don't exist anywhere near Hollywood or Britain, people think they don't exist. No, I don't think there is a renaissance. There have been many directors before me.
DEADLINE: You mentioned projects in Zambia and Botswana. When you finish the Guinea Fowl releases, will you go straight to those?
Nyoni: Yes, I now live in Zambia and another local filmmaker has been writing a project for some time. I lost track of it and asked my partner to direct it. But I'm thinking of co-directing. It's still early days. I will definitely co-write. Its events take place in Zambia, among a very wealthy family. I am interested in the world of total wealth in Zambia. That 1% of the country is really white. I am interested in the white world in Zambia. I just find that fascinating. The project in Botswana is something I have wanted to do now for a few years. It's a sci-fi movie and I want it done right, so I'm waiting until I can produce something on a larger scale.
