By Netumbo Nekomba
Stars of the Namibian drama ‘The 3rd Will’ celebrated a major milestone at the MultiChoice Namibia headquarters in Windhoek on Monday, as the show will now be featured on Zambezi Magic. The glitzy premiere saw media houses gather in numbers to watch the first episode of the show, and according to the executive producer, Frans Kruger, it has evolved greatly.
“We are delighted. It’s a dream come true,” Kruger said during the event. “Namibia is not somewhere in the dark.” Starting from humble beginnings, Kruger and director of the series Bienvenu Lukoki worked on previous projects, but they didn’t necessarily come to fruition.
“The two of us came together and we wanted to do a normal film or a full length movie, but we were worried that people would watch it and forget. He (Lukoki) came up with the idea: ‘what can we do to tell our stories for a longer period?'” A series turned out to be the next best thing. “We were shooting at people’s houses, that’s how the stories were done,” Kruger shared. “We are thankful to everyone who has contributed towards that.”
As musician and now actor Dice who plays the carefree Michael Kamati revealed, actors were not paid in the beginning but were simply lured into the series for the love of acting.
“I wasn’t a believer at first,” he said. “After we were shortlisted, we were presented with the cast. But the bad news was that we had to do it for free. We were told about exposure, that it would be good for us.”However, the fun he had and the people he met kept him on set. “There was so much positive energy. I looked at it as an opportunity. It was about putting a foot into something I didn’t understand.”
Roger Gertze, MultiChoice Namibia’s general manager, said this was a great accomplishment in the Namibian film industry, thanks to the exposure it will receive by being broadcast in various African countries.
“It has always been our mission to use our influence and resources to play an African role. We deliver value to our customers by making great entertainment more accessible. Namibia is filled with talented individuals that are of the same standard as African and even international creatives,” he said, adding that entertainment is a powerful vehicle with which to tell stories.
Now in its third season, ‘The 3rd Will’ mainly revolves around the Kamati family whose millionaire breadwinner, Mr Kamati, dies after a tragic heart attack. He leaves behind a wife, a baby mother and two sons, and so begins the tussle for assets in his ‘third will’.
‘The 3rd Will’ will premiere on Zambezi Magic (DStv channel 160) on Monday, 5 June at 18h30, with an omnibus every Saturday from 15h30 to 17h00. The show will also be available on DStv Catch-Up.
Source: Namibia: ‘The 3rd Will’ Cast Celebrates Zambezi Magic Milestone – allAfrica.com
