Meet Matondo Kiantandu

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matondo Kiantandu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matondo, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My Father before he passed he would travel back and forth from the US to Africa for a job translating bibles for third world countries. He had a PHD and could have made way more money but he wanted to help people. If Im tired or frustrated I think of the sacrifices he made including coming up with a plan to build a house with zero architecture knowledge that ended up being profitable. My Mom laughed at him when he drew the designs. The house is worth alot after all these years. You can’t teach work ethic it’s in your DNA. My hashtag is #work23sleep1. I fall asleep for 3 hours, working on my craft and jump right back in… I owe to him, my last name, his legacy.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
The company is MGFAME Entertainment. I’m a working actor, writer and I director. My partner is Fabian Jaime. He has been in like a million commercials. Great actor and great guy. We have two feature films ready for release. We’re close to signing distribution deals for both of them.

One is starring Fabian called The Night Never Fades. We have some wonderful actors in it, Wayno Sanchez, Joanne Zimbler and Jana Miley and Antonio Chavez. We have great newcomers Erin Kuykendall, Megan Ailand and Denise Borraz Trepat. Also a wonderful actress with tons of training Victoria Myssik and many more. We’re very fortunate to have these talented people join us.

The second one is Hell in Allendale No Escape. We wrapped that last year. We’re excited about it. Our lead actress Emma Dusenbury is brilliant and again a strong supporting cast. Sammmy Espinoza, Les Brooks Jr. and too many to name. There are so many great performances I can list em all. Lol.

I have some major projects out and on the way on the actor side but I can’t discuss them due to the ongoing strike.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think perseverance. I was recently in a car accident. The car was totaled. A really bad accident. I edit alot from home. It was painful to even do that. It hurt to move in bed. We were in production and almost had to cancel. I made up my mind we would finish because I knew it was more than me and here we are about to head to distribution.

Trust is the other one. The same project I got burned by the make up artist. She stole some money and didn’t show up for work. I let it go, I don’t hold grudges and if not for my right hand man Fabian everything stops. He kept it going as I recovered. You have to trust people but just be careful who you trust. The great line in The Italian Job Trust everyone, just don’t trust the devil inside them.

The area of knowledge is what Im still learning in this business. I got burned on some distribution deals and made some money on some but never what was deserved. I took a year before entering this latest deal and the terms are even better than I hoped. You want to control your film and get a fair financial split. It’s everything.

I’m not big on advice but you have to know yourself and what you’re willing to sacrifice. Make the product or your performance the best it can absolutely be so when you’re looking for distribution or an agent or selling something it’s the absolute best it can be and you will find favorable results. You may have to work for experience in the beginning but knowledge is everything. Don’t just google, talk to people and gain experience. If you offer someone to help them and ask for nothing in return you get experience. Also at the same time don’t let them take advantage of you, find good character people who will reward your efforts.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Pilgrim’s Progress. I read that when I was young and it had a huge impression on me. The metaphors are out of this world and if you have faith it really resonates. The journey seems impossible at times but it really will be alright. You are going to the destination regardless, its how you get there. Pain is a blessing because when you have joy it’s the sweetest thing after pain. The beauty in the struggle.

The writer wrote while he was in prison for religious beliefs. He stuck to his beliefs and still was optimistic in the 1600’s. My Grandparents in Congo Africa were arrested for praying. They kept praying. What’s right is right and no one can stop it. Look at Nelson Mandela. You don’t have it that bad in most cases and it will be alright. You keep pushing. All the negative stuff is brutal and stubborn, be stubborn right back. Thank you for inviting me back to tell.
my story. It means the world to me.

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