Jim Chuchu (born 7 August 1982) is a Kenyan film director, photographer, singer-songwriter and visual artist. He first came to attention as a member of Kenyan music group Just a Band and subsequently as director of Kenyan LGBT film Stories of Our Lives.TIFF 2014 Review: 'Stories of Our Lives' (Anthology Film Asks "If We Are Not Africans, What Are We?") . Indiewire, September 5, 2014.
Career
After leaving college in 2006, where he studied telecommunications,Jim Chuchu . African Lookbook, November 16, 2014. Chuchu began his career as a graphic designer, working in advertising. He quit his job to become a freelance graphic designer in late 2006.Interview with Jim Chuchu . African Digital Art, November 16, 2014.Touching Base. MTV Base, November 16, 2014.
2006–2012: Early career
In 2008, Chuchu co-founded Just a Band together with fellow members Bill "Blinky" Sellanga and Dan Muli, whom he had met while studying at the Kenyatta University.Daily Nation, Lifestyle Magazine, 22 November 2008: More than Just a Band Jim performed multiple duties in the band, including co-producing the band's first three studio albums, Scratch to Reveal, 82 and Sorry for the Delay, creating graphic art for the band and directing many of the band's videosForget Hollywood & New York. The future of the music video is in Nairobi. Meet Jim Chuchu. . Dangerous Minds, November 15, 2014. – including "Ha-He" which spawned viral hit Makmende, causing the video to be subsequently described as Kenya's first viral internet meme by The Wall Street Journal, CNN and Fast Company.‘Kichwateli’ & Other Pleasures of the Kenyan Music Video Scene . Black Film Center/Archive, November 15, 2014.
In 2012, Chuchu co-founded The Nest Collective, a multidisciplinary art space and collective in Nairobi.An interview with director Jim Chuchu. Goethe-Institut, November 16, 2014.
In March 2013, Chuchu produced and released Imaginary Chains as pseudonymous act Adeiyu. One of the EP singles – Hollow – was featured in the Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape 55.Mixed Tape #55: Strictly Glorious . mb! by Mercedes Benz, November 16, 2014. He followed this EP by releasing the single You Can't Break Her Heart in September 2013.Get to Know: Kenyan Fantasy Folk Duo Adeiyu . AfriPOP!, November 16, 2014.
In October 2013, Just A Band announced that Chuchu had left the band to pursue his solo projects.An interview with director Jim Chuchu. Goethe-Institut, November 15, 2014. Following his exit, Chuchu then directed his first short film Homecoming as part of the African Metropolis project, which premiered at the 2013 Durban International Film Festival,African Metropolis . Durban International Film Festival, November 15, 2014. then went on to screen at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival,Five-Title African Short Film Showcase At Toronto International Film Festival . Indiewire, November 16, 2014. and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Film Festival Locarno and the Seattle International Film Festival in 2014.Homecoming . Santa Barbara International Film Festival, November 15, 2014.African Metropolis: Homecoming. Festival del film Locarno, November 15, 2014.HomecomingSH-2014 . IFFR 2014, November 15, 2014.
In April 2014, Chuchu's photography series titled Pagans was featured in the 2014 edition of Dak’Art, the 11th Biennale of Contemporary African Art, as part of the Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness exhibition in Dakar, Senegal.Gay art show to go on in Senegal. The Art Newspaper, November 16, 2014. The show was cancelled a day after its opening by Senegalese authorities, who ruled that future exhibitions addressing the issue of homosexuality must be closed or canceled.Senegalese Government Shuts Down Exhibitions Addressing Queer Issues. Hyperallergic, November 15, 2014.
2014: Stories of Our Lives In September 2014, Chuchu released his first feature film, Stories of Our Lives, an anthology of five short films dramatizing true stories of LGBT life in Kenya which he directed as part of The Nest Collective.‘Stories of Our Lives’ Sheds Light on Kenya’s Gay Community. Variety, September 5, 2014. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, where it originally ran without credits due to the collective's concerns about the film's reception in Kenya, where homosexuality is illegal. Following the premiere, Chuchu and fellow Nest Collective members George Gachara and Njoki Ngumi opted to reveal their names at the screening and in an interview with Toronto's LGBT newspaper Xtra!."Kenyan filmmakers ‘come out’ ahead of TIFF premiere" . Xtra!, September 5, 2014. The soundtrack to the film, for which Chuchu produced and performed four songs, was released in late September as a free download.‘Stories Of Our Lives,’ An Anthology Film About Queer Life In Kenya . Okayafrica, November 16, 2014.
