Zim Actress Karen Dhirorimwe Stars in 'Glow Up' Film

HARARE: At a tender age of 29, a young Zimbabwean female model, filmaker, and entrepreneur, Karen Dhirorimwe, affectionately known as Lola, has defied the odds by breaking the ice in the predominantly male dominated Zimbabwe filmmaking industry with her latest short film entitled 'Glow - Up'.

In a high - spirited tone she said, "Glow Up is the biggest production I have done as of yet and it has given me the versatility and stamina to fully comprehend first hand, the dynamics within our film industry and what needs to be done to help young girls like us reach their fullest potential".

Glow Up in a trailer is a African film where a unique group of friends working together in a beauty salon somewhere in Harare are caught up in thier heterogeneous daily expressions of their individual way of life and how they manage to navigate through each day in the capital city viz - à - vis a plethora of other socio-economic challenges each one of them endures as they try to co-exist and share workspaces in order to make ends meet.

"Glow up follows what a day in these individuals looks like, showing their trials and tribulations and how it all affects their friendship," said Karen in an exclusive exposé with this reporter.

Karen got into the film industry in 2009 when she was only a teenager at 17. She started off as an actress, a talent that bespeak of her makeup and as if to prove her worth, she has risen up the beanstalk to become a Film Director.

"In 2016 I was given an opportunity to work behind the camera as a production assistant on a movie that was shot early 2017, it is here that I discovered that I was actually good at other production units like wardrobe, makeup, continuity and first AD and as the movie was a low budget movie I had to multi - the and still that didn't whip me off the hook bit rather gave the tenacity that has defined my mission in the film industry up to this very day and I can say in a nutshell, that is how I ended up working on other departments.

She Iater on got an opportunity to direct her first film and she remembers with passion, "That wasn't easy but it was a huge learning experience for me and  I took that experience to build up to where I am right now with "Glow Up".

Growing up, Karen  had always loved to watch sitcoms, but there were not that many local sitcoms around, but she believed everyone wanted to watch something with people who represent them and people they can relate to every now and then so that is when she decided to create something that she knew would be sought after by young people in Zimbabwe and beyond.

The date for the release date of Glow Up has not yet been set as production work is now in the final stage where they do the post production editing of the project's sound.

"I directed it and it was funded and produced by my production company called Purple Berry Productions".
The actors starring in Glow Up are Melody Chakupa as Chiedza/Wasu, Tsitsi C. Kandi as Kudzi, Elizabeth Majongwe as Tanya, Nyasha Soka as Jimmy, Michael Muromo as Simba, Makomborero T. Chimbwanda as Tich and Karen Dhirorimwe as Noku.

"Glow Up was shot here in Harare at a studio space Blue Berry Productions used to rent in Newlands and my biggest challenge was getting actors who were serious and who respected other people's time, and all that I discovered most people claim to be actors just for the love of being in front of the cameras but do not have the character and virtue as they're not willing to put up with the toughness of work in filmaking, and again for your own information, we struggled with that bit but eventually found the right fit".

She added, "The other major challenge was an audio engineer, the biggest reason the sitcom has delayed was getting someone who can edit the audio up to a good standard where the series will still have a good quality".

She bemoaned the absence of support from the corperate world as money was tight, the reason why at present Purple Berry Productions doesn't have anyone doing the marketing for them and were currently trying to put together some material and platforms for marketing the 'Glow Up' project.

"We still need to do more not just for the girl - child but everybody in the film sector. We expect our Ministry of Arts headed by @KirstyCoventry to reconsider putting some lifeline into filmaking in Zimbabwe and that includes arranging level benchmaking through indexing with more advanced individuals and actors abroad such as @NaomiHarris, @NaffessaWilliams, @JasonStattam, @HollywoodFilm, @WarnerFilm and, or @Netflix," said the actress.

"The project which we anticipate to be screening to the public any time soon has given me a  solid chance to give other young people an opportunity to grow their talents be it in acting, camera work, sound recording, make up as it afforded me the rare opportunity to work with many tertiary education students in the various faculties including those studying media and film".