We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tisa Chigaga a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

It’s such an odd thing. When I first moved to NYC, my mental image of it was pure ruthlessness. Everybody out for their own, nothing but vultures and thieves at your back. This was especially scary to me as I didn’t really know anyone, and didn’t have much money. So, it might strike you as strange to hear that I can’t quite single out the kindest thing, as I have experienced unfathomable support and generosity in my time here.

Most filmmakers know that the hardest thing about making a film, even an amateur one, is the funding. None of my films have had much of a budget attached. But my network showed up and out for me in countless ways. My friend Steph has spent hours upon hours shooting and editing, and has never asked for anything in return. Friends have offered me their homes to shoot in, have taken over hair and makeup, have even joyfully offered me accommodation when things got rough. My crew, who are also my friends, donated their time, and stuck by my side through even the most challenging of shoots. My mind can seldom wrap around the abundance that has surrounded me in this city as I pursue my dreams. But then again, this could also have something to do with my commitment to prioritizing the success, happiness and well being of my friends. I take pride in things like  turning up at the crack of dawn to volunteer on friends’ shoots, helping my friends move and passing along paid gigs.

So, that leads me to a piece of advice I would like to share. They say networking is everything. And it is. But I don’t think that it means meeting hundreds of people you form surface level business oriented relationships with. I think networking means putting yourself out there, and building mutually supportive relationships with the people you feel genuinely drawn to, and see yourself growing to love. I think true networking is about the earnest commitment to love and support those on this same strange journey with you, and having the humility to accept the care and devotion they offer you too.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a filmmaker, who also works as program manager of a film festival. I enjoy my nine to five as it involves giving African creatives, who are quite often sidelined and marginalized, a platform of uncensored expression.

But…I adore filmmaking. Writing my screenplays can soothe my mind on even its most troubled days, and nothing makes me feel more alive than being on set. I say without reservation that all filmmakers should be proud of their work. To have an idea, get in on paper, and mobilize collaborators to build the vision .., truly, that is an incredible feat. What more for an African woman! Presenting our stories and enabling a demographic that is often overlooked to see their lives, heartaches and struggles being finally acknowledged is an unspeakably fulfilling experience. My hope is that as I grow more and more deeply into my womanhood, my work will cut deeper into the souls of those I hope see my films as a reflection of.

For instance, my first short film, Frieda, was a semi biographical film about my aunt’s struggles as an undocumented migrant in the USA. I got my aunt to play the lead, and was honored to have provided her with an experience that she described as cathartic (after so many years of socially and legally mandated repression). But notably, the response from migrants, not just from African ones, but from those all over the world, gifted me with an education I would not have otherwise received without my film. In this way, I have come to see that for me the value in filmmaking is much more than just the joy of creating. Through film, I learn so much more about the world, myself and my relation to it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I like to tell my friends that I ran and ran from film and yet it would never let me be. Ironically enough, we weren’t allowed to watch much tv or film as young children. My mom was very strict in that regard, and my little brother and I probably had five or six films on VHS that we watched on the weekends. But I went to college, and my friend introduced me to indie and world cinema. I saw this film called Tropical Malady and it blew my mind as I had never imagined cinema could be anything other than the few blockbuster studio productions we rotated.

And so began my secret love affair with film. It had to be a secret, as, like most African children, we were encouraged to pursue traditional high earning careers, especially as art, sport and culture don’t offer much financial stability in Zambia. I began my career in finance, eventually landing in the NGO sector. I soon felt I had stalled. Despite my best intentions, things just seemed like one big case of Murphy’s Law, as if I was always covering ground but gaining no traction. So, I thought finance wasn’t for me, and pursued my lifelong desire of opening the first full figured lingerie boutique in Lusaka.

Most new businesses fail in the first year, mine only seemed to go from strength to strength. I sold out my first inventory, which I had estimated would last about six months, in my first six weeks. I managed to put together decent savings, and had a more than modestly comfortable lifestyle. But after the glow of success wore off, the old feelings came creeping back in. Despite how much I enjoyed running my boutique, I couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of my life in business. I felt trapped by the budding enterprise I had built, and also by the unwillingness to leave my family. I tried to find filmmaking opportunities in Lusaka but the industry was so small, and I found it quite difficult to meet people as well. Finally, as a joke (haha), I applied to a few prestigious filmmaking MFAs. I didn’t think anything of it, but to my surprise, I got into them. I didn’t have the money to attend, but I took the admissions as a sign that maybe I had what it takes, and maybe with some courage I would be alright. And guess what? I am. I can’t pretend it has been easy. The past few years have been the hardest I have ever known. 2023 nearly ate me alive! But I have not looked back, and I know I never will.

So, it may sound cliche, but I now believe that more often than not, faith is rewarded. And I kind of see that everything happens for a reason. I needed to fail, and then get what I thought I wanted, to find what was truly meant for me.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Dialogue! Zambia is a culturally conservative nation, with traditional gender norms strictly upheld. Most women prefer to stay seen and unheard, as vocal women are often branded as troublesome, and God help the woman with that kind of reputation!

As a child, I was highly inquisitive. My mother is a progressive woman. She indulged my curiosity at home, but I was always aware that my impulse to question the status quo would never be tolerated outside of the cozy chats we had hanging out in her bedroom. I often felt so frustrated. I had so much to ask and so much to say, but you can only get silenced and shamed so many times before you do not have the strength to do anything but what society demands of you.

But it feels different with a camera. Maybe it feels less in your face to people than actually having to listen to a woman speak. I feel that cinema has removed the stigma from being a woman that yearns to explore, and who knows their thoughts and their voice are as worthy as anybody else’s. Through my work, I have investigated the origins and relevance of the gender norms that have structured our national life, and have even gone as far as to implore my fellow Zambian women to observe the extreme internalized misogyny that renders us incapable of imagining any system that differs from our patriarchal own. But the true reward in all of this is that people respond! Not always to me, but to each other. Removed from the heavy confines of reality, we are able to talk in an often objective manner, creating dialogue that would have been too uncomfortable to partake in without film. Indeed, by transferring our thoughts onto the characters we observe, film gives us an impersonal vehicle to express our sentiments, and when you are in a society where expression isn’t always considered a good thing, cinema becomes a powerful tool.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @tisachigaga
• Facebook: Tisa Chigaga
• Linkedin: Tisa Chigaga (@tisachigaga)
• Twitter: @tisachigaga

Image Credits
Tyreek “TJ’ Spencer. Instagram: t.j_spencer