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The trials and tribulations of making an independent film in Tanzania, East Africa were a challenge but at the same time, it was a great and wonderful adventure; an adventure of the spirit.
Bagamoyo was the first stop for the cast and crew of MAANGAMIZI - THE ANCIENT ONE. The former slave port was unsettling and especially intense for the African Americans, as the whole town is teeming with slave Spirits.
It reminds one of the Spirits that abound in New Orleans. The Old Fort was our primary location and at one time had served as a holding place for the slaves. Supposedly, there was a tunnel leading out to the Indian Ocean, which was still used until slavery ended in the early 1900's. The Catholic Church owned a parcel of land and in an attempt to stop the trade, it would buy slaves with the intent to free them, however, a sale was a sale and only encouraged further transactions.
THE MANGROVES
In the 1990's Bagamoyo remained a remote location and so,for the most part remained untouched -- as if time had stopped. The Spirits, however, were and still are very much alive. Joshua Bee Alafia, another African American crew member (also a filmmaker who's film, "CUBAMOR" was shot in Cuba) upon arriving in Bagamoyo, and affected by the surrealness of it, repeatedly said that we had brought him to the roots.
"Roots" very aptly describes Bagamoyo--the word literally translates into "lay down your heart" for it was the last stop before the slaves were shipped out. Being in Bagamoyo was like walking between the worlds. With so much of New Orleans as my roots, I personally felt quite comfortable, even with a room that overlooked the Church's old graveyard --it helps knowing that both Oya and Kali have groomed you. Sometimes while shooting, I would gaze at the rising smoke from the Hindu crematorium, it would remind me that we all have the same basic destiny. Nonetheless, there was always a sense that you were being summoned by an unseen force, but you never quite knew what they wanted.
Each morning, the locals would question us as to how we had slept the night before. It seems that Bagamoyo holds an infamous reputation, in that it is the place where people all over Tanzania go to do their curses. So if someone was upset with you, they might say as a threat, "tomorrow I go to Bagamoyo." This was to let you know that a curse was being placed on you. Interestingly, I would venture to say that the Spirits of Bagamoyo had never had a group quite like us on the scene--a group coming in love, coming to tell a story about love, compassion, forgiveness and healing.
In spite of its reputation, all I could see was its beauty. The cast and crew were quite exceptional, especially since they had no hot water and the water buckets they showered from always had our favorite mosquitoes (who had become blood relatives overnight) skimming the surface. BarbaraO had the best solution, she was always burning incense--thick, frankincense and myrrh. When you walked into O's room there was zero visibility. It must have worked because she never took any of the malaria medicine and she never became sick.
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