Will McBain, a journalist and current Jesus College staff member, is part of a film production team that recently won a prize at the Raindance Film Festival. 

The Raindance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the UK. Held in central London each autumn, it attracts thousands of visitors, including industry professionals, and is officially recognised by BAFTA, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the British Independent Film Awards.

 

Will, along with co-director Michael Kinsella-Perks, won the Short Films: Documented People category for ‘Elephant Food Is for the Strongest Teeth’. The 14-minute documentary explores the ancient Nigerian martial art of Dambe, and follows Kano City champion ‘Ebola’ who is preparing for a clash with his rival Ali. With close-up cinematography and an original soundtrack, the film celebrates community and conflict, faith and superstition, beauty, and brutality.

The film was praised for its intimate storytelling of a brutal theme, and its original narrated score. Will says, “From the outset we wanted to foreground local voices, so we worked closely with Kano’s community of fighters, trainees, musicians, and fixers, to tell an authentic story from the perspective of the people who live and breathe this ancient sport. We were aware of African narratives being overshadowed in the media, and we wanted to make a compelling piece that would cross borders”.

 

Will, who is working at Jesus until March 2023 as the Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub Coordinator, is a journalist who normally lives in The Gambia. He writes on West African politics, business, and culture, and has a passion for under-reported stories from the region. His work has featured on Aljazeera, and in The Independent and the African Business website. A serendipitous chat with co-documentarian Michael one evening, Will explains, led to the idea of making a film about Dambe; “We discovered that we had both read an article about the sport, and on a whim, we decided to reach out to one of the article’s contributors, Abdulaziz. He reassured us that it would be possible to film a close-up portrayal of the fighters we had read about, and was, in fact, friends with the sport’s most famous fighter, Ebola”. 

With a name like Ebola, you might envisage a fight-hardened warrior, but Will found him to be a friendly and welcoming man, and a pillar of his community. “And yet” says Will, “he is someone who has a switch that enables him to take part in an incredibly brutal sport. He is also someone unafraid to have his animist beliefs publicised, despite living in a region that’s battled Boko Haram for well over a decade”. 

A typical Dambe contest will see two fighters compete, with the aim of subduing the other in to total submission, usually within three rounds. It’s a brutal sport and serious injuries are not unusual. Capturing Ebola’s battle with Ali on camera was one of many challenges the documentary film crew faced.

Will says, “In 2018, the Nigerian army was back on the offensive against Boko Haram, and the heartlands of Dambe, in Nigeria’s north, was in the middle of the conflict. Kidnapping was now rife, and by the time we met our protagonist (after a 24-hour journey by plane stopping in four countries in the Middle East and Africa) the bulk of our self-funded budget had been spent on the one insurer willing to underwrite a new film crew travelling to the region against all sensible advice”.

Having spent many nights researching the archives of some of London’s oldest libraries for information on the sport, the team had a rough storyboard in place, and so were able to start filming as soon as they landed. They used borrowed equipment, and fitted the shoot in around their day jobs. “We also knew we had little time to gain Ebola’s trust” he says, “and just two weeks later, we shot our final scene: one of Ebola’s pre-match rituals, in which, guided by an animistic priest, he inhaled snake venom off the horns of a goat”.

The resulting documentary not only captures the powerful visual nature of Danbe, but also the atmospheric music and chants that accompany the bouts; “We loved the energy and virtuosity of the drumming and singing that accompanies every Dambe contest. We partnered with a local musician, Yusuf Musa, to create an original score, which also serves as the film’s narration”. Additional materials were sourced from the many vendors that frequent the events, including DVDs with fights dating back half a century, which provided another texture that helped to build the documentary’s gripping multimedia opening sequence.

On their return to London, Will and Michael’s film was quickly picked up by two production companies. Now, four years later, they’re excited to be able to share it, and the beauty of Dambe, with the world. Will says, “Elephant Food is For the Strongest Teeth is a passion project born out of two friends’ shared love of film, music and boxing. After finding our subject, research showed it had seldom before been represented on film, and never in a way that brought the nuance, emotion and spirituality of the sport to life. The Raindance award is a huge honour, and to see the sport and the Dambe fighters and musicians of Nigeria get greater recognition, is a huge buzz for us”.

So what’s next for the filmmakers? Well first, there’s a possible trip to the Oscars. “The Oscars contacted us a few days after winning Raindance, to welcome our application for Oscars 2024. It’s amazing to be invited to apply, so we’ll weigh up whether to wait for that, or try and sell the film now. For future films, I’d like to continue to explore how spirituality and conflict, and music, interact with certain captivating individuals, and put that to film”.

 With such Oscar considerations underway, the release date for “Elephant Food is For the Strongest Teeth’ is yet to be confirmed. College members will be updated in due course.