A few weekends ago I decided to do something I’ve never done before; watch a Zambian movie in cinema. There was a movie premiering on that Friday so I decided to attend it. The movie was by Owas Ray Mwape and is called “Secrets Untold – The Wife 2”. It was showing at Sterkinekor Arcades. I had heard about it on radio earlier during the day but there wasn’t much information about it on Social Media so I wasn’t sure what time it would start. To be on the safe side, I arrived at 18:30 because I suspected it would start at 19hrs but just in case it started at 18hrs, I wouldn’t be too late.

I got there and found a separate ticket table for the movie and the ticket girl promised me that the movie would start at 19hrs. So I bought a ticket at K80 and sat down to wait for the cinema doors to be opened. There was a huge group of people waiting to go into the movie, none of which I recognized. I guess the Zambian movie circles are different from the circles I roll with. They all looked like students though so I suspected they were from acting school or something (Do we have those in Zambia?). Anyway a few minutes to 19hrs, the huge group got up and lined up to be admitted into the cinema. They stood there for a while and then they were told they couldn’t go in yet. And so we sat for another 30 minutes until at 19:30 when the doors were opened.

As I walked over to buy my beverage of choice, I could see the creator of the movie, Owas talking to some guy. He looked a bit stressed but who wouldn’t right? I was a bit surprised to see that there was no red carpet action though a red carpet was present. The Sterkinekor staff looked a bit unsure and frustrated. I asked one of them what was causing the delay and they just grunted and gestured at Owas. I walked into the cinema, picked my seat and prepared myself for the movie. The cinema was half full. The next 30 minutes was spent listening to people around me complaining about how late the movie was. Apparently some of them had thought it was showing at 17hrs so they had been there for over 2 hours. I spent it riding myself on buying that movie ticket. I should have just seen another movie.

At 20hrs, the trailers started running and when the movie was about to start, it skipped and we were back to waiting. At 20:07 the trailers began again and this time the movie began successfully. Finally! Like the Israelites arriving in Canaan after 40 years of twists and turns, I had arrived! The movie started with a girl I remember seeing in Love Games, Cassie Kabwila, looking at her phone smiling and then she texts her husband Owas Ray Mwape, telling him she loves him. Owas, a police man, who is in the middle of a gun fight, looks at the text and just replies with a “Thank you”. Haa! Some of these Zambian men are something else.

Anyway, so there were times in the movie when I thought the sound was inconsistent, times when it would suddenly become too loud. There were certain scenes when there was inadequate lighting. For example there is a scene when Owas’ wife is waiting for him to come home late at night. I could barely see her because of the darkness of the room and the lights were on. The production team needs to improve their lighting on the next movie they work on.

However, I must say I liked the storyline. I am all for telling the stories of the ordinary Zambian man or woman rather than always telling stories of woes, hunger and wars. I mean those must be told too, but the middle class Zambian is missing in the narrative. The whole movie was a mixture of humour and drama which I liked. I liked the plot. I also liked the acting. The major cast crew was quite good. I didn’t concentrate much on the extras but the main cast worked hard.
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Half way into the movie I had to go because I had allocated 2 hours to this movie and they were up. These days I’m very careful with my time. I mourned a little bit for my K80. Next time I’m only paying when the movie actually starts. See?! Zambian events are giving me trust issues.

Anyway here are a few suggestions from lil old me to all Zambian film people:

Promote your movie on social media – Not just your Facebook profile. Make a page for it, create an event and hashtag. Push it in our faces. Talk about it all the darn time. Put up pictures of behind the scenes. Give us the date a month before the premiere. Tell your influential friends to tell their friends. An interview on radio on the morning of the premiere won’t cut it. You need more.

Do the best within your budget – Lighting and Sound need to be worked on, you guys. That could ruin the brilliant storyline if messed up. I know most film people work from really small budgets but I swear there are skilled people with which an arrangement can be reached. The dark scenes have got to go. Oh and I think the editing can also be improved.

Zambian time is not acceptable – We can’t keep having events that start an hour late and everyone is okay. It has to stop. Prepare as much as possible. Prepare the venue. Do a rehearsal if you have to. Just don’t start the movie late. It’s not respectful to the patrons and it dents your reputation.

So will I be going to another movie premiere? Yes, I’ll give it a lot more tries. After all, we have to support local industries.

What are your thoughts? Let me Know. Thanks for reading.