UP CLOSE … with award-winning director and filmmaker Cliff Moustache |25 February 2020
Cliff Moustache
‘The best play of life is to perform on the street’
By Laura Pillay
Award-winning director and filmmaker Cliff Moustache recently visited Seychelles, establishing connections towards his project to create a fictional documentary-series on the history and heritage of his beloved birth country, in a bid to educate future generations through an art-form close to his heart.
Mr Moustache, a Norwegian-Seychellois who has for the past 35 years called Norway his home, has been flying the Seychelles flag with pride, earning a name for himself in Europe as a director, playwright, writer, actor and filmmaker.
The reputed artist, who was last year awarded Artist of the Year 2019 by the Mayor of Oslo, sat down with Seychelles NATION for a chat about his colourful career thus far, and future projects.
Media; a childhood fascination turned passion
Moustache has always been fascinated by different media and art forms from an early age. He recalls his mother’s wishes for him to be a priest, something which did not interest him, although he was an altar boy for a significant part of his childhood years.
“One of the things that fascinated me as an altar boy was how, whenever we would be chosen to deliver the evangelical reading at the service, I would look directly at the audience and I noticed that when you do certain gestures, they act upon it (gestures that he raised his hands and they stood and when he lowered them, they would sit) and that is how I came to understand the power of art, it was so electrifying to me and that was my inspiration,” he said.
“I thought being on stage was one of the things I enjoyed. On Sunday, the BBC channel would play a programme called Radio Theatre and every Sunday I would listen attentively. I would always wonder where the people were and where the voices were coming from so one day when my mum was away, I actually took the radio apart trying to find them and of course had difficulties putting it all back together. I was always curious about everything and I think that somehow sparked my interest for arts.”
Following his studies in Seychelles, Moustache was lucky enough to secure an opportunity to pursue further studies abroad in Dorset, England where he studied acting and directing. After successfully completing the course in 1979, the budding actor and director explored options other than returning to his home, in the hopes of practising and perfecting his art, and to quench his thirst for exploration and knowledge.
Lights, camera, action! Norway: the plot thickens
Having made up his mind that he did not want to return to Seychelles, Moustache headed off for Europe and would eventually end up in Norway, after a friend, a Seychellois sailor, invited him over and planned to meet him at a hotel, in a small city situated quite far from the capital, Oslo. However, not familiar with his new environment and travelling by himself, Moustache overslept on the train journey, ending up in another small city where he remained for three days, performing street theatre pieces.
“I decided to go and explore a new arena which is street theatre so I decided to travel to Amsterdam, stage plays on the street. It is really quite difficult and I think the best play of life is to perform on the street. You need to survive, to get people’s attention and get them to give you some money. Then, I travelled around, I came to Denmark and staged plays there, I went to Cologne in Germany and then I decided to take the train back to Denmark and from there went to Norway,” he recalls.
After returning to meet his friend at the agreed hotel, Moustache was informed that he had already left for Denmark and found himself broke and lost. Luckily, he was offered a job working alongside students in a restaurant kitchen for a three-month period, before enrolling himself in a Norwegian language programme, at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Becoming fluent in the language was definitely a boost for a young Moustache who was determined to earn a name for himself in a Norway, where opportunities for foreigners were quite limited at the time. After moving to Oslo and working with state media briefly, Moustache started writing his own productions and went on to open his own theatre company, Nordic Black Theatre, in 1992. The self-funded theatre produces its own productions, participates in collaborative projects with other artists, and develops young multicultural actors through the theatre school Nordic Black Xpress (NBX), which he also opened in 1993.
“Opportunities were quite limited for foreigners at the time and working with state media was not easy but I did not let it faze me. I was determined to make the most of the limited choices available to me and I was driven to establish something in the country, where it all began.”
The school offers two-year courses to 8-12 students and they are trained in full for 8-9 hours a day, Monday to Friday and sometimes on Saturdays. Nordic Black Theatre is currently negotiating to establish the school within the university system, so that the course can become a three-year bachelor’s degree. The current batch of students is due to leave Norway for Japan on March 16 for a collaborative project.
“The school is a means by which we can educate the new artists of the time and give back to the society generally. A lot of young artists, actors who have been through our school are getting access to television platforms and films.”
Work and accolades
Of the many short films produced by Mr Moustache, his very first short movie, Radio Knockout, which found its way to local audience’s screens some 20 years ago, won several awards in Scotland, London, Portugal and America.
Over recent years, Mr Moustache took a brief break from movie production and has mainly been involved with directing and realising theatre shows in and around Europe. This year, he will be staging ‘After the Dream’ a play about Dr Martin Luther King, at the Oslo Opera House on March 19 as well as a second play based on the life of Nina Simone, to be staged in Sheffield, England in August.
Asides from staging plays, Moustache is driven by his deep-seated value to give back to others and to inspire the future generation of artists and creatives. He partners with educational and training centres as a lecturer and last year lectured at the University of Miami and has, at the same time, over the past three years, travelled back and forth to Vietnam, where he also lectures.
He was also the very first foreigner to be awarded the prestigious Artist of the Year award, by the Mayor of Oslo, last year for his extensive contributions towards the theatre and entertainment landscape and to the society in Norway.
For the years ahead, Mr Moustache wants to concentrate his efforts on producing films again, including one telling the story of his origins and heritage.
“Now I am going back to feature films and documentary films. I have been listening to the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) and I picked one story that I would like to develop and build a commentary on it. I think it is important, I went to the history museum and I was inspired as I didn’t know much about my history and I realised that the history and heritage is so important to share so that the future generations can know about their history. So I want to do a fictional series on the history of Seychelles. These are the things I would like to engage in and that is why I have started collecting the history books to go through it and learn as much as I can but I can hope by next year something will be ready,” Mr Moustache said.
He hopes to be able to collaborate with the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) to produce something that has the creole touch while still appealing to an international audience.
Mr Moustache has since returned to Norway where he is busy researching for the project, which he hopes to materialise with the cooperation of local actors and talents, next year.