Business screen magazine (1946)

Irs ROUGH BHOOTING IN AFRICA Philadelphia producer runs into real trouble in Tanzania. GS ARE GETTING ROUGHEK ;ill over ;hc dtKumcnlary film producer. : and more, in the places he goes. and is out. and he can't shoot s he pays off a hundred unwanted s. Not only that, but in many tries it's getting more difficult to loi .It all. even in tourist-oriented 1. because of government hin ces and impossible-to-get-prior ^ ances. I rhaps more typical than not is ieilor\' of Sam Mirabello. of Sam ti bello Enterprises, Inc., a Philalliia area producer of ecological religious documentaries. Recently ■ned from his second trip to East », where he has produced three mentaries for the Africa Inland ion and the Reformed Church in rica, Mirabello reports that East ;ans are becoming increasingly suit about photography. Most of he believes, is caused by tourists r to capture the blanket-clad li tribesmen on film and willing p generously for it. But even way near Lake Rudolf in northern ^a, which doesn't get a dozen touri year. Mirabello found that every I in the village was out expecting lent from the film-maker. And Teas one shilling ( 14c) ased to be idered plenty in most of East ». the Turkana tribe in the Lake »lf area now think nothing of askten shillings apiece. This is diffiif not impossible, on a missionary budget. Even the missionaries, iiselves. who work in medical cs and schools in the area, threw jember/October, 197 i up their hands in despair at trying to keep their patients and students from badgering the cameraman for tips. The film, by the way, is being made to raise more funds for more clinics and more schools for the Turkana peopie. But Kenya, and the Kenvan people, are generally friendly to strangers. Not always so in adjoining Tanzania, where Mirabello and his crew ran into real hostility. Shooting some mission activity near Mwanza in westein Tanzania. Mirabello was picked up by four Tanzanian Criminal Investigation Division plainclothes men and accused of photographing without a permit, despite the fact that local authorities had assured him that permits were not necessary for making a religious documentary film. Taken to the police station, the filmmakers were questioned over and over, third degree style, for six hours, about what they were really doing in Tanzania. Mirabcllo's SJ 5, ()()() worth of equipment was confiscated. (It is probable that the recent palace revolution in nearby Uganda had made Tanzanian security people more than a little suspicious of all strangers, especially of what some of them consider to be American "imperialists.") The arresting officer said he would ask for a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a 2()(M) shilling fine for wilful violation of lan/anian laws: photography without a permit. The Mwanza missionaries advised Mirabello that the best way out would Sam Mirabello on location In East Africa. be to plead giiilts and ask for mercy of the court, which he did. and was sentenced to two months in jail or a 300 shilling fine. "It was too good to be true," Sam Mirabello says, "I had visited an African prison once, and it's something to avoid, believe me. We gladly paid the fine." With the case seemingh settled, the confiscated equipment returned, and a valid permit now in his pocket. Mirabello and his crew started for his next location assignment in a leper colony about 100 miles from Mwanza. But in the middle of the day, the missionaries got word on their short wave that the CID men were not satisfied with the verdict and were still after the camera crew. So, it was decided that the onl\ thing to do would be to get out of the country as fast as possible. For two days, Mirabello and the missionaries raced through dirt trails in little visited parts of the Serengeti plains to finally make it over the border to Kenya on an unmarked road. DcKs this experience discourage Sam Mirabello? Not at all. He plans to return to Kenya and Ethiopia next winter on another film for the Reformed Church. "Those missionaries are doing a great job out there, and it's a story that ought to be told." he says. "Besides, the climate and scenerv of Kenya can't be matched, and the government is stable and friendly." But he'll think twice aKnit trying to make films in Tanzania again. Coniintud on page 28 27