By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK He is confident that despite a negative review in Variety, an important barometer for the international film market, the feature film, ‘Namibia, the Struggle for Liberation’, will be able to recoup the government’s investment of more than N$80 million. This is the view of the executive producer of the film, Uazuva Kaumbi, in an interview yesterday after his return from the United States. The film was screened at the Los Angeles International Film Festival recently. “Every film has its critics with different motives for their writings, and thus it came as no surprise to read the negative comments by Robert Koehler on the variety.com website. As Namibians in particular, and Africans in general, we should never be discouraged by futile analyses that are designed to diminish ourselves,” Kaumbi said. He recalled that when the film project was started six years ago, there were many negative voices from the serial prophets of doom. “These prophets then said that this film would not see the light of day. Well, guess what? The film has been successfully completed. There is no human project that proceeds smoothly from beginning to end, and the final product will always have its weaknesses and strengths. “Namibians must therefore congratulate themselves for having embarked on a project of this magnitude – a project never before attempted on the African continent, one about Africans telling their own liberation stories, using a very powerful medium,” said Kaumbi. He is expected to submit a report on the film’s screening in America to the Namibian Film Commission soon. Kaumbi said there was a war of ideas going on out there – a war for the hearts and minds of the people of the world. “In this war, some ideas and modes of presenting the ideas are preferred in order to continue to hide the truth. The Namibian movie is challenging this monopoly and as a result it is expected that it will be criticised for all the wrong reasons. Robert Koehler is entitled to his views, but he is in the minority.” Close to 300 people saw two screenings of the film in Los Angeles. “Almost everybody who spoke after the screenings was full of praise for such a monumental project. In fact, some of the points raised by Koehler as problem areas were cited as strong points of the film, e.g. the many languages used reflect the linguistic diversities of Namibia. Some people were impressed with the fact that a film could be made with 150 speaking characters. Add to that the fact that it chronicles a history of close to six decades, and you have an epic on your hands,” he said. This is a special African film that is radically different from the normal patronising Hollywood stuff that shows poor and helpless Africans being rescued from themselves by some benevolent white man on a white horse and who then rides into the sunset. “It is not a popcorn movie where people will normally sit for 90 minutes while being pumped the usual dose of meaningless messages. The Executive Director of the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF), Ayeku Babu, was so impressed with the film that he invited it to be showcased at PAFF in February 2008,” he said. Kaumbi said other festivals that have shown interest in the feature film on the life of former President Sam Nujoma include The Vancouver Pan African Film Festival and the Oakland Film Festival. “As a result of the screening at the LA Film Festival, there are distribution companies that are interested, for instance Universal “Focus Films”, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate, and the California Newsreel Distributors. Special additional screenings will be held with these companies. In fact, Robert Tarquinio, chairman of Bright Star Pictures LLC, has personally recommended this film to the Director of Acquisitions at Warner Bros, Carl Hampe,” he said, and quoted a Tarquinio e-mail to Hampe that: “I have personally screened this film twice. The film is excellent and has Oscar potential.” Cornelius Moore from California Newsreel Distributors has personally written to express interest and has requested press materials and a DVD screener. “This company has been distributing films since 1968, especially films on social issues. Starting in the 1970s, California Newsreel dedicated itself to aiding the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggles through their Southern Africa Media Centre project, and since the end of apartheid it has broadened its focus to include African cinema and films about Africa,” he glowingly spoke about the distribution company, which he considers to be the distributor of the largest collection of films from and about Africa in North America. There are countries that supported the Namibian liberation struggle, and the USA is not one of them. “It is thus expected those countries will be less comfortable with the content and style of the film. We are confident that distribution deals will be finalised soon to ensure that the funds invested in the film are recouped. Just like we persevered to complete the film, we shall persevere to sell the film in spite of, or perhaps because of, people like Robert Koehler,” he said. A definite date will be determined by next week on when, Namibia, the Struggle for Liberation, will be premiered locally.