MILLICENT HUNGWE
MASVINGO- On the night when the Donovan Takaendesa directed Star short film was launched at Charles Austin Theatre last Friday, one of their sponsors Audly announced a new program “Audly Ignite” that involves empowering of locals on story telling and creative writing.
The founding director of Audly Studios Limited, Rangarirai Huruba told The Midweek Watch that Audly Ignite is a dynamic program designed to bridge the gap between grassroots creators and professionals.
“It seeks to amplify the voices of local artists, enabling them to tell powerful stories that resonate with their communities,” said Huruba.
Audley started with the block buster Gonarezhou film that was shot in Masvingo in 2018 and they are self funded through their commercial activities.
Star film producer, Takaendesa introduced his cast team on stage before the film was launched and also thanked their main sponsors, Audly and Culture Fund which is supported by the European Union.
The film had 10 actors with a mixture of the disabled and able persons. One of the actors Mike Kanyemba aka Sekuru VaBheka whose life history was the main theme of the 25minutes film told The Midweek Watch that he was thrilled to be part of the historic short film.
Sekuru VaBheka lost his mom in real life sometime last year and he worked hard to pay the medical bills of her late mother so the producer tried to showcase this hard time and hustle he went through to the viewers that night.
The audience was very appreciative on how both the disabled and able actors blended their talents to come up with a captivating short film.
Dononvan said that he was very impressed with the turn up at the premiere and thanked his team that worked very hard behind the scenes for a job well done.
“Will continue with this ongoing project and l urge the disabled to come forward and join the film industry and make a positive change.
“Everyone must expect more fireworks and will make Masvingo Province proud,” said Takaendesa
