Fally Ipupa dialed in to AfroBerlin to talk about his first acting role in Rumba Royale and the Congolese superstar said that having tried his hand at acting, he’s up for more.
Rumba Royale is an historical thriller set in the Democratic Republic of Congo before it achieved independence from Belgium in 1960. A session on the movie wrapped the first day of AfroBerlin, the successful event taking place during the Berlin Film Festival and whch shines a light on filmmaking in Africa.
Rumba Royale is set in 1959 Leopoldville, the capital of Belgian Congo, which is now called Kinshasa. The movie plays out against the backdrop of a Rumba club as locals and Europeans take in the nightlife, while independence is just around the corner. Ipupa plays Danel, a bohemian photographer.
Ipupa – aka the Prince of Rumba” – has millions of monthly listeners on streaming and is one of the biggest music stars in Africa. He said that he applied a work ethic honed in the music biz as cameras rolled.
“You can’t have a career like mine if you don’t put in the work, talent alone is not enough,” the star said as he joined the Rumba Royale chat from the U.S. via Zoom. “That’s why even before the shoot, in the rehearsals, I was putting in the time.”
Time, however, was an issue for the music star during production, he said: “I’m a very busy man, the most complicated thing was to fix my schedule because I was on tour when we shot the movie.”
The star was joined by co-star Melanie Bokata, U.S. cinematographer Ronny Law, writer Kevin Dwyer and producer-director Hamed Mobasser as the Rumba Royale team lifted the lid on the project.
Mobasser co-directed alongside Congolese helmer Yohane Dean Lengol. He said Ipupa was the hardest working actor he has ever seen. “It’s a little bit intimidating, even as a director, to work with a big star and to show up on the first day, and we’re there at seven o’clock in the morning waiting for the crew, and Fally is the first person to show up. He is sitting there waiting for the makeup artist.”
The hope is Rumba Royale will break new ground for the filmmaking sector in the DRC and Africa, Mobasser explained. “We want to use this movie as something like an icebreaker, to show producers the potential to make movies – and quality commercial movies – in Africa.”
“If with this movie, we can show that we can get audiences to the cinema and not only in Congo, also in Ivory Coast, Cameroon and French-speaking Africa to start with, and then beyond, it is a very nice blueprint.”
Session host and Deadline’s International Featured Editor, Diana Lodderhose, quizzed Ipupa on whether he’s up for more acting now he has a movie under his belt
Mobasser translated to English as Ipupa slipped into French in his reply, and relayed the star’s answer. “He really had fun, he enjoyed it, and obviously didn’t do it for the money. Of course, if there’s another project that would come along, he would have to do it.”
