Movie lovers in Lilongwe and Blantyre had to wait for hours to watch the much hyped Welcome to Maula Prison as event organisers were forced to create more space after the auditoriums turned out small.
At Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe on Friday, the auditorium was filled up before the screening started, with some patrons seated on the floor while others stood or waited outside.
This forced organisers to set up an additional viewing area outside the auditorium to accommodate everyone.
It was the same at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre on Saturday night where the designated auditorium was full and the organisers had to remove the room dividers to create more room.
Yet, no sooner had the organisers opened up new space than all seats became occupied. This forced some viewers to stand.
While in Lilongwe viewers were treated to some music performance by Zeze Kingston before the screening, in Blantyre it was a wait of uncertainty.
Expected to start at 7pm, the movie screening also delayed due to some technical glitches.
Tired of waiting, the audience in Blantyre shouted nthawi (we are running out of time). At this point, the director of ceremonies announced that there were technical glitches, especially the screen which was failing to show full pictures.
At 8.50pm, the screen finally came to life. However, barely 10 minutes into the movie, the organisers paused it.
“Someone is streaming live our film. We will not resume until the person stops the act,” said one of the organisers amid murmurs of condemnation from the audience.
In an interview after the screening, 4Kaya Films spokesperson Desiree Namachotsa expressed excitement with the turnout.
“We underestimated the turnout. We realised today that the event sold out and we had to set up another venue so those who kept coming could also enjoy the movie,” she said.
On his part, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority head of universal service fund (USF) Ronald Tembo said they supported the production with K17 million.
“This is exceptional work by the crew and it is the kind of content that we trying to promote. We need more Malawian content on different platforms and we assure content creators that we will continue to render support,” he said.
In a separate interview, Film Association of Malawi president Dorothy Kingston commended the production team and the audience for promoting local content.
“For the industry to grow, we need support from both government and the private sector. It is commendable that through USF and the Malawi Prison Service such support has been given, but we want more so that our industry can start contributing to the economic development of the country,” she said.
One of the patrons, Chrissy Chisanga, from Sunny Side in Blantyre said she enjoyed the movie as it tackled familiar issues such as forex shortage, corruption and challenges facing prisons.
“The high patronage shows that Malawians are ready to support the film industry. My plea to movie producers is to keep high,” she said.
The movie Welcome to Maula Prison depicts life in prison. The main character Jaliwa, jailed for forex fraud, survives murder plots orchestrated by the Minister of Homeland Security and his personal assistant Akim.
Yesterday was Mzuzu’s turn to sample the movie.
The organisers plan to upload the movie on Youtube after the premieres.
This is 4Kaya Films’ second movie after the crew also produced School Days which generated much excitement as it was accessed on Youtube.
