From the Baptist Union to Africa United
In 2005 Jackie Sheppard left her role as Communications Manager of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. Five years on a movie she has co-produced will be released in UK cinemas on 22 October. Here is her story of how Africa United has come about.
1 September 2010 marked five years since I left the employment of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and embarked on an uncertain journey into the future as a freelance film and event producer. Truth to tell there wasn’t much time for reflection on 1 September as we are just a few weeks away from the release of our feature film Africa United and there is much to be done. In fact much of 1 September was spent in a meeting about the budget on the film – so hardly a day for celebrating!
But, I did reflect, briefly, that those five years had been extraordinary – in that time I had produced five Baptist Assemblies, the Baptist World Alliance Youth Congress in Leipzig, the European Baptist Federation Celebration of 400 years of Baptist life in Amsterdam, the Baptist World Alliance Congress in Hawaii, and, with my film producing partner, Mark Blaney, associate produced two short films, produced five short films, and produced the feature film, Africa United. [Two of the short films won awards at various festivals with one taking the Best International Film at the 168 Festival in Los Angeles.]
The producing partnership with Mark Blaney , a member at Chichester Baptist, came about when I saw him interviewed in the Baptist Times back in 2000 when a film he had produced, The Darkest Light, was being released. He was asked ‘if money were no object what kind of film would he want to make’. His response tallied with my idea of the kind of film I’d always wanted to make and so I made contact. After several years of talking and developing some projects, we finally formalised our business partnership in 2004 (although I didn’t leave the BUGB until 2005 – after the BWA Congress of that year).
Having watched a documentary Hunting My Husband’s Killers that told of Lesley Bilinda’s search for the killers of her late husband in the Rwandan genocide, Mark and I were both interested, and moved, by the stories of hope and compassion that came through. We felt that there must be new stories to come out of Africa, ones that didn’t only deal with the usual genocide, dictatorship, and tragedy but one that showed the continent in a new light, a continent that was ready to host major events such as the World Cup. We wanted to make a feature film that would show a different side of Africa.
During this time we met director Debs Gardner-Paterson who had made her first short film We Are All Rwandans in the country and clearly was both a natural filmmaker and had a heart for Rwanda, being herself the daughter and granddaughter of missionaries who had lived and worked in the country.
Whilst we were developing Rwandans into a feature film we met Rwandan producer Eric Kabera and at the end of 2008 a colleague of his sent us a script that Eric was out in Hollywood trying to sell. The script was the story of a teenage footballer in Rwanda who gets selected to play for Rwanda at the World Cup, but doesn’t get to go with the team for various complicated reasons, so sets out to make the journey on foot. Whilst it became apparent on reading that the script itself wasn’t right, the key idea of a kid who walks to the World Cup did grab us and there were many lengthy telephone calls to Eric as he travelled the US trying to persuade him to bring the project to us. Eventually he agreed! Our focus shifted away from Rwandans and on to the story that would become Africa United.
The story of how this film came about and the miracles surrounding it could easily fill a book. Getting a low budget, independent film made at all these days, in the current economic climate, is in itself a miracle but to make a film from start to finish in 18 months that has no known stars; a first-time feature director; and is filmed across several countries in Africa for just over £4 million is (so people keep telling us) quite extraordinary.
Our intention was always to make a fun, adventure story that showed people a different side of Africa, but we knew that we also had to face up to the real issues and our screenwriter Rhidian Brook was excellently placed to do that having himself spent several months living in Africa with his family visiting areas particularly hit by AIDS/HIV. In one of the many ‘miracles’, Rhidian with whom we had wanted to work for a number of years, suddenly became available when a major BBC project he was writing was shelved. We sat around his dining table throwing ideas around and at that moment all we had was the one-line idea of a ‘kid walks to the World Cup’. “That’s the one I want to write!” said Rhidian. And, so it was a few months later that we had some development finance that allowed us to send Rhidian and Debs out on a road-trip across Africa that would provide the foundation for the story.
The film itself is the tale of three Rwandan children, Dudu and his sister Beatrice who are AIDS orphans, and their middle-class friend, footballing ace, Fabrice, and their quest to get to the World Cup in South Africa. Their journey begins when Fabrice is spotted by a local talent scout and told to go to Kigali to participate in a trial to select a team to represent the country at the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup. Their troubles begin when they get on the wrong bus and end up in the Congo. Without papers and a believable story they make the decision to continue their journey to South Africa on their own.
As they travel they are helped at first by former child-soldier Foreman George, trying to escape his past, and then by sex-worker Celeste. The film covers the universality of friendship as this unlikely team learn to work together to pursue a dream.
Our child cast, drawn from a search that encompassed Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa and the UK, have done an amazing job of bringing Rhidian’s fresh and engaging script to life. None of them had ever acted on film before and watching them on set every day for the three months we spent in Africa was a joy and a privilege as they grew into their roles.
On 11 September the film had its World Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival where it received a standing ovation. The film seems to have touched a chord with people wherever we have shown it in preview screenings; with people enjoying the fun and the adventure but recognising the reality of some children’s lives in Africa.
The UK Premiere will be on 17 October when the film plays in Leicester Square as the Family Gala Film at the London Film Festival ahead of its opening in UK cinemas on 22 October.
As we, and the film’s financiers (Pathé, BBC Films, UK Film Council and the Rwandan Film Commission), have committed to give 25% of the net profits back to African causes, we have partnered with Comic Relief who will manage the charitable funds on our behalf.
Much as it might all seem a far cry from the Baptist Union, I still live in the same house in Didcot as I did then. Life as a Producer is not glamorous and producing a feature film has been less of a learning curve and more a steep vertical line and I am grateful to Mark, for his willingness to take on a relative novice! Ninety-five per cent of our time is spent chasing paperwork; looking for money; and trying to work out how to pay the bills. Producing on short films has seen us putting up toilet tents in muddy fields in the pouring rain. Moments of being chauffeur-driven to film premieres are few and far between!
My mother reminded me recently that, when I was 15, I told her I wanted to make a feature film. It’s taken a while but finally that dream has come true. Now all we need is for the audience to go to the cinema on 22 October in sufficient numbers to have made it worthwhile.
Oh, and then we have to think about the next film …
By Jackie Sheppard
For more on Africa United visit:
www.africaunitedmovie.com
www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/03/africa-united-film
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/8030562/Africa-United-set-report.html
Christian educational charity Damaris has produced special resources to compliment the film’s release aimed at churches, schools and community groups: www.damaris.org/africaunited/
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