AWARD-WINNING filmmaker Mdawini Sibanda has released a short film titled 3 Days of Love, which tackles online relationships bringing to light the dangers such as cyberbullying associated with virtual affairs.
BY FARAI MATIASHE
The six-minute long film, which is part of Indie 263 intitiative of Ya-sibo? Media, was recently premiered in Bulawayo at an event where the award-winning film production house rebranded its monthly social networking meet up, “Screenwriter Coffee Morning“ to “Filmmaker Coffee Break”.
The “Filmmaker Coffee Break” will be held every first Saturday of the month.
Sibanda, who scooped National Arts Merit Award in 2016 for a short film Jane the Ghost, told NewsDay Life & Style that the new film acknowledged that social media had made it easier for people to meet new lovers, but reminds the society on the dangers of online dating.
“The film is about a girl who meets and falls in love with a ‘tweleb’ in three days but soon finds herself in a ‘slut’ shaming backlash after her lover leaks her nudes,” he said.
“She later decides to reach out to girls of her age and warn them from falling for online sex predators and she did this by posting on social media chats she had with the man, hoping that young women will not fall in a trap like hers.”
Sibanda said the story telling was non-conventional, as it utilised social media user interfaces, video chats and pictures to reveal the story arc.
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The short film introduces new voices into the industry, who were part of the Indie 263 alumni, as it was written by 19-year-old Laura Mbeve, with cinematography done by Thobekile Moyo and the cast included Danny Rodrigues and Sally Ann Mero.
The script writer, Mbeve, said 3 Days of Love mirrored reality, as it unravelled what happened in the lives of social media addicts.
“This is something that happens in the lives of young women. The short film sheds light on people’s perspectives of online relationships and questions the structures of the society specifically violation of one’s privacy, usually a female, who is then slut-shamed,” Mbeve said. She said the modern world should put into place some laws to safeguard against violation of privacy, to protect young women.
