‘War Witch’ featuring Mizinga Mwinga as Great Tiger

Nguyen, 38, the Canadian-born and half-Vietnamese director and screenwriter of the highly-acclaimed War Witch, was anxious on the red carpet. “It’s the Oscars and you’re nerve-racked,” Nguyen told The Daily Beast. “I didn’t know how it would turn out.”

Even though Amour ended up snagging the Oscar, the fruition of Nguyen’s hard work came with the success of his film throughout the past year, when it racked up awards and nominations from prominent international film festivals.

Ten years ago, the seed for War Witch was planted in Nguyen’s mind when he read an article about 10-year-old, chain-smoking twin brothers, Johnny and Luther Htoo, who led the God’s Army guerrilla group in Burma (Myanmar), and were believed to have spiritual and magical powers. However, War Witch takes place in sub-Saharan Africa instead of Myanmar.

“I started reading up on the Burmese story, but then it led me to stories about Angola and Sierra Leone,” Nguyen said. “I realized that 50 percent of child soldiers are girls, not just boys. You see this censorship of not seeing girls as soldiers, and only seeing images of boy soldiers. I wanted to give a voice to it.”

The story follows three years in the life of Komona (Mwanza), who is kidnapped at the age of 12 by rebel soldiers, strapped with an AK-47, and forced to kill opposing forces with the utmost brutality. When she becomes one of the few survivors of a shootout, Great Tiger (Mizinga Mwinga), the leader of a guerrilla group, labels Komona as a witch with a sixth sense, capable of bringing his soldiers to victory. Tied into this bittersweet story is her romantic relationship with a 15-year-old child soldier (and albino) named Magician (Serge Kanyinda), their fleeting moments of happiness in an attempt to escape their terrifying world, and how she is haunted by the ghosts of her past.

The movie was filmed over four months in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic of the Congo, and Nguyen undertook an impressive feat, not only in shooting in a war-torn country, but also using a mostly Congolese cast—about 90 percent of whom had never acted prior to his movie. He had to take a unique approach to directing his actors, a method he intends to use for future films.

“We planned to shoot this chronologically and not reveal the scenes to the actors,” Nguyen said. “We only let them know the scenes a day or two ahead, so to give the actors an edge. They didn’t have to act in anticipation of the next scene. This is something I’d like to keep—this effervescence, the vibration that is this process.”

Another reason for this organic directing method was that Mwanza—who delivers a stunning and powerful, naturalistic performance—didn’t know how to read or write at the time they shot the film. Nguyen and his team have since put her in a re-establishment program for schooling and home care in Kinshasa, and she is now in her second year of the program. She even has a Facebook page and writes updates every now and then to let them know how she’s doing.

As for Magician—the strong-willed love interest of Komona, his role was never scripted to be an albino. When Nguyen and his crew were casting for the role, first-time actor Kanyinda—who is endearingly nicknamed “Eminem” in his hometown—was upset that he didn’t get to audition on account of his not fitting the look for the part. He was then given the opportunity to try for the role and turned out to be the best actor for the character.

“As an albino there, you’re either repudiated or chastised as a mistaken child with problems,” Nguyen said. “Or you can take that to your advantage and make yourself unique—it is rare—and that is what Serge did.”