adminRumbidzai Mbewe Sunday Leisure Correspondent
JUST when everybody thought the entertainment industry in Bulawayo was fast turning into a graveyard, some entertainers have taken it upon themselves to awaken the city from its slumber so that it reclaims its status as an entertainment hub in the country.The awakening comes in the form of a recent production called Bulawayo Show, a brand new animated comedy that has gone viral on many social networks and is set to be officially launched in the city next weekend at Rainbow Cinemas.
In an interview, the show’s executive producer, Zenzele Ndebele, said the show was established after the realisation that there was a gap in the comedy industry in the country especially animated comedy.
He said they chose to use social media as a platform for showcasing their product because of the many opportunities that come with social media.
“Not so much has been done in the country as far as animated comedy is concerned. So we took this chance to come up with our own animated show. When it comes to social media, we know that we will reach a bigger market because chances are very high of people sharing the video,” he said.
Ndebele said they had reached an agreement with Zollywood, a Zimbabwean company that is based in the United Kingdom that distributes Zimbabwean films to distribute their content in the UK.
“Zollywood will be responsible for distributing our content in the UK pay per view. This will help expose our productions to people who are based there. We have also set up an online store and we will sell merchandise of the Bulawayo Show as well as DVDs,” he said.
Ndebele said the Bulawayo Show was a comedy whose aim was not only to make people laugh but to promote cultural values. He said the show was also a wake-up call to people who have the mentality that Bulawayo does not have good business opportunities.
“It is very important for people to always stay in touch with their culture and so our show promotes our culture. Besides promoting culture we want to debunk the myth that there is no business when it comes to the entertainment industry,” he said.
The show carries different themes and most of them are on social issues that affect everyone in the country. It also educates people on the pros and cons that come with social media in the society.
“We touch on many issues that we think are very important to our society and we warn people on lots of things like how social media is affecting our people,” said Ndebele.
He said they were planning on producing educational content for children in preschools as well as primary schools.
“We are working on content which is mainly for children. We want our children to know of the characters in our show and identify themselves with them. We want to create our own cartoons that the kids will appreciate just like how they appreciate Barbie, Ben 10 and Spiderman,” he said.
The show targets an audience of between 16 and 40 years of age and is on social networks such as facebook, WhatsApp and Youtube. Currently they reach about 34 000 people on facebook and over 10 000 on Youtube.
Online Reporter