To make your film debut is always a big moment for any actor. A dream come true in many ways. But to make your debut and to premiere your film at Cannes is the highest honour one can receive. The holy grail of films being your platform to showcase your hard work and talent is always a cause for celebration. With the recent announcement that Susan Chardy has been nominated for the BIFA award for lead actress performance, the future looks bright for a promising star.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a film about a Zambian family coming together as buried secrets come to light after the passing of Shula’s uncle. Tensions rise and connections are challenged. I sat down with Susan Chardy during the London Film Festival, to talk about her debut lead role in the film On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. We speak about the challenges of bringing authenticity to a culturally ingrained story. Her role as a Global Ambassador for Children’s Funds and what it’s like working with Rungano and Elizabeth alongside many other Zambians on set.
Zak Ahmed (THH): Firstly, congratulations on the film. You know it premiered at Cannes and it was also your debut performance. How was that feeling like?
Susan Chardy: Thank you! For my debut it’s so special. I feel so honoured and blessed to be able to say this is my first film, especially with Rungano Nyoni. I would never have imagined this would be my first project. I’m excited for it to get out there and I was really thankful and honoured to be on the project.
The film is about family trauma and generational conflict and abuse. How did you go about preparing for that kind of role specifically?
Susan: There’s certain things that happen in our own lives that you can take from that don’t necessarily mean exactly what’s in the film. But I drew from my own personal experience, my life experience. I also drew it from speaking to my other family members. My sister, my aunts who are still in Zambia and live there. And I re-immersed in the culture. That was mainly what I did, because it wasn’t a case of researching how to do a certain thing. It was just a case of going in there, immersing myself and just being in a comfortable enough space. To be able to create and be trusted to create. And Rungano really gave us that safe space to work with.
Given the subject matter of the film, how did you and Rungano approach it without bordering on any exploitation? I imagine the difficulties with finding that fine line to keep it respectful and authentic.
Susan: I think that’s more of a Rungano question because obviously she was guiding the ship. But I think it was really important to have the culture in there. But to respect the culture and be honest with the culture. Because I do think if you sugarcoat things, there’s no point. You’re not being real. You’re not really showing an honest and authentic side to that culture. Like you say, it’s a tightrope to walk, because there may be some Zambians who may not like that certain things were put out there and maybe feel exposed. But at the end of the day, I think if you’re not gonna be honest in storytelling, there’s not much point in telling these stories. And I think Rungano did a fantastic job of walking us down the type of finding that balance.
So you’re also the ambassador for Global Fund for Children. How did you come about that and what does it mean to you?
Susan: Prior to being Global Fund for Children ambassador, I was an ambassador for Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, for about 15 years. I’ve always wanted to give back and children are something that I just feel like they need us the most because they are our future and I just love children since I was grown up. So it was the one thing I really wanted to do for my give back. And I’ve always believed in giving back.
So when I got selected to be a part of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, I did that and then I met a friend one day when I was trying to transition because I wanted to do more than just being someone who talks about being an ambassador. I wanted to get involved and start travelling with different partners. I found that he introduced me to the Global Fund for Children and they had partners in Zambia and that for me was like how beautiful is that, I can help children from my own country where I was born.
So when they asked me to be a global ambassador, it was an easy yes. I’m just proud to do it because it means I feel like I’m making a difference and it’s something I always wanted to do. And now I can not only focus on, my region is Africa and Europe but I can help children from my own country, but I can also help other African children and of people in Europe as well. And it just means that I can use my platform for good and that’s always been something that I try to do as I navigate through this industry.
With the film tackling all these different relationships where they’re quite complicated, and there’s a lot of buried secrets, and things from the past that’s quite hard to grapple with. How did you go about getting into that mindset of knowing that there’s so much underneath that you have to keep within, but you also have that urge to release it.
Susan: I think that push and pull is what helps Shula come to life so she’s got this storm inside of her, right. And she doesn’t know how to deal with it. She doesn’t know what to do with it. And she slowly starts to see that actually she has to deal with it the more she sees, Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela) going through what they’re going through. That actually, they make her turn a mirror on herself. So that push and pull helped to get Shula to a place where she’s showing the audience so much, but not actually speaking about it because she’s not able to. It was an interesting dynamic to try and find a way to speak without being able to speak.
What is your fondest memory on set?
Susan: Haha Working with Nsansa. Elizabeth is her real name. I just had so much fun with her when they would say cut. She’s just a wonderful person and it was just really great fun. Also just the rest of the cast and crew being Zambian, I think is just so surreal. Like to be in where I was born, where I was there myself as Zambian. So to be where my soul is from and be with these incredible people, and we just understood each other on a different level, especially being directed by Rungano as well. She’s Zambian so she knows how to capture the culture right. Those were my most special moments with Sansa and wearing that lovely suit with the mask, that was fun.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl releases in UK & Irish cinemas from Friday 6 December
