By Bubacarr Gaye
A scholar of African Cinema, film producer and university lecturer, Mr. Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu is back on the film set in The Gambia.
Sankanu obtained a Master’s Degree in Film Studies and a Diploma in Digital Film and Animation in Scotland and Germany respectively.
After 30 years of experience as journalist for both local and international media, Sankanu decided to make a career about-turn into filming. Realising the impacts of audio-visual communication on the future of the country, Sankanu continues to share his knowledge and resources for the production of typical African stories films.
Coming back home in 2017 from Germany, he produced five movies within a year: one in English version, one in Sarahulleh, one in Mandinka and two others mixed documentaries. He launched The Gambia’s premier “CineKambiya International Film Festival (CIFF)” in 2015 which has since had four editions. His production outfit “Sanxaanu Kaggoro Film Kaffo (SANXAAFI)” is a registered organization that uses film as a medium for community development.
“My aim is to produce at least a movie in all the Gambian local languages in celebration of our commonality and diversity,” he explained.
Going back home seeing people watching foreign programs in Latin series, actuated him more to venture into the film again with the mind of changing the narrative; by producing Gambian own content that our people will watch and equally preserve for the next generations. In that, he believes our culture can be highly appreciated.
“The audio-visual or cinema media are among the impactful ways of promoting our cultural diplomacy,” he highlighted.
Being in a continent that is blessed with a lot of interesting stories waiting to be told, Sankanu reiterates his commitment and determination in producing typical African stories that will validate our culture and catch the attention of the global audience.
As a filmmaker who always has a nose and eyes of societal happenings, here are the titles of the movie he first produced: “Pain of Sorrow”. This movie captures the issues of discrimination of disabled people in our societies. “Bleeding Blade”highlights Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), “Kuu Bu Ka Labang” portrays migration and abandonment. while “Hisirinwalleh” tells the story of betrayal of trust. “Kelefa” is a documentary on the epic of war hero, Kelefa Sanneh.
With the nature of his current jobs, lecturing at the University of The Gambia (UTG) School of Journalism and Digital Media (SJDM), as Deputy Government Spokesperson, time constraints have reduced his active film production. Despite that, he did not relent, he kept moulding young people into the field, building their capacities by training, coaching and mentoring them.
“As much as I stay away, film continues to call me back. It is my passion, I have been lecturing at UTG since 2019 and I feel that the film industry needs more input, professionalization and standardization. I do not want to lose my touch, that is why I want to be making films as time permits,” he stated.
Sankanu is currently working on three projects running in parallel: a fictional feature story, based on Gambian folktale, “Masaneh Ceesay” Folktale, a documentary on women in mining and another documentary on the “Kush” drug abuse.
In going through these projects diligently, he did his background research over the past years and equally gave a semester assignment to his university students to go to the field and map stories related to the Masaneh Ceesay folktale from different dimensions, in which they came up with different versions of his originality.
“Having discovered the anthropological and tangible historical evidence of Masaneh Ceesay in Foni Bondali, I decided to focus the film on the Bondali side of the story,” he divulged.
Striving towards realising his anticipated movie of “Masanneh” with the working title of “The Crying Bride” (Manyo Be Kumbola), Sankanu is currently auditioning actors and actresses that will fit different roles including the role of Masanneh Ceesay, Bakary Nuiminko, Fatima Gomez and amongst other film characters. Essentially, his movie on the universal themes love, rivalry and cultural understanding. It will celebrate common value that love knows no boundary and no religion.
Filming will be done now against December 2024. “I am taking time. I do not want to rush and come with a film that will not stand the critics of the global audience. Once we finish shooting, we will do into post production, targeting first quarter of 2025 for the premier.”
On the challenges he is currently facing, Mr. Sankanu explained that film is set in the era of colonialism and getting the necessary costumes and props for the Masaneh Ceesay and other characters is difficult. Similarly, looking for artefacts, making the colonial attires new, the orality of the history, finance and the availability of people among the issues he is working to address throughout the production cycle.
Despite the challenges, Sankanu’s spirit in filming never dampens. He always finds ways to remedy the challenges on his journey of filming.
“Masanneh folktale is largely going to be game changer because it will create a talent pool of young people that we will nurture and harness their potentials into filming,” he stated.
To Sankanu, filming means more than just an art. It is a creative process and an instrument that people can use to promote culture and the image of their countries.
Conclusively, in the journey of nurturing a pool of talented young people in The Gambia film industry that he christened “CINEKAMBIYA”, he advised youngsters to not put money first, but to master the craft and hone their skills effectively. “Money will always follow later,” he says.
“The journey towards the zenith of filmmaking requires sacrifice, hardwork and a lot of determination to learn,” he concluded.
