Karate movie producers speak out, claim infringement

Producers of the sensational local karate movie The Town Monger, Kufewa Acrobatics of Lilongwe, have said infringement of their work has led to a third party claiming a role in the production.

Shareef Atwab, the producer, told The Nation yesterday information contained in the video clips that have gone viral on the social media, receiving over three million YouTube views, indicating one Saidi Rashiz Chapeyama of WatsupMalawi as one of the editors is wrong.

Said Atwab: “ The truth of the matter is that the film was produced and edited by Shareef Atwab, not what is contained in the trending clip which we feel was infringed upon by adding some tags and credits.”

Atwab was reacting to the story which The Nation edition of September 12 2017 quoted Chapeyama as producer and editor.

Chapeyama also claimed the movie was the brainchild of Ndirande (Ndirawood) Films Malawi.

However, according to Atwab, The Town Monger is a production of Kufewa Acrobatics based in Lilongwe’s Area 36 Township.

He admitted that the instant popularity of the local movie is prone to copyright infringements. He also clarified that all the different clips of The Town Monger circulating on the social media originate from the same movie.

“People are even confusing that the clips are from different movies, but they are from one movie which they will watch soon,” he said.

Atwab said the original movie has a running time of one hour and 22 minutes against the numerous clips that some people have doctored and flooded the social media.

He said that the movie will be launched soon due to public demand.

“We will screen and launch the movie. We will come up with a programme in two weeks time,” he said.

Currently, The Town Monger has caused a frenzy on the social media and attracted numerous reviews.

As of Monday the clip got 3 347 354 views on YouTube plus thousands of shares on different social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. na