‘Kapana’ on international winning streak

PHILLIPE Talavera’s movie ‘Kapana’, which features Adriano Visagie and Simon Hanga, recently scooped two more international film awards.

The prestigious Free to Be Me Award in the Netherlands and the best actors award at a ceremony in France.

According to Talavera, ‘Kapana’ has won eight international film awards so far and has been mentioned or nominated in countless more. He attributes its success to the bravery of the two main actors.

“I think it’s partly because it is the first LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex and other) film from Namibia. Considering that such relationships are still criminalised, it is a brave film, and simply a beautiful love story. We need love stories after two years of Covid, many restrictions and a bad economy. The characters are relatable, and the story is realistic, and beautifully shot and acted,” he said.

Talavera added that the film is a medium-length feature film.

“’Kapana’ is not short, it’s a medium-length feature. Different mediums are adapted to different stories. We couldn’t have done ‘Kapana’ as a short [feature]. We needed more time, but we also didn’t feel it should be too long. I think we must tell the stories we want to tell – no matter their length,” he said.

The award-winning director says the film industry in Namibia has the potential to be grow.

“I think Namibia has a huge potential and many stories to tell. We need to diversify funding, the industry is too reliant on the film commission and can at times be seen as incestuous, with the same people benefiting time and again. But the potential is there, and I think the future is in collaboration- within SADC (the Southern African Development Community) and even beyond SADC. We need to stay true to the stories we want to tell but we also need to expand our minds and work with other people,” he ended. -unWrap.online

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