Legendary South African actor, John Kani, has noted that plans are underway to ensure the creation of a learning space that will build the capacities and abilities of African youths.
The actor who played the role of T’Chaka; father of T’Challa (the late Chadwick), in the movie Black Panther, stated the pieces of training will encompass and harness the abilities of these individuals in the fields of scripting, acting, and directing.
According to him, this will help grow the African movie industry.
“I am working with the ambassador. We are looking for places to create learning spaces to upskill and upgrade qualities of script writing, acting, directing, and producing of African stories.”
John Kani
He further mentioned he’s been on two different projects and as a result, will have to return to South Africa to his preparation for the opening of ‘The Lion King’, a movie he is been featured.
“I have to complete a movie I am doing in South Africa and then on the 9th probably be on the red carpet for the opening of The Lion King. I have been doing it for the past two projects now.”
John Kani
John Kani is known for portraying T’Chaka in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War, and Black Panther, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Colonel Ulenga in the Netflix films Murder Mystery, and Murder Mystery 2.
‘Nothing but the Truth’ (2002) was his debut as sole playwright and was first performed in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.
This play takes place in post-apartheid South Africa and does not concern the conflicts between whites and blacks, but the rift between blacks who stayed in South Africa to fight apartheid, and those who left only to return when the hated regime folded.
It won the 2003 Fleur du Cap Awards for the best actor and best new South African play. In the same year, he was also awarded a special Obie Award for his extraordinary contribution to theatre in the United States.
Reason African Stories Are Better Told By Foreigners Disclosed
South African actor, John Kani suggested reasons most foreign filmmakers are able to produce better movies that tell the African story, than African filmmakers.
He mentioned that the challenge of inadequate funding results in most African stories either untold or poorly told.
“Why can’t we do a better Wakanda, or a better Black Panther? Why do people from another country tell African stories? This is because they have a big budget.
“When we do movies, we have tiny budgets which cannot aid us to explore the beauty of this continent to dig deeper into the different cultures that come together to create these unique people.”
John Kani
He therefore called on Africans with the financial resources to collectively help grow the African movie industry.
“We need the rich Africans to support the art; television and film industry then we can compete with other countries. On our terms, we don’t want to go there and be allocated to foreign lands with categories of the Oscars, and Grammys but we compete on our little side with them. You can’t go to the main, because we are the main and the beginning of humanity, therefore our work is critically important.”
John Kani
John Kani intimated that another way of improving the quality of movies produced in Africa create a learning space for the production process.
“What we will seek to do is to create a learning space. A young person in Ghana or Nigeria can take a script and develop it and make it an approved, acceptable, and easy to find within the moguls of Nollywood.”
John Kani
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