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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
LIBERATION war biopic Chinhoyi 7, which has for the past weeks generated interest from people, premieres at the Ster Kinekor cinemas in Bulawayo on Saturday at 6PM.
Commissioned by former Zimbabwe Defence Forces’ commander and now Vice-President of Zimbabwe General Constantino Chiwenga (Rtd), the biopic will be shown at the cinemas for a month.
The film is based on true events about seven liberation war fighters David Guzuzu, Arthur Maramba, Christopher Chatambudza, Simon Chingosha Nyandoro, Godfrey Manyerenyere, Godwin Dube and Chubby Savanhu who challenged the Ian Smith regime after a successful journey from Zambia in 1966.
Written by Moses Matanda and produced by United Kingdom-based Tawanda Sarireni, Chinhoyi 7 promises to be a thriller, with characters such as the late former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, former VP, the late Joshua Nkomo and former President Robert Mugabe. These characters will be played by British actor Julian Shaw as Ian Smith, Albert Nyathi as Joshua Nkomo and Brian Bera as Robert Mugabe.
Gospel singerm, Fungisayi Zvakavapano-Mashavave, will play Ian Smith’s maid while Nama award winning actress Charlene Mangweni is featured as a war collaborator.
Matanda said the movie, which was filmed over four years, had a budget of about $300 000.
“The journey was long as the funding was a bit tight. We went through thick and thin to make everything work and started shooting in 2014.
“Great movies take a long time to make so we took our time on this production in order to be as accurate as we could,” said Matanda.
“We took our time to research on the story and we were greatly assisted by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The story is about land which was the chief reason why people waged war on the Smith regime.”
He thanked the ZDF for availing their resources for the movie’s production.
“The movie has actors from across the globe and we urge people to throng the cinemas to watch it. We shot the movie around Chinhoyi with the assistance of the ZDF.
“The Zimbabwe Republic police provided some funding for the movie while the Zimbabwe Prison Services availed Chinhoyi Prison for us to use for some of the scenes,” Matanda said
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