RADAR: SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO: WASHIE NJAGU

A leading light in Zimbabwean cinema, his latest film, Ngoda, won three awards at the Zambia International Film Festival. His movie Cook Off! was the first Zimbabwean release on Netflix

“With film, the beauty of our work is that every single project we work on is brand-new. It’s always a new challenge and it’s always exciting. It’s got its own hurdles, but it’s definitely got its fun side too.

I’m always in that mode of just pushing and grinding... I’m tunnel-visioned on the 10,000 hours.

The latest project we finished is called Rise, which we just shot in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo. It’s inspired by the true story of the Zimbabwean boxer Tobias Mupfuti. Written and directed by Jessica Rowlands, we had the privilege of working with Tongayi Chirisa, a big Zimbabwean Hollywood export who is working in LA and was the voice actor for Cheetor in Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts. Rise is in post-production now and we’re hoping to release it in 2024.

This year I released a feature film called Ngoda, which I wrote and co-directed with Eddie Sandifolo, who is also the lead actor. It’s a social commentary on what is happening in Zimbabwe around illegal diamond mining and tells the story of three brothers who find a very big diamond that leads them on a course of greed, betrayal and eventually death. It’s almost like a metaphor of what’s happening here in Zimbabwe.

Ngoda did so well at the Zambia International Film Festival (ZAMIFF) in September. We won three Sotambe awards, for Best Actor, Best Cinematographer and Best Sound.

In September, another film I produced, Mirage, directed by Malaika Mushandu, won Best First Feature at the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival. Mirage was also nominated at ZAMIFF. It was so exciting to have two projects going up against each other.

Currently we’re in development on a limited series called Peggy, which is based on an urban legend in Zimbabwe about a ghost that was haunting and taunting small towns. We’re aiming to start work on that soon.

What drew me to filmmaking originally? I think filmmaking drew me to it. I’ve always been a storyteller, and film became the medium for me to tell stories.
For me, I think it’s important to acknowledge the fact that I don’t think we have a film industry in Zimbabwe. We have a film sector, and we are pushing and working and digging to try and establish a proper industry.

‘I AM GOING TO DO MY PART TO POSITIVELY CHANGE THE IMAGE THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD HAS OF AFRICA’

I believe that approach and what we’re doing should be different. We need to do a lot of learning, to get a lot of experience to try to catch up with what the rest of the world is doing.
Film is global – if you have an industry, you should be playing on the global field. If you release a film in Zimbabwe, it should match any film that is coming out of the United States, England or anywhere in the world.

In southern Africa, our power lies in combining forces. If our country came together with Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, all countries with small populations, I feel like that we could build a thriving commercial industry.

In 2016, I got to be part of President Barack Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship For Young African Leaders, an Africa-wide programme which trains and mentors young people from the continent. I was so lucky to be the last group to meet him during his last year as President of the United States in 2016.

There’s one thing that the President said there that literally flipped and changed the way I look at things. My vision was born in that in that room on that day. In one of his speeches to us, President Obama questioned why Africa is portrayed in the way it’s portrayed. He said that it’s because of how Africa’s image is sold to the world. He said, “Google the word Africa, look at the images. What images are you seeing? And you’re seeing all these images of poverty, mountains, animals... But that’s not what Africa is about. As long as the image of Africa remains as it is, the world will continue to aid Africa and not trade with Africa.”

That really touched me, so that’s one of the things that I’ve taken upon myself as a filmmaker, as a storyteller. I’m going to do my part to positively change that image of Africa for the rest of the world.

I’m always in the mode of “What’s next?” I generally never sit down and celebrate. I’m always challenging myself: “OK, there’s so much work to do.” It’s also affected by the environment I work in. I feel like so much needs to be done in Zimbabwe until we get to a point where we can say, “Now we’ve got an industry, a thriving industry.”

As they say, you’re only as good as your last project. So I always try — each project, every project — to push myself and my career in a positive direction. Always. Always."

Joe Njagu was talking to broadcaster and filmmaker Zoe Flood, who also produced Cook Off! out now on Netflix.