7 YEARS Directed By Bram Vergeer

Indie Express: Tell us about your film?

Bram: 7 years is a short film about homosexuality in Kenya. Being who you want to be is not as obvious as it seems sometimes. Having fought the battle for individual rights on most grounds in the Western world, in many developing countries individual freedom still is something to achieve. In Kenya society is modernizing rapidly. Still; it’s dealing with traditional values of religious, tribal and neo-colonial background. Homosexuality is a criminal offence punishable with 7 years imprisonment.

7 years explores the background of this fact and shows how gays and lesbians manage to live in a hostile environment. Finding a job, treating family, going out and sex are daily issues homosexuals in Kenya are dealing with. From a pastor to a male sex worker, 7 years gives a voice to a group of people who are normally used to keep quiet.

IE: How did you come up with the idea for the film?

B: I lived in Nairobi (Kenya) for almost a year and through a friend I met a lesbian girl. Her sometimes sad and worrying and sometimes funny stories inspired me to start this project.

IE: How did you assemble your production team?

B: There is no team, I did everything myself.

IE: How did you find your cast? 

B: I got in touch with various gay and lesbian people through this friend of mine and through other friends. The scene of homosexuals who are out of the closet and active in Nairobi is quite small. Apart from people within the scene I approached a pastor and several people from NGO’s for an interview.

IE: How long did the film take?  (From conception to final edit)

B: About 6 months.

IE: Tell us a little about your process of directing (writing) this film.

B: I never work with a script. I composed a list of topics I wanted to address and questions for the people I interviewed. Their answers determined the story of the film.

IE: What was the most difficult part of the shoot for you?

B: Convincing people do be interviewed in front of the camera. And looking for funds (as always…).

IE: Any particular moments from filming that stand out for you?

B: The interview with the pastor. I was working on a short film about the history of the Baptist Church in Nairobi. Then after 20 minutes of talking about that I out of the blue told the pastor about the other film and I asked him if he wanted to answer some questions about the subject. He was quite surprised but willing to answer all questions, which actually surprised me!

IE: Tell us about the film’s festival experience so far?

B: 7 years is a low budget project and I am a amateur filmmaker who never had any filming education. The film is now screening at in total 13 festivals across the world. I myself attended the screenings in Brussels, Amsterdam and London. It’s nice to hear that people from all different background come especially for the film and are full of questions after the screening. Normally the Q&A lasts for over an hour. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the Frameline screening.

IE: What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

B: Won’t be there..:(

IE: What has been your most interesting Q&A so far?  What was your favorite question?  How was the dialogue afterwards?

B: I think the one at the London LGBT festival, Europe’s biggest. Over 160 persons attended the screening, it was sold out for two weeks. 7 years was screening with The Beirut Apartment, a film about homosexuals in Beirut (Lebanon). First people were comparing the two very different films which turned out to be very interesting. Later a Kenyan girl asked a question about how I think Africa should be depicted in films and how I try to do that in my work. I generally think Africa is being depicted in a very superficial and strange way by the common media and films. People around me think that Africans only suffer and die of hunger and war. In my films I  try to show how Africans live their lives and how they actually have a lot in common with the way people here live their daily live. For example in 7 years you see that gay and lesbian people have to deal with a lot of difficulties being who they are. But on the other hand they are living an ok live, they go out and do similar things as people here. That surprises many people who see the film, and apparently also the Kenyan girl in the crowd. I think she’s used to having a different picture of her home country and was surprised by the way 7 years looks at Kenya.

IE: What films or filmmakers inspire you?

B: Filmmakers who work independently and approach filmmaking from scratch, without looking at the discourse that exists. This creates often very interesting and inspiring and renewing films and documentaries.

IE: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

B: I studied Film and Television science but after three years of only reading about film I decided to grab a camera and start filming. My first film was a short feature of a script based on the short story Destiny by Ethan Coen. This no budget project was a relative success and coincidently brought me to East Africa for the first time, now for a docu about the hiphop scene in Tanzania. Then things started rolling…

 IE: What is next for you? 

B: I just got back from Morocco, I’m a tourguide as well. After the trip I tried to make a short film about the gay scene in Marrakech, supposedly the ‘gay capital’ of Northern Africa. This turned out to be very hard since no one wanted to be interviewed in front of the camera, the subject seems to be even more delicate in Morocco than in Kenya. Anyway I made a short video statement about the situation in Morocco, this can be seen on http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=hbWu0ilcoQ0. Through this statement I got in touch with the Dutch NGO Nafar and at the moment we are planning to join forces and look for funds to make a bigger budget documentary on homosexuality in Morocco, hopefully somewhere the end of this year.

IE: What is next for the film?

B: The film will be shown at different festivals across the States and in Europe. I will try to attend the screenings when possible. I also hope Frameline Distribution will be able to generate attention for the film in North America. The more people see the film the better!

IE: If asked to give one piece of advice to a new filmmaker making their first short film… What would it be?

B: Go on doing your own thing, don’t let anyone tel lor force you to stop. In the world of digital filmmaking we now live in anyone with a (hd) camera and a laptop can make a film. Don’t try to let yourself be guided by money, you can also make good quality no budget films and do some kind of a part-time paid job aside, that’s what I do all the time.

IE: What question would you like to be asked about your film? 

B: Hmmm…I would like to discuss more about the portraying of Africa in films or documentaries made by Wazungu (foreign/white) filmmakers in black Africa. People from Africa always seem to be very picky about the way Africans are being depicted, no matter what film it is, it is never right. On the other side films that portray African society in a ‘different’ way always gain a lot of attention in Western society. Things here seem to change at least a little bit, it would be interesting to see how this change is being seen through the eyes of Africans. Ah so the question would be: ‘How do you think you portray Kenyan society in your film(s) and how would this be seen by Kenyans.

IE: What is the Answer to that question?

B: I try to create a picture of the way people in Eastern Africa live their daily lives. This means the problems they face but also their daily pursuits like music, love, family, religion, etc. Of course a filmmaker always makes films through his or her own eyes which means that it can’t be 100%’ objective’. But I try to picture it the way I see it day in day out and the way I got to know people like they are. I noticed that Kenyans react in various ways to the film. Some love they way it pictures Kenyan society in a different way than usual, some say it’s still a white man’s point of view and therefore (automatically) wrong.