{"id":48711,"date":"2017-06-19T08:20:32","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T06:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=48711"},"modified":"2017-06-19T08:20:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T06:20:33","slug":"eugene-plays-amir-the-saviour-in-rakka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2017\/06\/19\/eugene-plays-amir-the-saviour-in-rakka\/","title":{"rendered":"Eugene plays Amir the saviour in \u2018Rakka\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa-based Malawian stage, television, film and voice actor Eugene Khumbanyiwa continues his impressive exploits as he has starred in a 2017 short film titled Rakka. <\/em><\/p>\n

The actor, popularly known for playing the role of Obesandjo in the 2009 Oscar- nominated sci-fi hit District 9, <\/em>said over the weekend that he was happy to be part of Rakka<\/em>.<\/p>\n

According to available information, Rakka <\/em>is a 2017 American-Canadian military science fiction short film by Oats Studios directed by Neill Blomkamp.<\/p>\n

The short film is a tale of a dystopian future where an unknown alien group have colonised the earth and humans struggle to fight back.<\/p>\n

The film was released on YouTube and Steam on June 14, 2017.<\/p>\n

Eugene said the film managed to hit over a million views within two days.<\/p>\n

Apart from starring in Rakka<\/em>, Eugene, who has also featured in a lot of movies, revealed that he was currently in a South African hot shot Lockdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am currently in South African hit show called Lockdown which shows on DStv channel 161and people will watch season two in few months\u2019 time and I am glad that producers allow me to throw in some Chichewa lines as part of my character\u2019s dialogue,\u201d Eugene said.<\/p>\n

The versatile actor said it was always refreshing to use his mother tongue on an international platform, adding that \u201cit\u2019s a sign of being proud of where you come from.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was honoured to play a lead in Rakka <\/em>which he described as an amazing movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am honoured to play a lead in such an ambitious big project alongside big Hollywood names like Sigourney Weaver. <\/em>My character is Amir the saviour of mankind. The response has been great and people can just go to YouTube and search for Oats Studio\u2019s Volume 1 Rakka <\/em>and watch the film,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eugene further said:<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, Neill Blomkamp started his own studio called Oats Studios, where he can test creative sci-fi ideas with his team, make high quality and high budget short films that can be turned into full feature films. Rakka <\/em>is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about testing the audience and see if they love the project before making a big movie to be released in cinemas,\u201d said the actor.<\/p>\n

Eugene said Rakka <\/em>shows humans in a bitter guerrilla struggle with a seemingly unstoppable alien force \u2013 a species that not only has superior technology but weird powers of mind control and telekinesis.<\/p>\n

Eugene also said he was thankful to Malawians living in South Africa for honouring him with an Achievers Award last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am forever thankful for the support I get from my fellow countrymen, its humbling and it motivates you to keep on working hard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Blomkamp, Rakka\u2019s <\/em>story sprang from his interest in making a film about the aftermath of an invasion \u2013 the occupation, and how it\u2019s resisted \u2013 rather than the initial attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a long time, I\u2019ve wanted to do a really unrelenting alien invasion story that would feel like it was punishing to the audience. And then I had this other thing in the back of my mind which was a science fiction, inverted version of an occupying force in a country,\u201d Blomkamp said.<\/p>\n

He added:<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, the Germans inFrance, or the way, say an Iraqi family would view Americans in the streets in 2006. I wanted a sci-fi version of that, where it sort of flips the viewer\u2019s point of view,\u201d Blomkamp said.<\/p>\n

Eugene moved to South Africa in the early 2000s and worked as an information and communications technology specialist before pursuing his childhood dream of becoming a professional actor.<\/p>\n

He started his acting career as an extra in the 2004 Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda, <\/em>starring Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo, playing one of the hotel staff members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa-based Malawian stage, television, film and voice actor Eugene Khumbanyiwa continues his impressive exploits as he has starred in a 2017 short film titled Rakka. The actor, popularly known for playing the role of Obesandjo in the 2009 Oscar- nominated sci-fi hit District 9, said over the weekend that he was happy to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48716,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48711\/revisions\/48716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}