Feisal Malik and co-producer and wife, Bushra, film a documentary on poaching in Tsavo. The film highlights the plight of the African Elephant. COURTESY
Feisal Malik is a producer with a strong affinity for wildlife documentary. His latest project “The Last in line” is a documentary on poaching and man’s, historical and current, obsession with ivory which saw him spend seven days in Tsavo East filming elephants.
“I have done a couple of short movies, but my calling is documentary film making. I love doing factual stories. Wildlife film making is my area of interest, although I have done documentaries on culture and history too,” he says.
Mr Malik likes the challenge that comes with producing wildlife pieces. “You do not have a controlled environment and are at the mercy of your subject. You cannot tell an elephant to step out of the shade, or a lion to sit up straight and face the sun! You need a lot of patience and creativity, so as to tell the story well and not bore your viewers.”
This particular piece is his first wholly produced under his production house; Visual Africa. This comes after years of being commissioned by different broadcasters to work for them.
Mr Malik’s love for film can be explained in two words; his parents. His mother gave him the passion and while his father gave him the tools.
“My involvement in the arts started at the age of six when my mother took me to the national theatre to get me signed up in their theatre group. She was trying to live out an opportunity she had missed when she was growing up,” he says.
His father bought him a basic camera after passing his KCPE exams. He got started on photography and when the family went on safari holidays, young Malik would take pictures of wildlife.
That is where the interest in wildlife started; currently he has a growing stockpile of 9,000 wildlife images. When he graduated from university, his father bought him a basic video camera.
All through his school life, he was involved in the drama club. In the last year of high school, he was named the dramatist of the year and after completing secondary school, he signed up with the Phoenix players.
He worked with the legendary late director James Falkland in four productions while at the university.
“He taught me a lot but from there I felt that I was not growing in Phoenix. With some friends I started a theatre group to perform at charities and that is when I started producing, directing, set building and designing,” Mr Malik says.
Although he has moved away from active acting, he does not turn it down when he gets a part he likes. He has been in some local TV productions like Better Days, Papa Shirandula and Tabasamu.
However, when he was joining university in the late 90s the film industry was virtually non-existent. So he opted to pursue a degree in International Business Administration, specialising in management at USIU and started a safari business.
At the same time teaching himself film through books, Internet, attending workshops and taking short courses. He also took any film jobs on the side as he saved to go to the Wildlife Film Academy, South Africa.
“I have been fortunate to get my hands dirty in almost every department of the industry; working as a freelancer, and this has made me a more able producer, as I have a better understanding of the industry due to experience,” says the producer.
He worked as a freelance producer from 2002 before he set up Visual Africa last year. Thanks in part from the encouragement from his wife, Bushra, who is also in the film industry.
One of his projects include “My Zanzibar” which aired on CCTV where he interviewed the late Bi Kidude, an icon in the Taarab music industry. The documentary was selected for the 16th Zanzibar International Film Festival.
Another is on Nigeria’s last Rain forests where he spent two weeks in the forest, without electricity, hot water, access to the Internet, mobile network and cooked using firewood. He just had a small generator that could just about charge his camera batteries.
Having seen the industry grown to what it is now, he points one of the challenges is the lack of trust. “We are still a very small industry, and have to learn to work together so as to grow.
Film makers are perceived to be hecklers or a group who want freebees all that time. That is not the case. We just want recognition that our industry has the potential of earning the country a lot of money. ‘‘So we need to have mechanisms put in place so as to support the industry and create jobs for fellow Kenyans.”
Mr Malik has decided to take a proactive role, apart from being the Secretary of The Kenya Film and Television Professional Association (KFTPA), he also the Kenya representative of DISCOP.
It is a market for buying and selling of content. As the DISCOP rep, it is his responsibility to reach out to Kenyan content producers and tell them about the market and get them on board to come and trade.
“I feel the industry is heading in the right direction, but there is still a lot that needs to be done. I am glad to see numerous institutes of higher learning teaching TV and Film production.
This means that in the coming years we will be churning out young professionals, and this is going to grow our industry further. I feel that the financial sector still hasn’t realised the potential of the business of film, so it is very difficult to access funds,” he says.
Mr Malik aspires to produce his own content for sale as he builds Visual Africa to be a documentary producing powerhouse.
