Kargo Cinema brings you Stone Cold, a tragic movie about child labour, written by Michael Wawuyo (who plays the role of the man who buys away Kosai’s elder daughter as a babysitter leaving behind the injured daughter) en directed by Ugandan TV icon Irene Kulabako Kakembo who also directed All Our Children (2008). She seems to have a heart for Children. Well, she surely influenced me a lot while I was growing up watching UTV (Currently UBC). The movie was produced by Tri Vision, a company co-founded by Irene’s husband Joseph Kakembo. If this movie doesn’t make you cry, I promise it will move you somehow. It premiered at Alliance Francaise on Friday 17th June 2011 (World Day against Child Labour). Shot for one week in Kampala en 10 days in Kumi, the rain scene at the beginning was engineered artificially but made very believable and so was the bloody climax when stones fell on the main character’s two boys Yeko en Mariko. Imagine Special Effects in UG, those rocks falling on the boys in the gorge are actually sponges (like in a mattress) though they were painted to look like rocks. That’s why the one DSR 250 camera they used wasn’t damaged. During the shooting of this sad scene, a glass was also placed above the camera to minimize the dust falling from the sponges. You just have to watch this to believe me. The sound was also amazing, recorded alongside the video instead of separately, according to Shantos Sekitto (the Sound Man) who also doubled as an actor in the bar scene talking about how to “… turn stones into beer.”
A workshop on Camera, Lighting for film and Film-financing was held the following morning (Saturday) before another mass screening on Sunday, (both events) at the National Theatre en it was very ‘door-unlocking”. In the audience was a jeweler, animator, film maker, accountant, cartoonist, etc. Irene advised, “We (meaning her Crew, though the Actors/Actresses are paid) don’t pay ourselves. We each come once a year to bring something (in form of skills or any other value) to the table… Costs are fuel, food and so forth. Get into groups and work on a project!”
Joseph added, “Money will discourage you… Shoot in phases (even for many weeks)!”
Someone commented that he wished the sad parts were longer so that he could mourn more.
Edu asked Irene the challenges she faced as a director and she said it was during auditioning and casting actors, “Females were few.” Maureen Kibuuka (who acted as Kosai’s one armed wife) was found a week before shooting. They had almost given up on finding the leading actress and Irene, four or five months pregnant then, was contemplating playing the role. Then through someone who knew Maureen, the lady who had always wanted to act in a movie got her first role ever.
Personally, I was mesmerized by the water reflection technique used to film the four kids returning home after breaking rocks. As they get closer to the camera, it pans from filming the water reflection to capturing the upright kids.
After Lunch, the lovely Miss Barbra talked about “How to Keep More of the Money You Make”. Her business presentation defined what being Rich really means. It’s not all about Big Salaries, Cars or Bank Accounts but rather: spending wisely, making money work for you instead of working for it, hiding behind companies, setting goals, managing free time (first 8 hours of your schedule for Jobs, second 8 hours for rest [5 PM to 2 AM] en third 8 hours for your Business), working to learn instead of to earn only, investing in shares plus tithing. Andrew, the animator almost got the squares question right. They looked 16 at first sight as Peninah thought, for me I thought they were only 17 while Andrew counted till 23 en gave up but Barbra revealed that they were actually 30 squares meaning, “Wherever there is a Problem, some people see many opportunities. Instead of complaining about garbage in the city, form a company to collect all of it (en benefit from the problem)!” Irene introduced the participants to a Fixer, someone who finds everything needed in a film project, a job created using this principle since UG lacks professional fixers. Recommended reading was Robert Kiyosaki books. Good Luck!
