By Farayi Mungoshi

GIVEN the number of awards Mind Games has won and continues to get nominated for, the latest being The Golden Fox Awards, just last week, it would be ideal to hear more from the director. 

What inspired and prompted him to make the movie?

In a lengthy conversation, Charles Mawungwa said Mind Games was more of an experimental project.

“I was trying to develop a model for shooting a film with a very low budget, using minimum cast and crew. The economic challenges we are facing have also impacted the industry. Lack of funds has seen filmmakers making mediocre and substandard films and television programmes,” he said.

Recently the popular television drama and longest running at the moment on ZBC, Eddie Ndlovu’s Wenera, made an appeal to fellow film-makers to support the programme financially. 

However, the support will not be easily found as many film-makers are also struggling.

Given such a scenario, film-makers have been forced to think outside the box to remain relevant in the industry. 

And this is exactly what Mawungwa did with Mind Games; he spurned convention to produce a low budget film sellable internationally. 

The film-maker said the budget for Mind Games was slightly above US$3 000.

He paid US$100 per day to the cast and had a minimum crew of about four people.

Members of the crew took up multiple roles. For example, the writer would also be the director and producer and most probably be involved in editing as well while the cameraman would have to do the camera work along with the lighting.

Though burdensome, this is effective cost-cutting, which worked for Mawungwa.

The film-maker used a minimum cast. For almost half to three-quarters of the film, there are only two actors performing. 

This worked well for Mawungwa mainly because of his script, which was written specifically to accommodate a small cast and crew members. 

Working with a small cast allowed the filmmaker to fine-tune the acting to international standards. The acting in Mind Games is a breath of fresh air. I have always known we have good actors in the country but, like most people, always wondered where they were.

Jackson and Hansen’s acting is proof that we have what it takes in Zimbabwe to compete on the international platform – Hansen is that psychopath you love to hate in the film and when Dax Jackson reveals his psychopathic tendencies, he does so in a convincing manner.

The other area Mawungwa managed to cut costs on was the lighting department. 

Mind Games used minimum lighting mostly preferring natural light which is a skill most filmmakers are yet to master. 

Mawungwa is an experienced documentary film-maker and documentaries are relatively cheaper to do than feature films.

By applying the principles of documentary film-making in feature film-making, the film-maker, has achieved something no other film-maker has managed to do. 

He said he was not really prepared for the success the film has achieved. For him, it was nothing but an experimental model and he was not bothered whether he would break even or fail to make profit because that was not the main objective in making Mind Games.

“I look forward to the day film-makers are not limited in fully expressing their creative prowess because of lack of funds. I believe that on that day, we will witness the full potential of the Zimbabwean film-maker,” he said.