Child actors: Introducing children to the film industry

At the end of it all, Hon. Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, then State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, intervened and somehow reigned over the matter. But that was because Fresh Kid was a rapper, whose music videos, such as Bambi, and various performances had garnered a lot of attention.

Since Fresh Kid emerged, many child rappers have since come up to challenge his dominance, and the audience has embraced all of them in different ways. Many of these children are from a background of lack, and they have been given bursaries and scholarships to further their education.

Children in film

Just across the entertainment spectrum is the film industry. Unlike music, the film industry is still finding its footing on the scene. 

Recently, when MultiChoice opened its local channels Pearl Magic and Pearl Magic Prime, there was a resurgence of the film industry.

With many of the shows that went on air, there was JDC, short for Junior Drama Club. What made JDC different from any show that Pearl Magic Prime had ever aired was the fact that the show is mainly driven by child actors.

This wasn’t the first time children were at the helm of a film project, but it was probably the first time it was on a major scale. And it was a process the public had followed from inception; JDC had been developed about two years before it initially went on air. Then, the lead characters were the two Mutesasira siblings, Esther and Ezekiel.

However, between that pilot episode and the MultiChoice Uganda commission, a lot changed, and the final show looks a bit different from the pilot on YouTube.

Before JDC, director Jayant Maru had tried his hand on a children’s film, K3nt and Kat3, in 2015. It is an after-school adventure where two friends, Kate, an orphaned girl, and her dyslexic friend Kent, leave school to return a science practical fish to the lake outside the city.

The premiere at Metroplex Cinema in Nalya was sold out but over 90 percent of those in attendance were children who kept agreeing or disagreeing loudly with what they were seeing on the big screen.

"Working with children is always surprising but rewarding; they always give you 100 percent," Jayant Maru said in an interview after his successful premiere.

Directing Nkinzi

Another director with experience with children is actress turned producer and director, Rehema Nanfuka. She has worked with children in theatre projects and, of late, her new film Nkinzi.

Nkinzi is also a children’s adventure where a young girl, after overhearing her parents arguing, believes she was the problem and runs away from home to the streets, where she ends up with two siblings who already live there.

"I have worked with children in theatre, but I had not worked with children that were freely children; their attention span is little. To tell you the truth, it is a little challenging, but it is rewarding," Nanfuka says while appearing on an X (formerly Twitter) space.

While working on Nkinzi, Nanfuka says she was surprised that child actors easily got their lines, even faster than adults, and they would often call each other out when they made mistakes.

"I think when working with children you’re dealing with a blank canvas; they don’t have pre-meditated ways to act, thus they are more accepting, and probably because they are still young without rent and bills to worry about, they usually get their lines early," she says, adding that working with children also taught her to be more accepting of everyone.

Nkinzi was shot early this year during holidays, though a show such as JDC, which is continuous, has been going on even during school days; thus, the scheduling has been tricky for the producers at times. But besides all that, children at times work when they want to, not when they have to, and you have to understand them.

"There’s a fantastic actor we have, but when we were shooting the pilot, he did a scene, and in the middle of it he said he was tired. We convinced him, and he refused; we had to shoot his other scenes the next day. It was one of the fastest days because we didn’t know if he would change his mind again," says Manzi.

Manzi says usually they have conversations with parents to know the state of the child on a particular day. Some apparently show up after fighting for a toy with their brother, thus transferring the energy on set.

"There are times you try to shoot a scene and the child is not in it, you give him a break and probably interchange his scene with another child or just hold it altogether for another day," he says.

JDC being a series, parents always need the assurance that it is not going to interfere with their children’s education; thus, Manzi says they have three teachers on set.

"We consult with the teachers to see where they are respectively with the syllabus, and the three teachers we have on set help them ensure they are not left behind. In fact, last year, one of our cast members got aggregate four and five," he says, adding that not compromising the children’s education is the only reason parents give them their children.

Opportunities

Nanfuka says, unlike many years ago, there are more opportunities for child actors in the business today than many years ago. For instance, she says the lead actress in Nkinzi, Baby Passion, does skits on TikTok, where she has over one million followers.

"I think a child doesn’t have to wait for a role; they could start with the social media platforms," she says.

Manzi, on the other hand, believes there are many opportunities in storytelling for children, but most producers don't want to take that risk.

"Every person's story has a child or has to involve children," he says.

Nanfuka, however, took the risk with Nkinzi, which stars three children, Baby Passion, Simon Peter Walusimbi, and Princess.

Nkinzi premieres at Wonder World Auditorium in Kansanga next week.