Chirisa Zima��s sole hope

Bruce Ndlovu
As the countrya��s film industry languishes, actor Tongayi Chirisa will be the countrya��s beacon of hope at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards as he stands to walk away with a Best Actor gong at the awards ceremony to be held in March next year.

2016 was another dismal year for Zimbabwean film, with only the Joe Njangu-directed Escape movie shining as the lone beacon of light.

The announcement of the nominees for next yeara��s ceremony seemed to confirm as much, with Chirisa being the only Zimbabwean in a list dominated by South Africans and Nigerians.

While the country tries to give the local film industry a new lease of life trough the ongoing digitalisation, the country in the meantime lags far behind its regional and continental peers.

Chirisa is nominated in the best actor in a drama category while his co-stars from the South African production are also nominated in eight categories.

Although it has a fairly high profile cast that includes the likes of Chirisa and Khanyi Mbau, the movie went beyond expectations when it surpassed various box office records.

The locally produced film, which reached the R5 million mark only 10 days after its release reached another milestone when it clocked R10 million in just 30 days.

The film has earned praised for bringing to the screen new South African stories and ideas inA� an era where most of the productions in that country are mostly about the struggle against apartheid or that countrya��s rampant crime.