LOCAL film producer, Collins Mukosi said financial challenges have affected the marketing and distribution of his docudrama Mugabe and Black Empowerment that was launched last year.
The one hour film aims to correct distortions by Western media on the country’s Land Reform Programme.
Mukosi told The Patriot that there was limited availability of funds for promoting film projects in the country.
“As film producers we are failing to access capital to boost our operations as most financiers such as banks are not willing to fund our projects,” Mukosi said.
“As a result, most of our films ‘die’ without reaching the targeted audiences due to lack of funds to promote them.
“We have been able to work together as producers in putting our resources together to fund the production process, but this has proved difficult in the marketing and distribution.”
Mukosi said there was need for Government to commit itself in funding and developing the film sector.
“Most funding is coming from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but the problem is that they influence content to suit their agenda and they do not support projects that are pro-revolutionary,” he said.
“The Government should therefore, avail more funds for the sector to make sure that our history is not distorted through Western funding.”
Mugabe and Black Empowerment highlights the life struggles of President Robert Mugabe and his fight for Zimbabwean land and mineral resources with Britain and its Western allies.
Mukosi said he was working on new projects that are based on the First and Second Chimurenga.
“I have already started working on more Chimurenga films to avoid more distortion of our history,” he said.
“History books that were written by whites have deprived us of the truth about our struggle as they were written to push their agenda and maintain white dominance.
“The films we are making will help young generations understand our history and what we are striving for as they will present the truth.”
International film makers are increasingly working on African film projects distorting the stories to fit their interests.
Some of these films include Hotel Rwanda, The Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond that were meant to undermine African governments portraying them as undemocratic, poor and in need of Western intervention to excel.
Mukosi said local film-makers should not allow foreign film makers to tell the Zimbabwean story.
“We can tell the Zimbabwean stories better than foreigners because we witnessed these events,” he said.
Mugabe and Black Empowerment opens with a scene set at Van Brooke’s farm where the owners of the farm and his white friends are having a braai party.
The scene demonstrates how blacks were ill-treated by whites and reduced to second class citizens in their country.
At the party, a black employee who is roasting meat is brutally assaulted for stealing a piece of sausage showing the ruthlessness of white farmers.
As the plot thickens, there are clips of President Mugabe speaking on the unfair practices of the British government such as going back on its word to avail funds for the Land Reform Programme.
The docudrama shows President Mugabe explaining Government’s decision to embark on the Land Reform Programme without assistance from white commercial farmers and Britain.
Some of the scenes are actual video footages of the process of the Land Reform Programme.
The clips include those of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair refusing to honour the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, which promised to fund the land reform exercise.
The producers of the docudrama did a sterling job choosing fitting locations and cast for the film.
The scenes justify and correct the falsehoods that are spread by the West about the Land Reform Programme chiefly that it was conducted in a violent and haphazard manner.
Despite the film’s shortcomings, it is a thriller and very informative.
It features prominent figures such as musician Tambaoga, Cde Chix, Arineshto and Antony Tongami among others.