A film crew in Midlands State University’s (MSU) department of Media, Communication, Film and Theatre Arts left for Mberengwa Mutsime village under Chief Chizungu this Wednesday 23 February 2023 to work on their latest production after weeks of rigorous rehearsals to develop the award-winning short film ‘Tsvakai’ into a full feature film.
Tsvakai scooped the first prize at the Varsity Film Expo held in Bulawayo from 6-8 December 2021.
The feature film will be centred on celebrating Zimbabwean culture and beauty.
Tsvakai is produced by MSU’s department of Media, Communication, Film and Theatre Arts, directed by Godknows Chera, edited by Brighton Munaku and Brandon Dambo, a Film student is the cinematographer.
MSU Zvishavane Campus Director Professor Advice Vhiriri is delighted to see the Media, Communication, Film and Theatre Arts department shine and make the University proud.
“The Media, Communication, Film and Theatre Arts department has put us on the map, it is in a big way fulfilling the government’s Education 5.0. thrust. The department has managed to create enough content to satisfy the market demands for example for our local national television station. The department is doing excellent work that markets the University,” he said.
Film Lecturer and Production Director of ‘Tsvakai’ Mr Godknows Chera said that film is important in pushing the positive identity and image of societies, telling homegrown stories that inspire, motivate and amplify the government’s vision.
“We want to consume content that we produce. Zimbabwe is indeed in dire need of reshaping and realigning itself when it comes to its narrative. It is from this vision that we seek to produce content that not only entertains but redefines the Zimbabwean generation,” Chera said.
Lecturers in the department are pleased with their work and promise to continue producing high quality and entertaining content.
“As a department, we will continue producing films because we have seen that the Zimbabwean Arts industry is a busy industry. We are not stopping, after Tsvakai feature film, we are going to produce two or more productions which should be complete by the end of this year.
“We do not just teach students to produce films on paper but we also go in the field and demonstrate to see whether our students are learning the concepts”, said Mr Brighton Munaku, Film Lecturer and Editor of the feature film Tsvakai.
Tsvakai is going to be produced using a variety of local languages which include Shona, Ndebele, Tonga and Tswana for people from various linguistic communities to watch and enjoy it.
After Tsvakai, the department is planning on producing a series entitled Kinky written and directed by MSU Film Lecturer Scrah Mdala.
The upcoming series will feature Zvishavane Campus Director Professor Advice Vhiriri, Z Shumba and S Ndebele from the catering department at MSU’s Zvishavane Campus
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