BY AGATHA CHUMA ‘RUNNING alongside the Mozambican border for some 300 kilometres, the Eastern Highlands is a mountainous area of spectacular natural beauty: Rolling hills, green forests, rugged peaks, misty valleys, deep gorges, cascading waterfalls and sparkling rivers and lakes,” is just one description of part of Manicaland province by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.

And it is this enthralling natural beauty abounding the province that inspired Mutare-based film script writer Hope Masara to produce a film that promotes Manicaland as the hub of quality production of local film content.

In this endeavour, Masara set her second film Zvemoyo in Mutare — an area on the fringes of the breath-taking scenic Eastern Highlands, but still as beautiful.

The film produced by Ignatius “Igi” Matope is Masara’s second project after her debut 2019 sitcom Nashville Heights.

In an interview, Masara said Mutare could become the country’s best venue for shooting quality films.

“Through our film we want to market Mutare’s cinematic environment and to show how rich and beautiful the city is. We want to create the Hollywood of Zimbabwe in Mutare because we believe it is a favourable place to produce quality films with quality pictures,” she said.

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“A lot of productions have been centred in Harare and Zvemoyo has shown that other cities host just as much talent, a variety of dialect as well as the scenery. Mutare is definitely a place to look out for in the coming years.”

Zvemoyo is a combination of experiences she encountered and those of others who were open and eager to share their stories on real life events.

“Zvemoyo talks about the struggles a young girl faced after losing her parents and also her problems in a toxic relationship. This film hits home in many regards,” she said.

“When Matope approached me with the idea of collaborating on a romantic film, I felt inspired to tell a story that shed a light although not in greater detail on complex issues affecting young people especially these days of love pandemic.”

She believes the film will help raise awareness on how relationships nowadays are being affected by complex socio-economic matters than in the past.

“I believe re-instilling confidence in local film and drama has an effect on turnout and this has been a challenge in this journey,” added Masara who is also working on two romantic films and a crime series, which are yet to be titled.

Commenting on the local film industry, Masara said there was need to restore faith in native productions as many viewers seemed to prefer South African, Korean and Nigerian content.

“The challenge lies in regaining peoples’ interest in our own local content and this requires us filmmakers to come up with quality and diverse content that caters for many different tastes of the viewers,” she told NewsDay Life & Style.

  • Follow Agatha on Twitter @AgathaChuma