When the “Da Yie” saga, in the running for the Oscars, is told to us

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Da Yie has since won twenty-five awards at festivals around the world. Thus, at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Leuven Short Film Festival and the Indy Shorts International Film Festival, these are real keys to obtaining an Oscar nomination.

An immersive work around a children’s story

The action takes place on the Ghanaian coast. Matilda and Prince, two young children, are recruited by a stranger for a dangerous mission. Once this is accomplished, he plans to deliver them to his gang. But after a long day spent with them, he’s not so sure he wants to follow through on his original idea. Directed by Anthony Nti, born in Ghana and arrived in Belgium at the age of ten, from a screenplay by his film school friend Chingiz Karibekov, born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Da Yie is an immersive work that allows you to dive into the lives of its young characters. Anthony Nti and Chingiz Karibekov told the Africa Point their crazy adventure.

While it has already won numerous awards around the world, your film has just been shortlisted for the Oscars. How do you experience this success?

Anthony Nti : We never would have imagined that. It is a project that was close to our hearts and that we took a long time to achieve. We have worked hard to make it happen. Chingiz Karibekov had already finished his studies, but, for me, Da Yie was the film for my graduation.

It was only in a second step that we thought of distributing it and offering it to festivals. After being distinguished in Belgium, he won the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand. For us, it was amazing to win there among all these great quality great movies. Since, Da Yie has won other awards and we are very grateful to all who appreciate it. Everything that happens to us today is just a bonus.

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What inspired the story of Da Yie ?Anthony Nti : During my childhood in Ghana, I was involved in situations that could have ended badly. It was in 2015 that I had the idea to make a film. I told Chingiz about it and we started to think about how we could build a movie around it. From the start, we wanted to shoot in Ghana, but it quickly became complicated, especially because of the production costs. We then made other films, in the meantime. Over time, other memories came back to me. I started to write a story. For example, the scene where the little boy arrives late at home, and where he is argued by his mother, is directly inspired by facts that I really lived.

Chingiz Karibekov : I confirm, it really happened to him (laughs)! He told me about it when he told me about his childhood. It was the basis of our history. We asked ourselves: “What could happen to him?” ”

The rhythm of Da Yie is quite intense, the images and the scenes follow one another quickly. How would you rate your style?

Anthony Nti : I don’t really know how to qualify our style. What is certain is that we like when the film is rhythmic, in the story as in the way of holding the camera. In Da Yie, the camera is a character in its own right, a child curious to know what is going on in his neighborhood. Sometimes he is closest to the action, sometimes he is retreating. We also like the image to be colorful. It is also, I think, one of our specificities.

What message did you want to convey with this short film?

Anthony Nti : For my part, I wanted to tell about events that I experienced when I was a child. My friends and I were very free, but we also had a lot of responsibilities. There is a very fine line between childhood and adulthood. It’s quite stimulating, but it can also be dangerous. This is also what I wanted to tell.

Especially since these are situations that can be encountered all over the world, not just in Ghana. I saw similar things when I arrived in Belgium.

Apart from your personal experiences, what inspires you?

Chingiz Karibekov : The films that have always attracted us the most are about ordinary people to whom extraordinary and dangerous things happen. We also want to explore the world of the marginalized.

Anthony Nti : We want to go beyond antagonisms. You don’t see things in black and white. In Da Yie, for example, we may think at the beginning that the main character is not a good person. And then we change our mind. We like the idea that things are not what they seem at first glance.

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Why did you each choose to make films?

Anthony Nti : I grew up in Ghana and Belgium. I speak English, Dutch and Ashanti. I can communicate with a lot of people. Making films allows me to speak to the whole world. Cinema is universal. If you really put your heart into it, it allows you to send messages that everyone can understand.

Chingiz Karibekov : I couldn’t have answered better!

Anthony, you have done other works before Da Yie, dont Boi and Kwaku, short films. Why did you choose this format?

Anthony Nti : I made them during my studies at film school. Kwaku was my sophomore movie, Boi that of my Bachelor, and Da Yie, that of the Master. The school encourages us to produce short films. It’s difficult to do more, because we have little staff with us. We are working together at the moment on a feature film and a television program. This is what we want to do in the future.

Chingiz Karibekov : Our next film is the adaptation of the book by Nigerian writer Chika Unigwe On Black Sisters Street. We have finished the script soon. Filming will take place next year.

You co-produced Da Yie with entertainment company Caviar. Why did you take part in the production?

Chingiz Karibekov : As Anthony said, we got into the project in 2015. At that time, we didn’t have a lot of support and understood that we had to empower ourselves to see it through.

In other words, to give ourselves the means to do it ourselves. Financing stays in Ghana, for example. It was not easy, because we had to find a team there, to bring colleagues from Belgium… So we really took part, personally and financially, in the production of the film.

Anthony Nti : We had spent all of our money and were broke. Chingiz has worked for Uber Eats and Pizza Hut. We did everything we could to find the money because after the shooting we had to finance the distribution of the film at festivals. This is when Caviar came to our aid. We had to prove that GivesYie was worth it. This will not prevent us, on future projects, from continuing to invest in production.

Apart from a few recent works like Timbuktu and films linked to the Nollywood industry, African cinema still remains little recognized internationally …

Anthony Nti : It is certain that it is not recognized at its true value. However, I believe things are changing, thanks to streaming and the explosion of video-on-demand platforms like Netflix. These allow the connection of the continents between them. Seeing African films in theaters is still quite rare here, but platforms are offering more and more. And the continent’s productions are increasingly of better quality. There is real filmmaking skills in a continent that even has a dedicated industry, like Nollywood. Suffice to say that Netflix and its competitors are participating in a better recognition of Africa in the cinema of the world, beyond festivals.