Zim High a marvel

With only a day left before the curtain comes down on this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF), many memories have been made and a lot of networking among local filmmakers.

However, one event that will be remembered by those that have been attending screenings at the ZIFF hub will be the premiere of documentary/movie, ‘Zim High’.

A product of former St. Johns College student, Tatenda Mbudzi, the movie is just but a marvel to watch as its concept is very unique.

It’s not your traditional intro, body and conclusion, nada!

The youngster makes use of his crazy wittiness to document the challenges that students face in high school as they try to fit in the schools system as well as bring out issues of how students are bullied, as well as how prefects so often abuse their power.

Besides the documentary approach which is Mbudzi executes superbly, the movie also makes use of animations – a rare phenomenon in Zimbabwean films.

Animation requires a certain level of dexterity to ensure that it fits in well into the production and there is need for one to pay attention to detail so that the effects are spot on just like it is in movies such as Transformers.

Mbudzi slays it on the animation bit and other local filmmakers can benefit a lot by collaborating with him on their projects to make use of his animation skills.

We speak healing to Mbudzi though because he actually developed a hand injury whilst drawing all the characters he used in the movie, a rigorous exercise that lasted a solid seven months.

But to have a good movie one has to have a good cast and Mbudzi was spot-on in selecting his actors and actresses.

Leading the pack was Mbudzi himself alongside Zimbabwean Hollywood star who features in the television series, Vampire Diaries, Rick Cosnett.

Other stars featured are Munya Chidzonga, Kevin Hanssen and Sue Bolt.

The movie can definitely go far but Mbudzi still needs to polish up on some areas which unnecessarily make the movie too long especially towards the end.

Another area for concern according to those who were at the screening is that whilst use of vulgar language might ne accepted in other countries is the Zimbabwean audience ready for that?

Moving on, after trying various fundraising methods, Mbudzi managed to raise $7000 and with support from his former school and corporates such as Faithwear, he managed to complete his movie in a space of two years.