SXSW Interview: Djo Tunda Wa Munga, 'Viva Riva!'

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Djo MungaI was fortunate to have a few minutes with Djo Tunda Wa Munga, the writer/director of Viva Riva!, to discuss the movie after I saw it at SXSW on Friday night. Read my review first, to get an idea of what Viva Riva! is about and why I enjoyed it so much.

MS: Would you consider this something of a blaxploitation film?

Djo: I actually have to be honest with you, because people ask me that question thinking that maybe I did it in that sense.  Not really, OK, and because that was not the source of inspiration, even if I like blaxploitation, but I didn't think about it when I was developing the movie. But what I can see is probably in terms of, like expression, in violence and the social tensions that we had were maybe similar to what you had in the 70s and 60s in the black community, that there is a parallel.

MS: I loved everything, I loved that it was very gritty, very visceral. There were some people in the audience who were shocked at the violence, and I'm coming from a background of Quentin Tarantino films, etc. Were you surprised to get that reception, do you think maybe that this was the wrong audience?

Djo: I'm really surprised that people say the film is so violent, because you expect that, I mean, the idea we have of American movies are quite violent.  Maybe that has changed these last years, but I am surprised by that reaction.  But, maybe the audience should be younger and maybe that's like maybe that's their fear, they would relate to it more easily.

MS: Have you come to the fest trying to sell the film?

Djo: No, I came to the fest first trying to meet the American audience. That was the first work because the film is being released in the U.S., which means we sold it already. It's being released the 10th of June, by Music Box.

MS: Regarding the political situation, in the Q&A you talked about the 20-year history of violence. Growing up here in the U.S., very little attention is paid by the media to the situation over there.  There's very little information that most audiences know about that.  Is the situation getting better?

Djo: Well, compared to the 20 years I was talking about, the situation is getting better in the sense that we had elections four years ago, so we have a democracy, but democracy is not all.  People need to have wealth, development, and also human power, human development, which is lacking at the moment, which means the situation is still very difficult.  We're having another election this year so hopefully, things will go well and otherwise I think that really the challenge today is how to get out of poverty and to give education to the masses.

MS: That was something I saw, that a lot of people in the film were looking for money, looking for a way to get out of the city and get a better life.

Djo: Yes.

MS: The sort of racial/nationalistic tension that was going on between the Angolans and Congolese, is that still present?

Djo: At the time when I wrote the script, it wasn't there, but I wanted to talk about the racism that you can have amongst Africans, the way they look down on each others nation, people, and community. But, I wrote that many years ago, and now the tension with Angola is really high.  We've had some really serious crises, and it's not getting better, but I hope it will.  So, it's (the film) just like matching the reality, but that was not on purpose.

MS: The film ends with a shot of a kid playing. Is there a message that eventually all the violence will end and the children represent a new chance for a better future?

Djo: It was more like Riva belongs to a certain period of time, that time is passing, and so we don't know what will come next, but that time is going.

Viva Riva! screens again at SXSW on Monday 3/14 at 4 pm at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar, and Saturday 3/19 at 11:30 am also at Lamar.