US filmmaker plans JB movie
Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams this year plans to make a film about Malawi President Joyce Banda’s life.
Williams disclosed this in an interview last week on the sidelines of a conference in the capital, Lilongwe organised by Centre of the Development of People (Cedep) in collaboration with its partners such as Malawi Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV and Aids (Manerera+).
The conference brought together 40 gays and about 80 religious leaders to have a frank discussion on homosexuality based on a film called God Loves Uganda, which was directed by Williams.
Williams said he hopes the Joyce Banda movie will inspire millions of young people globally.
“Your President is a very inspirational person to many people around the world and I want to tell this story about this inspirational woman and the work that her Joyce Banda Foundation is doing to inspire a new generation and other women in Africa.
“I am targeting a global audience, especially the millennial, the young people who need to be inspired to do great things. Here is a woman who rose after surviving an abusive marriage and overcame a lot of obstacles to become a president of a country—only the second woman in Africa to be head of State. All this is very inspiring to young people across the globe, particularly after she was in Time magazine’s Top 100 most influential people in the world,” said Williams.
He said the film will be financed by a company called Citizens of Humanity, which is a fashion line based in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Williams said the company is financing a series of short films about inspirational people doing extraordinary things, adding that apart from President Banda, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu has agreed to have a movie about him.
He, however, said President Banda has not yet formally accepted, but explained that talks are going on to secure her nod.
“We have already been in touch with her people. Discussions are underway, but she has not yet accepted it. I have not worked out the timeline yet, but we should be able to do it over the next four months or so,” said Williams, who also said there are a number of producers and directors working on Joyce Banda movies.
Williams is a respected film maker who started with television news. He has worked for major television networks in the United States such as ABC News, NBC News and CNN before deciding to become an independent producer.
His first independent work was a film called Music by Prudence. This is a story about a severely disabled Zimbabwean girl and her journey from living in her village where everyone believed she was cursed by witchcraft to being rescued by a school called King George VI School for Children with Disabilities.
“She later formed a band after realising that she had this incredible music ability, talent and voice. So, I went to Zimbabwe and made a film about her and we won the Academy Award,” he said.
