News / National
Cont Mhlanga comes out of retirement
30 Jan 2018 at 00:25hrs | Views
Veteran artiste Cont Mhlanga is back from retirement and has produced a television drama called Esigabeni.
Mhlanga, who years ago announced his retirement to concentrate on rearing goats and sheep at his rural home in Lupane, probably found it difficult to completely do away with his old habits.
Airing on ZBCtv every Sunday at 9PM, the drama features inexperienced actors and actresses drawn from rural Matabeleland North province.
Mhlanga announced his retirement a few years ago after being in the arts industry for more than 30 years saying he wanted to concentrate on livestock farming at his rural home.
He however said youths in the village came up with the idea of a drama series with a rural plot and he could not turn them down.
Mhlanga said the main actors Casper Mahlangu, a Form Two pupil who plays Amen in the drama and Mduduzi Nkomo a Grade Seven pupil who plays Ngwazi, approached him in 2016 while he was herding his goats in the bush and said they wanted to be taught how to make films.
He said thereafter the then Information Minister Chris Mushohwe, his then deputy Thokozile Mathuthu and permanent secretary George Charamba paid a courtesy call at his homestead and asked him to help create content for the Government's digitalisation programme.
"So after the Minister came to my house I then decided to bring in those two boys and come up with a production. Everyone who has worked on this drama has never been trained and we spent the whole of last year filming and then editing. They're stars in the two episodes that have aired so far," he said.
Mhlanga heaped praises on the two young actors describing them as geniuses.
"For people that young and who've never been in front of the camera, they're both geniuses. Even the rest of the cast, they are good at what they do and this shows that talent in the rural areas is being marginalised," said Mhlanga.
He said the story is about Amen who is helped by his friend Ngwazi to fight for his inheritance.
"Amen's father was a prominent pastor but unfortunately dies then his mother is left with the church. There's a man who lived in the village who returns from South Africa after failing to make it there and tries to take away control of the church from Amen's mother. With the help of his friend Ngwazi, they use the constitution to prevent that from happening," said Mhlanga.
He said the production would not be possible without the help of a Mr Ncube, the district schools' inspector.
"He said to me, I can't be here and sit in the rural areas without helping us create stars. So he was very influential in encouraging children to come to my homestead after school and learn the arts," said Mhlanga.
"So children were coming to the homestead to learn with the support from the district which was a plus."
Although denying that he was on a comeback trail, Mhlanga also shared that there was a film that was shot in Binga called Ziyanyongana that has been entered into the Pan-African film and television festival (Fespaco) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, a regional front office of the Cannes Festival
They select top 10 new series that haven't been premiered and that's where many film producers and talent scouts pick films and actors that they fancy.
Producers of the film selected in the top 10 will be taken to meet these individuals in Burkina Faso.
Mhlanga, who years ago announced his retirement to concentrate on rearing goats and sheep at his rural home in Lupane, probably found it difficult to completely do away with his old habits.
Airing on ZBCtv every Sunday at 9PM, the drama features inexperienced actors and actresses drawn from rural Matabeleland North province.
Mhlanga announced his retirement a few years ago after being in the arts industry for more than 30 years saying he wanted to concentrate on livestock farming at his rural home.
He however said youths in the village came up with the idea of a drama series with a rural plot and he could not turn them down.
Mhlanga said the main actors Casper Mahlangu, a Form Two pupil who plays Amen in the drama and Mduduzi Nkomo a Grade Seven pupil who plays Ngwazi, approached him in 2016 while he was herding his goats in the bush and said they wanted to be taught how to make films.
He said thereafter the then Information Minister Chris Mushohwe, his then deputy Thokozile Mathuthu and permanent secretary George Charamba paid a courtesy call at his homestead and asked him to help create content for the Government's digitalisation programme.
"So after the Minister came to my house I then decided to bring in those two boys and come up with a production. Everyone who has worked on this drama has never been trained and we spent the whole of last year filming and then editing. They're stars in the two episodes that have aired so far," he said.
Mhlanga heaped praises on the two young actors describing them as geniuses.
"For people that young and who've never been in front of the camera, they're both geniuses. Even the rest of the cast, they are good at what they do and this shows that talent in the rural areas is being marginalised," said Mhlanga.
He said the story is about Amen who is helped by his friend Ngwazi to fight for his inheritance.
"Amen's father was a prominent pastor but unfortunately dies then his mother is left with the church. There's a man who lived in the village who returns from South Africa after failing to make it there and tries to take away control of the church from Amen's mother. With the help of his friend Ngwazi, they use the constitution to prevent that from happening," said Mhlanga.
He said the production would not be possible without the help of a Mr Ncube, the district schools' inspector.
"He said to me, I can't be here and sit in the rural areas without helping us create stars. So he was very influential in encouraging children to come to my homestead after school and learn the arts," said Mhlanga.
"So children were coming to the homestead to learn with the support from the district which was a plus."
Although denying that he was on a comeback trail, Mhlanga also shared that there was a film that was shot in Binga called Ziyanyongana that has been entered into the Pan-African film and television festival (Fespaco) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, a regional front office of the Cannes Festival
They select top 10 new series that haven't been premiered and that's where many film producers and talent scouts pick films and actors that they fancy.
Producers of the film selected in the top 10 will be taken to meet these individuals in Burkina Faso.
Source - chronicle
