Chill

Our belated charge

F

or years, Malawi has been a bystander when it comes to lack of vibrancy of its film industry.

That meant the legion of local film lovers had to settle for some rushed productions from Nigeria when they wanted to sample content from the African region. The better of such content was sourced from countries such as South Africa and maybe Zimbabwe.

Malawi was there just clapping hands as film industries from other countries within the region and beyond made significant contributions to their respective economies as sectors worthy counting on in as far as contributing their gross development product is concerned.

Our film industry lay almost dormant for decades, with blight spots here and there. But, overall the inactiveness was all too noticeable. The reasons for this passiveness were almost like a memorised script from the stakeholders who spoke on the matter.

The song was always about an unsupportive corporate environment and what not. Despite the fact that the country still boasted of having some of the finest actors and actresses that can stand and hold their own against any in the region. 

Our ineptness was even exposed when several years ago English actor-cum-producer Chiwetel Ejiofor landed in Malawi for his maiden film directorial project whose storyline was coincidentally an adaption of a book by William Kamkwamba, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.

In earnest, this production was supposed to be dominated by Malawians in terms of the lead roles and all. But due to our talented actors’ lack of exposure, Ejiofor was forced to scout as far as Kenya and other parts of the region for roles which could have been ably handled by Malawians.

This story was written by a Malawian and the film was shot in Malawi, just how did we fail to give it a more Malawian face? I remember very well the debate that ensued when the film had just been released about the ‘poor Chichewa pronunciation’ by the non-Malawian actors/actresses.

Except for Lily Banda and Kelvin Ngoma, did we ever ask ourselves why our actors didn’t make the grade? Maybe we did not as we still had a mindset that we can’t assume such roles at a bigger stage. But, trust me, if we had actors known beyond the borders that would have been the first point of call by anyone intending to do a film project here.

But sadly it was never to be. And as we saw it, we watched as foreigners stepped in through Kamuzu International Airport and make their way to Wimbe, Kasungu to make dollars which was otherwise would have remained here and added to our thin forex reserves.

Maybe that film proved a wake-up call to our film makers. Since then, the film landscape has witnessed a renewed sense of eagerness to create something of our own. I wish I could count the movies that have been released since, but I don’t think I will manage. They are just numerous.

This year alone, I can mention Ashukile Mwakisulu’s All We Have Is Us, Cathreen Mlenga’s Sowing Seeds, Gift Sukez Sukali’s Fatsani, Chawezi Munthali’s Highbrow and Brenda Mselu’s Submerged as among some of the notable productions that have hit the screen.

On top of this, we have also exported one or two actors for outside projects. Flora Suya starred in Zambia’s top television series Zuba, Lily Banda featured in the popular US series Deep State and recently fellow actor Kelvin Ngoma also featured in a Zambian movie.

The strides we have made can’t be swept under the carpet. And the most encouraging thing is that most of these productions are happening under shoe-string budgets. It is not like we now have an endless pool of resources which we never had before, no! What has changed is just the mindset.

Perhaps we are fed up with being fed the trash from West Africa. If you ask me, I will tell you that I would rather watch a third-rate production from Malawi than a second-rate from Nigeria or Ghana. Home is always where the heart is.

To all brothers and sisters in the filmmaking industry, don’t get off the foot on that gas pedal. Let us push on. Though our charge has been belated, we may just arrive there at the same time with the rest. We are not too far behind.

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