Vuta N’Kuvute
Vuta N’Kuvute (Tug of War) based on Adam Shafi’s award-winning Swahili novel, is a coming-of-age political drama about love and resistance set in the final years of British colonial Zanzibar. The film weaves through 1950s coastal culture across the divides of class and racial segregation that were imposed by the colonial regime. Denge, a frustrated and rebellious Zanzibari young man who is part of the freedom struggle against British rule meets Yasmin, a recent runaway Indian-Zanzibari bride whose equal rebelliousness drives her to seek her own independence. Their romantic but forlorn relationship is coupled with the daily struggles of finding their place in the resistance movements for independence.
After running away from her newly wedded, Yasmin faces rejection from her own family at home. She seeks refuge at a friend’s house in the Swahili quarters of segregated Zanzibar, immersing herself in an oppressed yet effervescent culture that she had always been secluded from. Her initial self-indulgence is brought to question by the selfless woes of the people around her. Her own awareness is contextualized by a larger struggle for self-reliance of an entire people. Denge and Yasmin meet in a romantic setting lit by lanterns throwing shadows across rusty windows and washed down walls. We find Denge more engaged in youth decadency rather than in revolutionary struggle. Although his conviction for the fight for Zanzibar’s autonomy is clear, his youthful frivolity betrays his ideological calling. He is a portrait of a frustrated young man on the verge of giving up but his fighting spirit is reignited through his passion for Yasmin. Yasmin, naïve to the attention and freedom of young men her age, finds herself part of a struggle that leads to her own self-awareness.
Vuta N’Kuvute is a story of a people, the self and the other. It ties together struggles at all levels of oppression in a colonial society into a history of one people, a free-er people.
Vuta N’Kuvute | 2021
Love and revolution swirl against the warm tides of 1950s Zanzibar in Tanzania’s first period drama based on the novel by Shafi Adam Shafi, directed by Amil Shivji.
Awards
Tanzania’s official submission to the 95th Academy Awards
Winner Best African Feature Yarha Film Festival 2023 - Yaoundé (Cameroon)
Winner Jury Prize Afrikaldia 2022 - Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain)
Winner Best Feature Film Tanzania Film Festival Awards 2022
Winner Best Set Design Tanzania Film Festival Awards 2022
Winner Best Screenplay Tanzania Film Festival Awards 2022
Winner Best Supporting Actress Tanzania Film Festival Awards 2022
Winner Best Production Design Tanzania Film Festival Awards 2022
Winner Best Set Design Tanzania Film Festival Awards 2022
Winner Best Film Africa Movie Academy Awards 2022
Winner Best Actress in a Leading Role Africa Movie Academy Awards 2022
Winner Achievement in Soundtrack Africa Movie Academy Awards 2022
Winner Best Film in an African Language Africa Movie Academy Awards 2022
Winner FIPRESCI Prize 33 rd Carthage Film Festival 2022 – Tunis (Tunisia)
Winner Cinematography Award 33 rd Carthage Film Festival 2022 – Tunis (Tunisia)
Winner Tanit D’or Award 33 rd Carthage Film Festival 2022 – Tunis (Tunisia)
Winner Best Feature Film Zanzibar International Film Festival 2022 (Tanzania)
Winner Best East African Feature Film Zanzibar International Film Festival 2022 (Tanzania)
Winner Best Actor Zanzibar International Film Festival 2022 (Tanzania)
Winner Special Jury Prize Seattle International Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Winner Best Long Fiction Mashariki African Film Festival 2021 (Rwanda)
Winner Oumarou Ganda Prize for Best Fiction FESPACO 2021 (Burkina Faso)
Winner Doha Film Institute Post Production Fund Spring 2020 (Qatar)
Winner Visions Sud Est Post Production Fund 2020 (Switzerland)
Winner World Cinema Production Fund 2019 (Germany)
Film Festivals
Official selection 45th Moscow International Film Festival 2023 – Moscow (Russia)
Official selection Festival de l'AUBE 2023 – Basel (Switzerland)
Official selection Joburg Film Festival 2023 - Johannesburg (South Africa)
Official selection Africadelic Festival 2023 – Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Official selection 17th African Film Festival 2023 – Missouri (USA)
Official selection Qumra 2023 – Doha (Qatar)
Official selection Al Ain Film Festival 2023 – Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Official selection Cinemas et Cultures D’Afrique 2023 - Angers (France)
