MORE INFORMATION
Raised fists against racial monopoly
The murder of Haacaaluu Hundeessa does not kill the hopes of the Oromo people
Jo is a nine-year-old girl, in love with Jackie Chan's flying kicks and who dreams of being a superhero. Armed with a prodigious imagination and a rag doll she calls Supa Modo, she is able to make us forget that she is terminally ill with cancer and unable to lose her bright smile and wonder in her eyes. Her mother (played by Marrianne Nungo) does not want her to go extinct in the hospital and takes her to town. Her teenage sister (Nyawara Ndambia) cannot bear to see her locked up, separated by a fence from the other children, and encourages her to use her magical powers. By the way, she convinces the whole town to play along. Result: the entire community ends up plotting to make her happy, pretending that she can freeze them with a scream or getting involved in the filming of an action movie that she stars in.
This is the argument of Moscow-born Kenyan director Likarion Wainaina's Supa Modo . An ode to optimism, love, community, cinema and superheroes that has much of its director in the footage. Wainaina reveals that she was watching movies in a Kibera hut with Jo's age. "I saw Jackie Chan starring in the legend of the drunk master and right there I knew he wanted to make movies," he confesses. "From that moment on, movies became my comfort." Wainaina also admits that this little gem is much more autobiographical: Kathryn, Jo's mother, is a transcript of that of the filmmaker, single with four children. "In our eyes, she was the most powerful person we met, but one day I passed by her room and heard her cry," he says. "She was broken and injured, but she had to be strong for her children."
Supa Modo opens today, Friday, in Spanish cinemas, where it has received the qualification for all audiences and is recommended for the promotion of gender equality. Delicious and brief film (just 74 minutes), with the participation of One Fine Day Films, the producer of the German Tom Tykwer who collaborates in the development of cinematographic art in Africa. It premiered at the Berlinale two years ago and has garnered more than 40 awards at international festivals, including the Audience Award at the Seattle Children's Film Festival, CineKid Amsterdam and various awards at Cinetopia, Ale Kino! and the Minsk, Minneapolis or Portland film festivals. She was Kenya's Oscar nominee.
Illustrations
Contrary to what happens most of the time (we already witness the Marvel or DC universes), this film has jumped off the screen to be captured on paper. Three Spanish illustrators and cartoonists, Natacha Bustos, Marina Vidal and Xulia Vicente, were inspired by Supa Modo to recreate Jo's story, interpreted with sincerity and courage by little Stycie Waweru. The experience was so gratifying for all and the Spanish distributor of the film was so excited that they now fable how to prolong Jo's story through a comic.
The promotion of Supa Modo has had the statements of this triad of women, which in turn overlaps the triad of women who stars in the film. Bustos affirms that "despite playing a sad subject, it reflects it in a very optimistic way, with lots of light, while transmitting the entire environment of Kenyan culture that is rarely seen in theaters." Marina Vidal is captivated by Jo's relationship with her older sister and also the camaraderie with the other children in the town. Xulia Vicente chooses to highlight light and humor and points, fascinated, to how the choral cast "helps to shape the girl's voice".
Supa Modo is not just a film: it is the result of a joint training initiative by the German producer One Fine Day Films, DW Akademie and Ginger Ink Films Africa, supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, the Goehde Foundation and ARRI Half. It is the continuation of a philosophy and line of work that began with Soul boy (Hawa Essuman) and Nairoby Half Life (Tosh Gitonga).
It came to Kenya as a development project, with a "mini film school". Likarion Wainaina presented the story in January 2017 during a script development workshop. Four writers (Mugambi Nthiga, Silas Miami, Wanjeri Gakuru and Kamau Wandung'u) accepted the challenge of creating a script that would be shot just five months later, in July 2017, entirely in Kenya. Twelve international film professionals traveled to that country to mentor nearly 100 filmmakers from the mainland while filming the film on the outskirts of Nairobi. In cooperation with the Goehde Foundation, Kenyan film music composer Sean Peevers traveled to Germany to rehearse and record the music for the film together with Junge Orchester NRW.
Beyond all these data, a communion of knowledge and experiences, it is a beautiful, sincere film, full of heart and hope, which knows how to touch the soul, amuse and provoke reflection and tenderness. A good plan to leave home and return to the newly opened movie theaters.
Jo's three brushes
The country
Natacha Bustos (Ibiza, 1981) is a cartoonist known for various works, such as the graphic novel Chernobyl-La Zona (Glènat, 2011) or Lolita HR Volume 4 ( Eidola Editions). He debuted in the United States participating in an anthology called Strange Stories # 3 , for Vertigo comics, which is followed by his participation in other comic books for the Marvel publisher such as SpiderWoman, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur or Runaways . He currently draws Buffy Vampire Slayer: Willow with scripts by Mariko Tamaki for Boom Studios.
Accompanied by her cat, Marina Vidal (Barcelona 1993) draws all kinds of fantasy and science fiction covers. Sometimes she also makes comics about strange things or tells the misadventures of her life in a webcomic. He began by illustrating the collection of 21 volumes of The Five , for Editorial Juventud. After this work, other commissions came to make the cover of renowned authors: Orson Scott Card, Robert A. Heinlein, Tad Williams, Barbara Hambly from Blok label B's No Limits collection, and Brandon Sanderson through Ediciones B. She has also participated in the project Yeguas: Grandes Mujeres interpreted by great illustrators from Ediciones Invisibles in Argentina, designing and illustrating her cover. His work has been recognized by the Spanish Association of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Terror , nominating in 2017 with an Ignotus for the best illustration. At the 36th Barcelona International Comic Fair, they nominated Medievo; Medievo as the best Spanish fanzine of 2017, project in which he has participated. At the 69th British National Science Fiction Convention she was selected for a sample of illustrators from Spain. In charge of the official covers of Mai Mes llibres and of the books in Catalan by Terry Pratchet.
Xulia Vicente, born in A Coruña in 1993, moves to Valencia to study the Fine Arts degree, which ends in 2015. She publishes her first graphic book-novel, Anna Dédalus: The Mystery of the Burned Mansion , together with Miguel Ángel Giner Bou and Núria Tamarit. Soon he published his first comic again with Núria Tamarit, Duerme pueblo . In addition, he has collaborated with Jot Down , Arrós Negre , Oiga Mire Mañana , Lis en Fleur and Meinstrim . She coordinated the BBAA Comic Club and is a co-founder of the Sacoponcho fanzine .
