Chimwemwe shines, B’ella pulled out of Svaff

Barely months after achieving her dream to direct a movie while young, 16 year-old Chimwemwe Mkwezalamba of Dikamawoko Arts over the weekend achieved her second dream of earning international recognition in movies with her debut movie The Designer.

The Blantyre International University(BIU) student was named the best emerging film director  at the just ended 2013 Silicon Valley African Film Festival (Svaff) held in California in USA. Her film was the second for Malawi to be premiered at the festival after Shemu Joyah’s The Last Fishing Boat which also won the best narrative feature film.

In an interview, founder and director of Dikamawoko Arts Tawonga Taddja Nkhonjera said he is proud of the girl and revealed that he is swayed by the confidence in the girl when directing a movie. He added that he is happy that despite being new in the movies, she has put Dikamawoko Arts on the world map.

“This is the beginning, I have plans for more movies in future. The Designer is my first mark launching my identity in the movie industry,” she said in an interview while revealing that directing a movie is an exciting career she has always dreamt about.

Boasting of the knowledge she gained during the Africa Film Academy (AFA) training sessions and acting skills when she featured in B’ella movie, Mkwezalamba said she was confident that her movie would record success at Svaff.

Missing on the list of awards and films showcased at the festival is the group’s second movie B’ella which was also shortlisted for the festival. The movie was among the 30 films from over 15 African countries.

“We failed to take B’ella to the festival because of some technical reasons,” said Nkhonjera.

He said they are working on the problems and there are plans to send it to Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic.