BY SHARON SIBINDI
SOUTH AFRICA-BASED award-winning Zimbabwean producer Monalisa Chisango said there was need to support the local film industry as it had the potential to create jobs and market the country to bring in revenue.
While for neighbouring countries the film industry is contributing much to their Gross Domestic Product, the local sector continues to operate on a shoe-string budget.
Chisango’s remarks come ahead of the launch of one of her productions, The Real Housewives of Durban (RHOD) on Showmax on January 29.
“I always say teamwork makes the dream work. I have been fortunate to work in an environment that allows you to grow and work on various shows. My co-producers in Zimbabwe have not had that opportunity,” she said.
“As a nation we need to support the film industry as it has loads of potential from job creation, to marketing the country as a film destination and bring in revenue.”
Chisango said it has been an honour working on the production with the cast and crew she described as amazing and strong African women.
“It is known in our industry that we have less females especially those who work behind the scenes. In our case we are fortunate enough to have women in key roles from the executive and series producer, director, content producer, production manager, camera operator and sound operator who are all women,” she said.
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“I enjoyed working on the production and it has become a project very close to my heart because of the team that I work with. Nothing ever prepared us for the pandemic (COVID-19) and we all have been trying to find our feet and look beyond our current situation.”
Chisango said beside the RHOD project, she was at a research and development stage for a television series and a reality show that is set to premiere later in the year.
Meanwhile, MultiChoice group chief executive for General Entertainment and Connected Video, Yolisa Phahle was quoted on Callsheet Africa saying they believe Showmax was a powerful platform for sharing African stories adding that RHOD would be available in more than 40 African countries.
“The Real Housewives of Durban is going to feel like Kwa Mam’Mkhize to the power of six. We know 1Magic viewers were looking forward to this, so the late schedule change was a difficult call to make …,” she said.
After the launch, the new episodes of the show set to build on the popularity of The Real Housewives of Johannesburg, which was one of the 10 most streamed local series on Showmax in 2019, will be aired every Friday.
. Follow Sharon on Twitter @SibindiSharon
