Cinema
Mama Tumaini
Synopsis
In Dar es Salaam, two women meet, one black, the other white, both of whom have come because of their husbands: Lisbeth follows an expatriate husband, Mama Tumaini leaves her village because hers has found a job in the city. Across the barriers of colour, status and money, a friendship develops between them, in a story drawn from a real event of the seventies.
Context
The film was produced with the help of the Norwegian cooperation agency, from a screenplay by the Tanzanian Tololwa Marti Mollel, with a largely African crew and cast; the cinematography is by Selemani Kissoky and the music by four composers from the two countries. The playwright Penina Mlama plays the lead role. Shot in Tanzania and Norway, in Swahili and Norwegian, it runs for one hour and one minute and was carried by Norwegian public television. Scandinavian cooperation was then supporting Nyerere's ujamaa socialism for longer than most donors.
Who it is for
A film with limited distribution. The context of Scandinavian cooperation and the absence of national production sheds light on how it was made.
Prizes and reception
Shown at the Kristiansand International Film Festival in 1986, it was not released in cinemas in Norway.