Zimbabwe based Entertainment Africa Media Group Executive Producer Marc Mandisoul has called on the Government and Corporates to support the Zimbabwean film industry to avoid having Hollywood telling African stories in their perceived ways like they did with Black Panther. The call comes at a time when the filmmaker is looking hoping to gather US$105,000 to facilitate his vision of creating Zimbabwe’s first high budget feature film ‘The State of Malambia’.
Mandisoul noted that the local film industry is a multi-million dollar business and that now more than ever requires government investment and other various stakeholders as in other countries. The producer said that it is saddening to see that because of shortages of resources, African stories are being told through the resourceful Hollywood, people who are out of touch with the African reality.
‘It is sad to see so many Hollywood movies set in Africa yet we have come up with these ideas long back, for example I wrote Malambia in 2011 and now its even funny to hear people say its similar to Black Panther. I’m just realising that the longer we wait the more our stories are told by foreigners”
The State of Malambia is an epic movie about foreign mercenaries who discover a mythical kingdom between Zimbabwe and South Africa as they search for ancient African treasure. They find themselves in a new world where the tribes are fighting over leadership of the State. One group wants to open it to the world as a State and the other prefers to keep it hidden from the world.
It is Mandisoul’s conviction that State of Malambia is what Africa would look like today if it had never been colonised and developed at its own pace. Mandisoul is not a novice to the film scene. His work ethic makes most of his contemporaries look like a slacker. Mandisoul has produced a number of locally broadcasting television shows namely ‘Club E’ and more recently ‘Entertainment Africa’ to be launched this year – in addition to this in an interview with Gemnation News he confirmed that he is a representative of Fox Africa, the same house responsible for American shows such as ‘Empire’. He is also the brains behind Zambezi, the promising Zimbabwean movie which never got to premier due to a number of technical and financial issues. Addressing the challenges he faced when he worked on the non-existent yet much-hyped film he said
“In 2012 I started the Zambezi production in collaboration with other filmmakers but I was heartbroken because my footage was lost by the post-production partner I engaged. I don’t even understand if it was sabotage or not but I think its best to just have proper funding for movies and just pay more professional companies to get the work done”
Now as preparations for the upcoming epic ‘The State of Malambia’ are underway the filmmaker says that there is now a hint of hope for new possibilities with the arrival of the new dispensation.
”I’m excited about the new dispensation and possibilities of opening up avenues for Hollywood to come in and do projects with us but I’d ensure local actors, crew and personnel are involved in key areas of production too.”
Mandisoul has since initiated a crowdfunding scheme to help raise its funds of which US$5600 has been raised from his following on Facebook, and other progress has been registered.
“So far, we have managed to complete the sketching of our 3D characters and are in negotiations with a South African company for our Visual Effects, which is also one of the reasons why the budget is so high,” he said.
The Entertainment Africa Media Production film will be shot in Nyanga, Kariba, Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park and South Africa as soon as the resources are in place.
We cannot deny that we are #ENTHUSE-d about ‘The State Of Malambia’ movie, it is a bit difficult to stay optimistic given the challenges that our local film industry is going through. If it were a child, it would be diagnosed with abnormal growth patterns vis-a-vis its age.
It started off well a few years back, but it has lately presented signs of getting stunted despite the numerous efforts to boost the sector. Industry experts say more needs to be done to address the issues hindering the sector from taking off. Many have implored citizens to embrace local films and support the film industry.
Perhaps ‘The State of Malambia’ is just what the Zimbabwean Film Industry needs, we just hope that it gets to see the light of day.
