Claire Nampala Christine has always had a special love for film. As a child she was involved in various community drama productions so its unsurprising that this unquenchable passion carried through to her adulthood. The professional social worker and human rights activist who also works with Foundation for Human Rights Initiative has had a successful career in the film industry as an actress and producer that spans over 10 years.
However, the seeds of starting out her own production company was planted when she witnessed a woman being abused, she was so touched by her story but had no avenue to put it out there apart from using film. “When you see issues happening in your area, you feel like you want to speak them out”. She also realized she could combine her two passions, human rights and film, and had many stories about human rights that she wanted to tell and educate people about but the challenge was, producers and directors would ultimately take ownership of her films.
“I could also not find someone who could tell my story the way I wanted it to be told”.
In 2013, she made up her mind and launched Red Pictures Production, a company that produces educational films about human rights, educates people about their rights and promotes young talent like aspiring screenwriters, actors, among others. After the official launch, came tasting the waters with her first film project 2014’s ‘Run The World’, which was no smooth sail.
“I had to get my salary which I was getting at FHRI to pay the crew team in order for me to make the project happen. At first I told my team members to come voluntarily which they accepted because they believed in me. The only money I had to budget for was for the director, editor, cinematographer and equipment plus money for the logistics. It was a hustle but I had to work with what I had”.
Despite the challenges, the project turned out a great success, bagging 5 nominations and winning an award at the Pearl International Film Festival.
This fueled Claire up. She dived into her next project ‘Natural Wealth’, about land and children rights followed by ‘An Angel’, addressing early childhood marriage and domestic violence, however they didn’t get to see the light of day due to the footage getting corrupted by virus and the main actor leaving the country.
Claire did not give up. She bounced back harder with ‘The Forbidden’ but unfortunately she didn’t find its cinematography and editing satisfactory so she shoved it away and decided to redo it.
She launched a search for a new team that she found and luckily they were so passionate about the film, believed it and gave it their best. The film was premiered in 2018 and is her greatest and most successful project to date. The film has bagged over 67 nominations local and internationally, 13 awards, local and internationally like the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award in Nigeria, Real Time International, Golden Movie Awards (Ghana), Amakula Film Festival, Zanzibar International Film Festival, Viewer’s Choice Awards, and most recently it was nominated in the 2019 African Film Festival in Dallas, Texas.
Claire is currently working on two new projects that she will be unveiling soon. Red Pictures Production employs 27 people and recently started recruiting drama and film students from different institutions of learning for internship.
The challenges that she has encountered since she started her journey as an entrepreneur in the film industry include inadequate finance. “My salary wasn’t that much but I could sacrifice the little I heard to bring out my first story.” Additionally, high expectations from the cast and crew that she couldn’t meet and a bad temper that has seen her lose some great actors but she is working on it. However, Claire believes any problem can be solved by having the right people around.
“There’s nothing that can’t be solved when you have people. When you have challenges, consult people and ask for guidance on how to overcome them”.
Reflecting on her journey and a fear of failure are the things that keep her going when things are not going so well in the company.
“When I reflect on where I have come from, I keep strong. When someone promises and fails to deliver, we tend to lose hope but when you remember where you started from, you keep going”.
Claire advises aspiring entrepreneurs to always be mindful of time.
“You can’t negotiate ‘time’. We do things unknowingly but time is not there to wait. When you think of something, do it immediately.”
