Zara’s Garage
Logline
In Dosso the native noble families of the city have long avoided certain jobs considered dirty, leaving this work for migrants. Now with economic hardships, the young people are turning to jobs considered medieval. We follow Zara as she trains with Daniel, a migrant from Benin, to be a mechanic.
Synopsis
Dosso is a city in transformation, where old reference points are being challenged. The tradition of this community forces those who are native to it to give up learning and practising certain trades. It is the Tchékanda, people from elsewhere, who in this unusual socio-cultural theatre come to populate the city to make a career in these denigrated sectors. Attentive to this urban dramaturgy the director, Bawa Kadadé, tries to understand the evolution of this city and decides to go and meet the signs of its metamorphosis, notably embodied by Zara, a native Dossolese who defies the prohibitions by practising a man’s job as an apprentice mechanic to Daniel, a young man from a Beninese family. Between misunderstandings and determination, Zara tries as best she can to make her own way.
Director
Bawa Kadadé
Bawa Kadadé, Nigerien, is a teacher by profession. For about ten years, he has been interested in documentary filmmaking. He participated in several training courses and film meetings before obtaining in 2016 a Master 2 in documentary filmmaking in Saint Louis, Senegal. He directed the short film Le Cheval, Malick et Moi and co-directed the feature film Ecole des Otages as part of his Master’s degree. Etincelles was his first feature documentary. His second documentary film is Tchékanda, those from elsewhere. Today, Bawa devotes himself entirely to serving the culture and presides over the Association CulturePlus in Niger.
Producers
Martinel Nemalieu
CULTUREPLUS PRODUCTION
Martinel Nemalieu has been living in Ngaoundéré for more than twenty years. After leaving Paris he studied there for his secondary and higher education. Very early on, he became interested in photography, and when the opportunity arrived he held a camera which marked the beginning of a love story that continues to this day. In 2001, Martinel developed a project for an audiovisual production company that culminated in September 2008 with the creation in Ngaoundéré of ONORE Ltd. Corp, of which he is the director. Martinel has directed and produced several documentary and fiction films.
Don Edkins
STEPS
Don Edkins is a South African documentary filmmaker and producer based in Cape
Town. He has produced documentary film projects that have been broadcast around
the world, such as Steps for the Future, Why Democracy? and Why Poverty? earning
multiple international awards, including an Oscar for Taxi to the Dark Side, and the
Special Teddy Award at the 63rd Berlinale for Steps for the Future. The Peabody
awarded Why Poverty? Project, with documentary films from 21 countries, was
screened globally by 70 broadcasters. He is Executive Producer of AfriDocs, a free-to-
view VOD platform and broadcast strand across Africa that screens the best African
and international documentary films. He is currently producing a new documentary film
project with African filmmakers across the continent, Generation Africa, around the
theme of migration. He is a mentor for the Berlinale Talents, Durban FilmMart, and
Docs by the Sea in Indonesia, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Tiny Mungwe
STEPS
Tiny Mungwe is a documentary film and arts producer. She currently works at STEPS
(Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects) where she produces Generation
Africa, a pan-African anthology of 25 documentary films from 16 countries in Africa, on
the topic of migration. Mungwe’s films include Akekho uGogo, a 48 minute
documentary about urban youth culture, which screened at several festivals including
the Durban International Film Festival, Apollo Film Festival and DOKANEMA Festival.
Her short film script Evelyn was selected for the National Film and Video Foundation
(NFVF) Women Filmmaker Project and she directed another short film in the program,
Daddy’s Boy. She has written for some of the highest rating South African television
dramas such as Muvhango and Matatiele, and was one of the directors on the series
Uzalo. For several years she worked as a festival organizer and programmer for four
international festivals, namely Time of the Writer, the Durban International Film
Festival, Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival and Poetry Africa. During that time she also worked on the program for Durban FilmMart (the co-production market of the festival) and Talents Durban (a career development program for emerging African filmmakers in partnership with Berlinale Talents). She continues to work as a program curation associate for the Durban FilmMart. She also programmed and curated the city of Durban’s inaugural book and art fair, ARTiculate Africa.
