THE Chinese, Indians and Koreans have made significant strides in the film industry.
Productions from these ambitious nations have found takers across the globe, competing with some of Hollywood’s giant productions.
Common in these productions is that these nations are telling their stories, and more importantly, in their languages.
The local film industry continues to struggle and has not been able to stand the competition brought by foreign productions. Locals have become voracious consumers of film products from abroad, Korean and Chinese included; many are enjoying the films never minding the languages, but reading subtitles.
In fact, many an avid follower of these productions, especially soap operas, claim they have become so attuned to them that they actually know and understand what is going on without reading subtitles.
Local soapies and movies have failed to penetrate the international market and the question is: What is wrong with our film industry?
Filmmakers will almost always cite, among a litany of challenges, lack of financing in the sector which has forced them to produce low-budget movies.
However, many of the foreign productions being consumed in the country fall in the shoe-string-budget category.
One Mzana Mthimukulu, presenting a paper at the recently held Zimbabwe International Book Fair 2016, stressed the need to embrace our culture and use indigenous languages in the arts.
“The two twin missions of my generation are to win back what colonialism stole from us, then develop the reclaimed treasure to a state we can all be proud of and be eager to show the rest of the modern world,” he said.
This could very well be one of the big solutions to getting our film industry to fully working again.
Current productions are eager to use the English language as a medium of expression, but this has not worked.
Basic things such as fluency and natural flow of conversation has been lacking in most of these productions.
Seeing actors and actresses literally reciting their lines on screen rather than having conversations has been a put-off.
It is not because the actors are poor in terms of skills, but that English is not their first language.
And also, there are some emotions and ideas best expressed in one’s language and not that of foreigners.
The traditions and values of a people are best expressed in their language.
For instance, in a Shona production there could be a babamukuru, babamudiki and/or sekuru.
These are distinct titles that explain the person and his status, but in English all are simply ‘uncle’.
Past productions in local languages are evidence that indigenous languages work best.
Who has forgotten Stitcha, Kukhula Kokuphela, Makorokoza, Zvirimudendere, Pfuma Yenhaka Inoparadza Ukama, Paraffin, Mukadota, Kurauone and Tambaoga, among others?
These were mind-blowing productions that had many glued to television sets and never missing an episode.
They addressed our day-to-day challenges in languages we understood and readily identified with.
In these productions, our values reigned supreme, including how culture is dynamic and not static.
Using local languages will enable actors and actresses to freely express themselves, bring out emotions which are key to the success of productions and doing so will deliver an African story that peoples elsewhere might find interesting.
“Languages develop within the confines of a specific human community and experience,” said Mthimukulu.
“A society that places importance on the oneness of members of a clan is likely to have this concern reflected in its language.”
Despite using their indigenous languages, productions from the Philippines, Korea, Bollywood, Nollywood and China have become firm favourites for many and it is their culture they are propagating.
They make no apologies and are not aping Americans.
With Bollywood, Indians have captured the essence of who they are, using language which is then translated to English for other audiences.
As for Nollywood, the West Africans have managed to make a mark in the global film industry due to their vibrant use of pidgin English and an accent that does not mask their origin.
They make no apologies for this.
However, locally, our film industry has become Westernised to the extent of destroying our tradition and values.
Locals are using English not as a medium to express local values, but to celebrate Western culture.
Arnold Tongayi Chirisa, one of Zimbabwe’s internationally acclaimed actors, is on record calling for scripts telling the Zimbabwean story which he said will have takers.
Tanyaradzwa is an example of a local movie which enjoyed international recognition and acclaim despite being shot in a local language.
Embracing the over 16 languages in the country might be key to jolting the local film industry.