adminLocal film makers and producers are happy with the initiative made by Multichoice Group, where they have called for African content which will be aired starting tomorrow until May 30 ahead of Africa Day celebrations.
Africa Day is celebrated on May 25 and M-Net Movies has announced it has launched a pop-up movie channel that celebrates African film makers where they have dedicated showcasing and celebrating contemporary African films.
The Afro-Cinema Channel will be available beginning today until Sunday, May 30, on Channel 198 to DStv customers on Access to Premium packages across the continent.
The Afro-Cinema Channel is curated to celebrate Africa’s cultural diversity, aptly reflected and captured in the work that is being produced by film makers all over the continent. Through collaboration and turning challenges into possibilities, local film industries across the continent have produced award-winning productions that have launched the careers of many directors, producers, and stars while also taking the “for us,by us” African stories global.
The Afro-Cinema pop-up channel will be available via the DStv app to stream and additionally, the pop-up channel film collection will be available on Catch Up from today, to June 30.
Some of the local films set to premiere on the pop up channel include “Kushata Kwemwoyo”, “Sour Milk”, “Deep Thought” and “The Lamb”.
Some of those from other countries are “Sunsetin Makoko” (Nigeria), “Payback” (Zambia), “Ensulo” (Kenya), “The Train of Salt and Sugar” (Mozambique), “Heritage Africa” (Ghana), “Back of the Moon” (South Africa) and “94 Terror” (Uganda).
In an interview, actor and filmmaker Melgin Tafirenyika said it was a great honour to have his films being showcased on such a huge platform.
He said most of the films which have been selected were inspired much by societal settings.
“It is a great honour to have our films being aired on M-Net, especially now on time where we are about to celebrate Africa Day. They do tell an African story,” said Tafirenyika.
“It is an indication that we are much appreciated and it brings the identity and cultural aspect that we should be proud of ourselves.”
Tafirenyika said the Covid-19 pandemic affected the film industry as it was now difficult to shoot some films due to the fact that some locations were still yet to open.
“Covid-19 has stagnated film production and survival has been painful,” he said. “It is now difficult to shoot some projects because some areas where we would want to use are either not open or being affected with the Covid-19, hence they are careful and not comfortable.”
Another local film maker Shem Zemura of Rain Media said it was a huge progress to have his films on DStv.
“I hope this is the beginning of a very long relationship between Rain Media and Multichoice,” he said.
“I have three films which have been picked to premiere on the pop-up channel — ‘Kushata Kwemoyo’, ‘Stay with Me’ and ‘Death and Other Complications’.
“The major challenge we are facing as local film industry is being discriminated against by other regional channels, so this move is exciting, to have local films on the M-Net platform.”
Online Reporter