INDIGENOUS FILMMAKING AND DEFINING IDENTITY
A Keynote Address delivered by Blessing Patrice-AL’OM at the Premiere of the short film ‘NERAT’ hosted by Bodumos Media.
The importance of the indigenous film can only be well established through hands- on engagement in the development, pre-production and principal photography stages of filmmaking.
So, there’s no list of important benefits of indigenous films that are set in stone and a 20 minutes talk simply does not do this evolving topic enough justice.
Indigenous films are well positioned to treat issues of hard work and perseverance, issues of growing old, and ageing as against suicide and depression. Indigenous films can tackle issues ranging from personal etiquette to political leadership and address the menace of disunity amongst tribal brothers because inadvertently, they have allowed an insurgent culture rob them of their identity.
So you see, 20 minutes, simply does not do this topic justice.
So, instead, in 20 minutes, I’m going to make a case for indigenous filmmaking, while talking about one underlying thing that is important in our attempt to achieve societal success through indigenous films.
This one thing, weaves into every facet of societal life, and it is the ability the indigenous filmmaker - indeed the contemporary indigenous filmmaker–has to use the stories of his/her indigenous people as a tool to chart an identity for themselves and invent their culture.
Defining Identity.
As a safe premise, or an underlying importance, if you may; let us say, that the indigenous film is a tool to Define Identity.
Where Identity is, for our purpose, a Self-realization that is birthed by a widely understood narrative of self.
The rationale behind this premise is simple. As outsiders, we are on the receiving end. We are the audience, and in more ways than one, so also are the indigenous people. They are an audience to their own story, eager to have their daily existence put into one purposeful,bigger-picture perspective; because no matter how well we lead our lives, we always need someone else to tell us our lives count for something.
The indigenous filmmaker is saddled with the sacred duty to show his people a definition of their identity, gotten from his/her deep understanding of their culture, language and landscape. And then to show us, outsiders, this identity, defined through the words, thoughts and actions of the people themselves.
The point I’m trying to make here is that, the underlying importance of the indigenous film is that of Identity. The identity that the indigenous filmmaker defines for his/her people, through his/her work, because, there are lots of dangerous things that happen when someone is not telling one’s own story.
So, as an indigenous filmmaker, the question to ask is; What identity are you defining for your audience, your people?
To answer this question, the indigenous filmmaker must decide two things; One, what the story he/she wants to tell, is and two, what the story means.
The story must be of the people, and told by the people, and it is that story that defines an identity for the people.
Culture Capital
Some years back when working on a paper for an IGI Global publication, on using film as a tool for Socio-political stabilization,
I came across the phrase ‘Culture Capital’, and i fell in love immediately.
Culture Capital are those conditions precedent, that a community already possesses or acquires, which enables it become prosperous both presently and in the future.
These conditions refract into several capacities, but are all hinged on one innate foundation.
Until then, it had never occurred to me, that a people could possess in their present state of agreeable poverty and underdevelopment, the economic ability to grow a financially successful future without external help.
So for me it was quite unbelievable to learn that a people’s pass from underdevelopment and poverty, to development and wealth, simply lay in their narrative of self.
This narrative is a simple answer to the question; ‘What do a people conceive of themselves? What is their story of self?’
The idea is that a people can only become progressive through first, a narrative that births self-realization, and this self-realization is what we the outsiders recognize as their culture.
This self-realization becomes the ‘Start-up Capital’ that they will invest in a bid to chart an economic route to bring them financial sustainability — sustenance for their lives, norms, beliefs, goals and the heritage they want to build together.
But the trick is, they must want to build this identity together.
Culture Capital is thus rooted in capacity. The capacity a people have to define their narrative… and to maintain the sort of balance this requires, there must be a deliberate investment into capacity.
Indigenous films are one such tools of capacity. These films construct narratives of the people and these narratives construct an identity for the people… these films are capacity builders….
To Be Continued