Lamata and her 14 year journey in the Bongo film industry

One of the most renowned names in the halls of film industry in Tanzania is Lamata Leah, Founder and Managing Director of Lamata Village Entertainment, a film making company which has groomed and worked with multiple talents in and out of the country.

Lamata’s passion for films started when she was still a pupil at Wanging’ombe Primary School, where she liked to draft every imagination that would cross her mind.

She first wrote stories for the fun of it. She later started to barter trade her stories whereas she would sell the same stories that she had written for the food that was sold at school.

One story would give her breakfast, lunch and dinner at school since that very same story would pass by hundreds of hands, and every person who wanted to get a glimpse or a continuation of her story had to give her food.

“There was a habit of buying written stories with Soda or Buns. So, whenever a person wanted to read a new story or continue to read the previous story, they were supposed to buy me one bun and a soda,” she narrates. At times she would sell the stories for a portion of rice or butter that was afterwards put in porridge.

“I had made imaginary rules whereas no reader would give out my story to another person without my permission since every reader was supposed to trade food for my stories before reading them,” Lamata recalls.

In 2008, Lamata made an official entry into the film industry after she had just finished seventh grade.

“My first move in the industry was to join an art group specifically for acting. It was called ‘Amka’. It was a group that aired their works in ITV. Despite the fact that I had introduced myself as a scriptwriter, one of the actresses who helped me join the group advised that I should start at the acting level before reaching the scriptwriting level,” she details.

As much as she did try to act, Lamata’s desire to singlehandedly write an act kept growing by the second.

She started to offer assistance when it came to script writing for different shows in the group and with time, her talent started getting recognized within the group.

“I then wrote ‘Ndoano’ and it was received well. It exposed me to multiple film legends in the industry. ‘Ndoano’ led me to meet Johari Chagula who connected me to ‘RJ Company’, an entertainment company founded by Ray Kigosi and herself. I started working as a production manager until when I met Jackline Wolper who started taking me through film directorial steps,” Lamata recalls.

“I was first assisting her in sets but I was also watching every move that she made in order to understand her role better. She was the first person to write my name as a director in the casting,” she further details.

Around the time Lamata was getting lessons from Jackline Wolper, she met actress Jennifer Kyaka, with whom she started writing other acts with.

In 2017 Lamata landed a deal with DStv after she made a demo to ‘Kapuni’ series. Not only did the series pave the way for her career, but also the series shone light upon her name as one of the talents in Tanzania’s film industry.

“The film industry in Tanzania is male dominated, but I am seeing a new wave of women running it and that is a piece of cake. When I was still trying to make my name known in the industry, I came across a lot of challenges that in one way or the other have built me.”

“There was a time in my career I was denied of a directorial role by the main character because my talent was belittled as it was aligned with me being a woman as well as it was related to my previous roles. The main character told the whole team that ‘I cannot be directed by someone who used to clean after us and carry our purses, it’s humiliating!,” Lamata remembers.

She says the producer of the film was forced by the main character to choose between Lamata and the character.

As she left the set, Lamata silently manifested that in the future she would write a film and the main character that humiliated her in front of the whole cast would be part of it; she later breathed life into the manifestation.

“Looking back to my career and my experience, I wish I had been more confident of myself and my creativeness. For so long, I was discouraged to the extent I sided with people who did not see eye to eye with me being ‘a woman director’,” she smiles.

Lamata is currently directing a television show called ‘Juakali’ casted by multiple talents in and out of Tanzania including Mimi mars, Nigeria’s Van Vicker, Romy Jones and Godliver Gordian.

Originally, Juakali’s idea came to life as it was related to a food market located in Mbeya that is also called ‘Juakali’.

“I come from Mbeya and growing up, Juakali market had always been there. It is a market that is characterized by really underprivileged business people who try to earn a living in unhealthy working environments. When I asked for the reason it’s called Juakali, I was told it is because the conditions surrounding the sellers at the market are inadequate and poor with inclusion of the sunny weather,” Lamata explains.

She further says “With that, I wanted to highlight difficult conditions that people go through; at work, in relationships, in marriages and the like.”

In Tanzania film awards competition that took place December 2021, Juakali took home eight awards and one of the awards was won by Lamata as the best director.

“There are young people out there who would one day like to make a name for themselves in the film industry. I want to tell them that there are few things they should be willing to do; they have to love their work, they should not focus on the money because they will give up before they know it and lastly they should envision their work on a higher level as they grind to make their vision come true,” she says.