Movie production is my talent - Niyoyita

HE is a man who loves suspense. That is why his short film, Mutoni leaves everyone in suspense after watching it. At the end you’re left asking, what happened next?The 11-minute film produced by Roger Niyoyita stars Elizabeth Ibyishaka, Eric Rwigema and Ramadhan Bizimana. The film transcends the border between the dead and the living. Mutoni was one of the two short films produced during the Maisha Film Lab in September and was recently shown at Goethe Institute as a curtain raiser to the movie, Warchild. Warchild, or Stille Sehnsucht-a 2006 film directed by Christian Wagner.What is even more interesting about this film is that the audience is left in a trance. The character dies and the audience has a sneak review to watch heavenly life, as compared to earthly life? It’s one of those thought provoking films where those who watch it will discuss more long after the movie ends what actually followed.“I normally want to create something different. In most of the movies, you just know what’s going to follow and you can guess even from the start how they are going to end. Look at the Nigeria movies, almost all of them are quite predictable.”Niyoyita says that his love affair with the film started when he was only ten years old. Born in 1976, he says that in 1986, he was part of extras in a movie Gorilla in the Mist. “This is when I discovered that I had strong passion for movies and I have never looked back. Watching people playing about with big cameras and lights inspired me.”Niyoyita says years later, his father opened a cinema hall. He worked at the cinema before he joined secondary school and this experience exposed him to the world of movies. “It was me to choose which movie was to be screened on a particular day. I liked action movies; Vietnam movies, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Sylvester Stallone.”Niyoyita went to Arts and Media College in 1999 to follow his passion where he took a course about script writing and how to tell a story. After five years, he proceeded to Rwanda Cinema Centre where they had tutors from different parts of the world.“Here it was exclusively doing cinema unlike the college where you had to mix both practical and theoretical lessons. We really learned a lot at the center.” He thereafter jumped straight into movie production and among the titles under his belt includes, Urugamba Nk’izindi, which he describes as the first ever feature film produced in Rwanda. The movie is about domestic violence that’s rampant in Africa.He adds that when he produced the movie, he was overwhelmed by the reception it got since many people came to like it, and this made him to be proud.But after this, he stepped out of the limelight in production but continued to do production for other people. Last year, he says that he started doing a TV series production with episode one and will start the next episode when he gets enough funds. He is one of the script writers and production manager of the movie, Ubu N’ejo. It depicts a normal life of young people, how they live and discover themselves.He observes that Rwandans have talent in different fields such as in movies and advises those who want to go into the movies to use their talents so that the country can boast of a vibrant film industry.“There are some stories that are yet to be told. These stories can only see the light of the day when we have more talented people in the industry,” he says.

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Movie production is my talent - Niyoyita