NBO Film Festival: Repurposing Trauma as A Tool of Resistance in Mathews Joseph Mkoga and Vinod Mishra’s “Nana”

Nana is about a woman’s struggles with love, intimacy and trauma, which leads to fatal consequences. The feature film, produced by Vinod Mishra and directed by Mathew Joseph Mkonga, mirrors a society where violence against women is often underreported and treated with levity, and shows what it is like when a woman fights back against male chauvinism and the abuse of power.

Set in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, it follows the eponymous protagonist who desires romantic love and intimacy but harbours deep emotional scars from witnessing her mother’s abuse and murder while she was only a child. As an adult, Nana attends therapy sessions to overcome her past and to become open towards finding love and maintaining a relationship without fear. Things seem promising at first for her when she takes special interest in a man she meets at the clubhouse who turns out to be her neighbour. But the near-romance does not blossom as expected, as it is truncated by suspicions and murders. In the end, Nana becomes a killer, a subtle way of avenging the cruelty of men towards her. Nana explains the stages of trauma—how it is incubated, how it shapes, and how often it becomes the only mechanism for resistance.

When approaching Nana, Tanzanian director Mathews Joseph Mkoga simply wanted to tell a story that mirrored the world around him, a story about the perception of love in society and how materialism often overshadows it. He had experienced this in his country where men in power oppressed women and got away with it. This production was an opportunity to present a fraction of the experiences with the necessary realism.“The idea came from our producer,” he recalls, “But I connected to it immediately because it reflected the kind of issues we see in our society: love, crime, and the struggles of women. These are not just headlines, they are realities that happen here every day.”

Mkoga was not just interested in scratching the surface of tragedy with Nana, but aimed to expose the human emotion and psychology behind it. For Indian producer Vinod Mishra, the commitment to the project was both personal and social. As a storyteller who is always moved by what he sees around, he observed how men in society wielded power indiscriminately and without repercussions to gain significant advantage over women. This led to him questioning the norm: What happens when a woman finally rebels? What if her trauma becomes her only weapon?

“I wanted a small story with few characters, told in limited spaces, but powerful enough to hold the audience from start to finish,” he says. “The challenge was to make something cinematic with the barest resources possible.”

While Mishra had conceived the idea, he worked with Tanzanian screenwriter Ignas Mkindi to flesh it out in what became the first draft, before polishing it further with the contributions of Mkoga and cinematographer Adam Juma. With the predominant use of Swahili and little English in a contemporary setting, the storytellers made efforts to cater to Tanzanian realities while aiming for universal resonance.

Bringing Nana to life was no less emotionally draining and technically demanding. For the lead actress Honester Andrew, s a model, it was her first shot at acting. Through intense rehearsals, she was prepared to embody the pain, struggles and contradictions of Nana.

Midway through post-production, the filmmakers lost the raw footage. The hard drive had been corrupted. Months of work evaporated overnight. It was a heartbreaking experience. Yet, bouncing back from the setback, they reshot everything. “The second time was even better because we already understood the rhythm of the story. It became a kind of rebirth, for us and for Nana,” Mkoga says.

Towards the end of Nana, a news report announces that at least sixteen men have been murdered across the city, all linked to an unidentified perpetrator still at large. In one scene, a group of young ladies sit around a dining table, discussing the situation, rationalising the killings as a form of retaliation for men’s inhumane treatment of women in society. It remains unclear who is responsible for the death of her admirer Mr Bonga, or why Nana killed her female therapist. The final, cliffhanger-esque scene reveals a man appearing to flirt with the tempting Nana in a bar. With these ambiguities, the film ascribes to its audience the prerogative of inferences and judgement.

“That ending was intentional,” Mkoga confirms. “We wanted people to keep thinking after the credits rolled. Some see the man as a detective; others think he is her next victim. It is open to interpretation. But yes, we have talked about a sequel, or even a series that explores other perspectives, like the police inspector or Mama Nana’s.”

Under his aegis of his creative and production company, Bongo Brothers Limited, Mkoga has been involved in several projects. His filmography includes Pesa, a short film officially selected at the Hollywood North Film Festival and The African Film Festival, LAWAMA, a TV series broadcasted on local station Azam TV, and Mtalichuma, a short film nominated for the SZIFF, with several other woks that are currently in development.

Nana recently screened at the NBO Film Festival in Kenya. Beyond the festival circuit, it is programmed for digital release, with the filmmakers set to introduce it first through their own streaming app before expanding to platforms like VTV and other distributors.

Seizing the moment, Mishra opens up on the structural problems bedevilling filmmaking in Tanzania, the most prominent being an unreliable ecosystem and distribution network. “There are very few cinemas, no strong distribution networks, and TV stations that can barely pay for local content. You have to do almost everything yourself,” he complains.

But in spite of these problems, Mishra remains committed to excellence in his pursuit as a filmmaker and storyteller committed to excellence. “I want to prove that we can tell world-class stories with what we have,” he says, “and Nana is proof that creativity is stronger than limitation.”