‘The Gentleman’ to premiere in UK

features Academy Award-winning South African actor Presley Chweneyagae of “Tsotsi” fame, Munyaradzi “Diamond Boy” Chidzonga, who also made waves in the Big Brother All Stars reality television show in 2010 and flamboyant businessman Philip Chiyangwa.
Miss Malawi 2011 Faith Chibale is also part of the cast.
Joe Njagu, the director of the movie, said an entourage of four will be travelling to London for the premiere.
“Munya, Rufaro Kaseke (the producer) and I will be flying to London on 21 March and Presley will be flying there direct from South Africa.
“Our executive director, Sylvia Chimhina, is sponsoring the premiere and is also having the encrypted DVDs of the movie made in the US and so we will be selling the first copies of the DVD at the UK premiere,” said Njagu.
He added that Lloyd Musara of the United Kingdom-based Base Africa Entertainment Consultancy, who is organising everything for the premiere, was upbeat that it will be a huge success as advance tickets are selling fast.
“The Gentleman” won Njagu an award for the American International Film Festival Best Director in the foreign language category while Chidzonga scooped the National Arts Merit Award for the Outstanding Male Actor last month.
“This is a step in the right direction for us. It is always a pleasure when as a filmmaker you are able to take your film to another audience,” said Chidzonga.
“I am optimistic that the film will sell in the United Kingdom because it is a really good film that has even been recognised by internationally acclaimed filmmakers.”
After the United Kingdom premiere, the filmmakers will travel to Zambia for another premiere pencilled in for March 31 in Lusaka.
Asked about the much-anticipated release of the DVD locally, Kaseke said that it would be available on the local market by the end of April.
“We are making quality encrypted DVDs in the US that will make it difficult for pirates to make copies. We know eventually they will somehow be able to make copies but our DVD will be of high quality and it will be properly priced so that we can support all the structures in our production team,” he said.
Kaseke said that their main aim was to take the Zimbabwean film industry to another level. He said two movies are lined up for production this year and will be released by December.