{"id":59978,"date":"2018-02-01T06:44:41","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T04:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=59978"},"modified":"2018-02-01T06:44:42","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T04:44:42","slug":"elson-kambalus-film-makes-semi-finalist-at-stiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2018\/02\/01\/elson-kambalus-film-makes-semi-finalist-at-stiff\/","title":{"rendered":"Elson Kambalu\u2019s film makes semi-finalist at Stiff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filmmaker and visual artist Elson Kambalu\u2019s film Mlandu WA Njinga\/Case of a Bicycle <\/em>has been selected for San Mauro Film Festival (Stiff) 2018 in Italy.<\/p>\n

A message from the festival organisers congratulates Kambalu for the selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations!!! Your film was selected for Stiff semi-finalist 2018. Stay tuned!!! All the notice will be posted on Stiff official Facebook page,\u201d the organisers said.<\/p>\n

Kambalu said on Tuesday he was excited with the development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting of course. This is the only information I have got for now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kambalu said he was looking forward to the best with the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best is yet to come. I am actually yet to receive feedback on my other applications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kambalu said last year after premiering the film that he wanted it to screen in many international film festivals and that he had made a number of applications.<\/p>\n

Other filmmakers such as Avinu Films also said that they were thrilled to announce that their recently released short documentary Pillars of Creation <\/em>had been officially selected as a semi-finalist at the 2018 San Mauro Film Festival, Torino, Italy.<\/p>\n

The festival accepts films from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Several people have congratulated Kambalu for the development on social media, saying this was clear testimony that Malawi was making strides in the film industry.<\/p>\n

In November last year Mlandu Wa Njinga <\/em>screened at the Pan African Lake International Festival in Kenya.<\/p>\n

The film also entered into the festival as a semi finalist but, according to Kambalu, it did not go through to the winning stages.<\/p>\n

After screening the film in the country, Kambalu has made headway, producing DVDs for the movie which is on sale.<\/p>\n

Kambalu has also released the film in three formats with English translations.<\/p>\n

The film has been translated to Chichewa, Tumbuka and Yao.<\/p>\n

The renowned visual artist, who is the owner of La Galleria in Lilongwe, said he decided to have it in more languages because they want to make it a household movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to make it a household movie to be fully owned by Malawians from their own dialect point. We believe language is a powerful tool to reach out to the masses; hence, the categories,\u201d Kambalu said.<\/p>\n

He said they have taken it for granted that everybody understands Chichewa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis generalisation has made us lose out on prospective audiences. We want Mlandu Wa Njinga <\/em>to appear in every home and be relevant to the viewer. More than 30 actors have been used for the translations,\u201d Kambalu said.<\/p>\n

He said that one important thing worth mentioning for the film is that it features actors that have never starred in any movie before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is raw talent,\u201d Kambalu said.<\/p>\n

The film tells the story of a young man called Ntaja, who comes out of prison and later goes on a search for a woman he wanted to marry prior to his incarceration.<\/p>\n

He finally found the woman.<\/p>\n

In the movie, Kambalu used new actors and actresses, with Ralpha Luga starring Ntaja while the woman he was looking for is played by Princess Chilambula.<\/p>\n

Shot for a period of two years in Lilongwe and Salima, the other actors are Kossam Jossam, Apatsa Kwilimbe, Cathy Maveya and Yusu Sabiku.<\/p>\n

The film also features musicians, among them Jaco Jana, Agorosso, Malala, Neil Nayar, Moto Buuu and JJ Munthali, who, Kambalu said, has also worked on the music scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filmmaker and visual artist Elson Kambalu\u2019s film Mlandu WA Njinga\/Case of a Bicycle has been selected for San Mauro Film Festival (Stiff) 2018 in Italy. A message from the festival organisers congratulates Kambalu for the selection. \u201cCongratulations!!! Your film was selected for Stiff semi-finalist 2018. Stay tuned!!! All the notice will be posted on Stiff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":45145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59978","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\/59978","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=59978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59982,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59978\/revisions\/59982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}