The ManicaPost
Liberty Dube
Entertainment Correspondent
TALENTED actor, Stephen Mutsago who is among this year’s National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) nominees is confident that he will bring the crown home.
The awards are slated for Bulawayo tomorrow (Saturday) and they will be running under the theme ‘#KWAN22’ which is in honour of their return to the city of Bulawayo after years of being held in Harare.
Mutsago was nominated in the Outstanding Screen Production (Full-Length Film) after co-directing the blockbuster movie, Comrade, while the movie’s main actor, Felix Machingambi, who stars as Comrade, was nominated in the Outstanding Actor category.
In the Outstanding Screen Production (Full-Length Film) category, Mutsago will be battling it out with Steve Chikosi who is the man behind the production, White Yet Black.
Machingambi will be battling it out with Everson Chieza who acts as Jabulani in The November Promise, as well as Alex Ayanda Marova who acts as Sgora in High School Diary.
Comrade is a romantic and thriller movie which was shot in Kwesha Village, Honde Valley.
It depicts themes of love, betrayal and perseverance.
It also looks at the post-traumatic experiences encountered by liberation fighters who fought and survived during the wars of independence for Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique.
The movie was co-directed by Abel Silungwe from Zambia.
Locals Pretty Mutsago, Charity Siziba and Felix Machingambi also featured in the movie.
Said Mutsago: “The main idea was to celebrate the life of liberation war veterans. They are still able to build and defend our societies. Their ideas and expertise is still of great importance, both in politics and socio-economic activities.
“With the film Comrade, we are celebrating these heroes and heroines, both living and fallen. We have one actress from Zambia (Penelope Chindolo) who played the role of Gamu. In order to relate to our neighbouring country, Zambia, we had to allow her to use Tonga and Nyanja in the dialogues.”
He said he chose Zambian and Mozambican actors and actresses because of the cordial relations that exist between these countries and Zimbabwe, dating back to the colonial era.
“I feel humbled to be among the nominees. In fact, I feel honoured. I am confident that I am going to make Manicaland province proud. I know it will not be easy, but I am happy that I was nominated. That alone means a lot to me and the whole crew. We will travel to Bulawayo with honour and confidence. In my time as a director, I feel like on Comrade I made a giant leap creatively,” said Mutsago.
Mutsago, a police officer by profession, has a decorated life in the film industry and has produced feature and short films such as Ngozi, Vicious Circle, Lobengula the Godfather as well as a series, Smoking Gun, which was aired on local television station, ZBC.