Official selection Honolulu African American Film Festival 2023 - Honolulu (Hawai)
Official selection 45th Moscow International Film Festival 2023 – Moscow (Russia)
Official selection Festival de l'AUBE 2023 – Basel (Switzerland)
Official selection Joburg Film Festival 2023 - Johannesburg (South Africa)
Official selection Africadelic Festival 2023 – Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Official selection 17 th African Film Festival 2023 – Missouri (USA)
Official selection Qumra 2023 – Doha (Qatar)
Official selection Al Ain Film Festival 2023 – Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Official selection Cinemas et Cultures D’Afrique 2023 - Angers (France)
Official selection Honolulu African American Film Festival 2023 - Honolulu (Hawai)
Official selection 45 th Moscow International Film Festival 2023 - Moscow (Russia)
Closing Film Qisah International Film Festival 2022 – London (UK)
Opening Film Africa in Motion 2022 – Glasgow (Scotland)
Opening Film Afrykamera 2022 – Warsaw (Poland)
Closing Film 13 th Karama Human Rights Film Festival 2022 - Amman (Jordan)
Official selection Afrika eye Film Festival 2022 - Bristol (UK)
Official selection Watch-Africa Film Festival 2022 - Wales (UK)
Official selection 27 th International Film Festival of Kerala 2022 - Kerala (India)
Official selection AFRIFF 2022 - Lagos (Nigeria)
Official selection 20 th Festival des Cinemas d’APT 2022 - Apt (France)
Official selection Nicho Novembro 2022 – Sau Paulo (Brazil)
Closing Film FilmAfrica 2022 – London (United Kingdom)
Official Selection 8 th Africa Film Festival New Zealand 2022 (New Zealand)
Opening Film 28 th Afrika Alive Film Festival 2022 – Frankfurt (Germany)
Opening Film CinemAfrica 2022 (Sweden)
Official Selection 12 th LOFT Film Fest 2022 - Arizona (USA)
Official Selection 11 th African Film Festival - Hamburg 2022 (Germany)
Official Selection Virginia Film Festival 2022 - Virginia (USA)
Closing Film The Festival Cinémas d’Afrique 2022 – Lausanne (Switzerland)
Opening Film Cologne African Film Festival 2022 (Germany)
Nominated Best Feature Narrative 11th BlackStar Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Official Selection Mostra de Cinemas Africanos in Brazil 2022 (Brazil)
Official Selection The Festival Cinemas d’Afrique Lausanne 2022 (Switzerland)
Official Selection 43rd Durban International Film Festival 2022 (South Africa)
Opening Film Zanzibar International Film Festival 2022 (Tanzania)
Official Selection Centrepiece Film New York African Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Official Selection Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Official Selection New African Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Official Selection Ottawa Black Film Festival (Canada)
Official Selection Toronto Black Film Festival (Canada)
Official Selection Halifax Black Film Festival (Canada)
Official Selection Cascade Festival of African Films 2022 (USA)
Official Selection Milwaukee International Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Nominated New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize Palm Springs International Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Official Selection Pan African Film Film Festival 2022 (USA)
Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2021 (Canada)
Credits
Produced By -Steven Markovitz & Amil Shivji
Executive Producers - Neil Tabatznik & Lucinde Englehart
Co-Producers -Tamsin Ranger & Nicole Gerhards
Written by - Amil Shivji & Jenna Bass
Director - Amil Shivji
Assistant Director - Rita Wachera
Second Assistant Director - Cece Mlay
Unit Production Manager - Bill Odongo
Line Producer -Justine Gitahi
Production Manager -Cindy K., Kate Mumbua, & Edwin Kariuki
Dop -Zenn Van Zyl
Edited by -Nadia Ben Rachid & Mathew Swanepoel
Assistant Camera -Meshack Otieno
Key Grip - Ramadhani Hamis Kondo
Gaffer - Rajab Mohamed Mkungwa
Head Electrician -Saul Ogada
Sound Recordist - Frederic Salles
Post Production Facility Refinery
Audio Post Production Facility - Audio One
Music By - Amine Bouhafa & Amélie Legrand
Script Supervisor - Lilian Sundqvist
Casting Director - Mona Mwakalinga
Costume Designer - Hawa Ally
Hair & Make Up Artist - Faudhia Gingi
Production Designer - Emilia Roux & Eliudi Mwanyika
Prop Master - Kifua Compound
Cast
Denge -Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika
Yasmin- Ikhlas Gafur Vora
Mwajuma -Siti Amina