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JESESI Mungoshi, popular for her character Neria in the ‘90s film of the same name, is set for a major comeback on the big screen with a new production.
It is more than two decades since Jesesi Mungoshi featured in any local film.
Her last major role as an actor was in “Neria” (1993), which co-starred veteran musician Oliver Mtukudzi.
However, the wife to literary icon Charles Mungoshi said the long wait for her return was over and she last week said she was putting final touches to a film whose storyline is adapted from her husband’s first publication, “Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo”.
The movie will likely rejuvenate interest in the 45-year-old book that set Charles Mungoshi well on the path to becoming one of Zimbabwe’s greatest ever writers.
The novel has been used as an Ordinary Level Shona set book.
Mungoshi said the movie would help pupils, teachers and parents understand the book better.
“The economy had slowed us down but we are now working on something through my company JM Productions.
“We are doing a film based on Baba Mungoshi’s 1970 publication ‘Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo’ and we are almost done,” she said.
“I’m part of the cast for the film, I will be working with new actors since those that I worked with before have either switched professions or have gone out of the country.”
According to the actress, the film will suit different audience tastes though the primary target will be school children.
The production has been in the works for five years and is set for release by December 2015.
Jesesi Mungoshi points to funding as the major challenge in shooting and release of the film.
Recently, however, the project got a major boost when the Culture Fund said it would give JM Productions US$23 000 for the movie. The money was awarded under the Culture Impacts Programme, which in total gave around US$1 million to dozens of projects.
“We are behind schedule because the first exam on the set book will be in October and we should be done by then.
“Thus it will be shown in different schools around the country and various other cinema centers but it will be officially unveiled next year,” Jesesi Mungoshi said.
Charles Mungoshi is a giant in Zimbabwean literature, and his last book – “Branching Streams Flow in the Dark” came in 2013 with help from his family after the author had a stroke in 2010 that threatened muzzle his prolific pen. His other works that have inspired films and plays include “Waiting for the Rain” (1975), “Ndiko Kupindana Kwemazuva” (1975), “Inongova Njakenjake” (1980) and “Gwatakwata” (1995).
Meanwhile, Jesesi Mungoshi bemoaned the dearth of standards in the local film industry, saying actors and producers today were motivated by quantity rather than quality.
Moreover, she noted that advancement in technology had resulted in substandard material reaching the market unchecked.
“I’m not yet sure of the direction our film industry is taking.
“The productions are not reaching or surpassing the standards that were set before.
“This is mainly to do with the issue of funding and the fact that people no longer take this industry seriously.
“For example we have been working on ‘Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo’ for years, revisiting the scripts and addressing various other things trying to come up with a perfect product – but that is no longer being done,” said Jesesi Mungoshi. She said actors and producers to stop merely imitating whatever was in vogue in other countries because some of these elements were inapplicable to Zimbabwe’s circumstances.
It has been said it costs between $25 000 and $70 000 to produce a movie in Nigeria. The films are released within a month and are profitable within two or three weeks of release.
Furthermore, most of the movies easily sell more than 20 000 units officially, while the most successful ones sell over 200 000.
This does not happen in Zimbabwe.
“They (actors/producers) are copying the way Nigerians have developed their industry. There is no problem in that but we should be selective on what we borrow. W
“What works abroad may not work in Zimbabwe,” argued Jesesi Mungoshi.
“It does not make sense in Zimbabwe for one to get a thousand dollars, gather people and shoot a film. But that is how the Nigerian film industry grew. Some of the most popular film production houses in Nigeria made it big through budgets of a couple of thousand dollars obtained through credit.”
Online Reporter