By Awa Dk Conteh
Pa Modou Cham alias Gambian Odumu is a talented film director, scriptwriter and actor. He has attracted both national and international attention in the world of film as well as recruited more than hundred young Gambians and foreigners who have the passion to showcase their talents in the movie industry.
Gambian Odumu has undergone series of filmmaking courses and became the founder of the famous Gamstars Movie Production, a production that built media and public attention for the past five years. His production house aims at promoting and encouraging the country’s cultural values and as well inform, educate and entertain its audience.
During an interview with Gambia Daily, he talked about his profession and how he joined the movie industry. He said that he built interest in movies because of his favorite actors – Yul Edochie and Ken Eric, Iconic Nigerian filmmakers.
‘’Odumu is a name given to me by my old friends in Banjul. There was a time when Banjul boys speak ‘Patuwa’, a language believed to emanate from street boys. So instead of calling me Modou, they called me Odumu. It was trending and almost everyone kept calling me that, then I decided to use it as my acting name,’’ he said.
Mr. Cham further explained that he is one of the senior Gambian journalists with over eight years of experience in the field of journalism. He has worked with The Monitor Newspaper as a senior reporter, Sen FM Radio as an English News Presenter.
“Presently, I am a senior reporter with The Point Newspaper and the Editor-in-Chief of CTV Africa. I attended Insight Training Centre where I acquired a certificate and Diploma in Journalism and an advanced diploma in Digital Media at Smart Professional College,’’ he explained.
He noted that in 2012, he realized that the local drama was only popular within the Senegambia region, so he decided to form a movie production house named Gamstars Movie Production. ‘’At a time, we didn’t have many people in the film industry and it was few that were willing to join because of the bad mindset they had toward actors’’.
Mr. Cham said the first movie he produced and directed was ‘The Great Big Tree Kingdom’, an African movie that showcases the culture, norms, and traditions of Africans, especially The Gambia.
He added that he has directed three and co-directed five films with Boka Jeff and Gamstars Movie Production.
Pa Modou said thatfilmmaking and journalism are somehow related because both have the goal to educate, inform and entertain their audiences.
“I work from Sunday to Friday as a journalist but conduct my movie rehearsals on Saturdays. This is delaying my production but notwithstanding, I am managing to have an impact in the end. I sometimes have to be absent from my journalism engagements just to deliver on my production,’’ he stated
Mr. Cham said that his last movie is ‘Family Dispute’, premiered on March 24th 2022, but he did not get the support he expected from Gambians even though he went to all the television stations in the country, being featured by almost all radio stations, and as well featured in all the newspapers.
Cham said that he is currently working on another movie titled ‘Bad Companion’. It’s a short film with few characters because I am considering the cost. Due to the unavailability of resources, we cannot produce movies as expected or be compared with other developing countries.
