Low patronage as Road to Sunrise screening starts
The start of the screenings for Charles Shemu Joyah’s award-winning film The Road to Sunrise faced a low patronage, but that did not dent the enthusiasm of the movie maker.
A sizeable crowd turned up at Malawi Sun Hotel’s Jupiter room on Saturday afternoon when the planned week-long screening of the highly sought-after movie started in the city of Blantyre.
“We just have to get on. Slowly people will get used. If we are to start an industry, we need to go through certain phases. We have to crawl, stand, walk then run. I am sure within the next five years, Malawians will develop that hunger,” he said.
Joyah said local filmmakers are paying for Malawi’s lack of vibrant cinema culture which has been compounded with the closure of almost all cinemas which used to operate in the country before.
He said that has kept people away from cinemas adding, to bring them back is a bit of a challenge.
“What we are trying to do now is to start a trend where people begin to appreciate the local arts,” said Joyah.
Aretha Chisale from Kameza Township said the quality of the production of the movie is an upgrade of most of the films that have been produced locally before.
The Road To Sunrise is Joyah’s third movie following other award-winning productions Seasons of a Life and The Last Fishing Boat.