2014: Pagans Pagans is a photographic series created by Chuchu that seeks to "[reconstruct] future-past anonymous African deities, their devotees and forgotten religious rites." One untitled work from 2014 depicts "a being with lustrous skin and sculpted muscles [who] looks upwards as fire and feathers emerge from his face." To create the pieces, Chuchu took black and white photographs of individuals, drew and painted additional elements on them, then scanned and digitally altered them.
Several photographs from Pagans were displayed at the exhibition "Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness" as part of the 11th Dakar Biennial. The exhibition was one of the first on the African continent to focus on homosexuality. The exhibition was shut down prematurely by the Senegalese government after Muslim fundamentalists who oppose homosexuality in Senegal vandalized the exhibition gallery.
Filmography Feature films 2014: Stories of Our Lives
Short films 2013: Homecoming 2013: Dinka Translation 2013: Urban Hunter 2020: Tapi!
Web series 2016: Tuko Macho
Videography 2013: Just a Band – Matatizo (co-director) 2011: Just a Band – Huff and Puff (co-director) 2011: Just a Band – Away 2010: Just a Band – Ha-He! 2009: Just a Band – Usinibore 2009: Stan – Wangeci 2009: Just a Band – If I Could 2009: Just a Band – Highway 2008: Just a Band – Hey! 2008: Just a Band – Fly 2008: Manjeru – Lalalalala 2008: Atemi – Speechless 2008: Just a Band – Iwinyo Piny 2008: Mena – Maisha
Group exhibitions Jim's photography and video works have been exhibited in the following group exhibitions: 2014: "Afropean Mimicry and Mockery", Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt.Afropean Mimicry & Mockery in Theatre, Performance & Visual Arts . Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt a.M, November 16, 2014. 2014: "Shifting Africa", Mediations Biennale Poznan, Poland.. Kulturzentrum Faust, November 15, 2014. 2014: "Precarious Imaging", Raw Center for Art, Knowledge and Society, Dakar. 2014: "Future Reflexions: Five Positions of Contemporary African Art", GlasgowFuture Reflexions Exhibition Jelili Atiku, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Dennis Feser and Jim Chuchu. Daily Record, November 15, 2014.. The Arches, November 16, 2014. 2011: "Kudishnyao!" (Just A Band), Rush Arts Gallery (New York) and Goethe-Institut NairobiVideo: Just A Band’s ‘Kudishnyao!’ Art Exhibit . Okayafrica, November 16, 2014. 2010: "Mwangalio Tofauti: Nine Photographers from Kenya", Nairobi GalleryContact Zones NRB . Goethe-Institut Kenya, November 16, 2014.Taking Photography in Kenyan to the Next Level. Art Matters, November 16, 2014. 2009: "TRNSMSSN:" (Just A Band), Goethe-Institut Nairobi 2009: "Amnesia": Nairobi National Museum. 2008: "24: Nairobi – Walkers and Workers", Goethe-Institut, Nairobi.
Discography Studio albums 2012: Sorry for the Delay 2010: 82 2008: Scratch to Reveal
EPs and singles 2014: Stories of Our Lives: Music from and Inspired by the Film (EP) 2014 Mayonde – "Isikuti Love" (Single) 2014 Jarel – "The Plus Minus Collection" (EP) 2013: Adeiyu – "You Can't Break Her Heart" (Single) 2013: Various Artists – The NEST Presents: Legacy (Compilation EP)Kenyan Pop Songs Revisited + Interview With The Legacy Project’s Jarel Nduba . Okayafrica, November 16, 2014. 2013: Adeiyu – Imaginary Chains (EP)
Mixtapes and remix albums 2011: The Just A Band Boxing Day Special 2011: Kudish: The Sound of Soup
Books Iwalewa: Four Views into Contemporary Africa. Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth (2013). . Mwangalio Tofauti" – Nine Photographers from Kenya. Contact Zones NRB, Nairobi (2012). 24: Nairobi. Kwani Trust, Nairobi (2010). .
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