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Bazukuru sitcom hits Amazon

Life & Style
Chikomo told NewsDay Life & Style that they were excited about the milestone which he said could create more opportunities for local filmmakers to share their stories with the world.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

A LOCAL rib-cracking sitcom series, Bazukuru, is now available on Amazon Prime, a subscription service from Amazon after its producers signed a two-year deal which commenced on September 1.

Amazon is an American multinational conglomerate which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.

Produced last year by Kudzai Chikomo, Bazukuru story aims to promote the family unit as a foundation for a healthy society.

Chikomo told NewsDay Life & Style that they were excited about the milestone which he said could create more opportunities for local filmmakers to share their stories with the world.

“Sometime early this year we shared the Bazukuru project online and an agent showed interest and we pitched it and they liked it. We secured a two-year distribution deal,” he said.

“I am confident that this is the start of great things.

“We can now get our content to the diaspora market and the rest of the world.

“We are already collaborating with other filmmakers on new projects that we hope to release on the same platform soon.”

Chikomo said they had produced 13 episodes of Bazukuru that will be viewed on Amazon Prime.

“Bazukuru is a portmanteau made of two words bazukulu (Ndebele) and vazukuru (Shona) which basically means grandchildren. The comedy is presented in Ndebele, Shona and English so as to appeal to a wider audience.

“We also have plans to do a second season of Bazukuru, but this time we hope to use a studio-based location.”

The series features Memory Kumbota, as Dereck, Zenzo Nyathi as DJ, Musa Sibanda as Noxolo, Percy Soko as Jo and Antenotte Sango as Dephine.

Shot in Hillside and Bulawayo’s Central Business District, Bazukuru was written by Nkosilesisa Kwanele Ncube, directed by William Nyandoro, with Rasquesity Keaitse as the director of photography, Matesu Dube being in charge of sound and make-up by Cynthia Mharadze.

Follow Sharon on Twitter @SibindiSharon