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Nick Zemura

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Arts Reporter
Coming up with a script for a movie or drama is one thing, while inspiration is another. One local film and television director and producer Nick Zemura has fought against all odds and won the hearts of many Zimbabweans with his two productions “Muchaneta” and “Muzita RaBaba”. Both dramas speak of societal issues and suggest solutions to certain problems affecting the community.

In an interview the filmmaker said he was inspired by the local trend of fancy prophets to come up with “Muzita RaBaba”.

He said growing up he always wanted to do comedy.

“I did lots of plays when I was growing up that made people laugh. I started getting paid to write plays when I was in high school, doing plays to teach women about their rights. It just so happened that I was at a funeral and saw my old friend (Kessia Masona) singing and dancing. I shared my vision on ‘Muchaneta’,” he said.

“For ‘Muzita Rababa’, I was inspired by the local trend of these fancy prophets, living large preaching about wealth. I loved the idea of lifting the veil and ask the question, are they all up to what they say,” he said.

Zemura who once worked in a New York studio as a script supervisor said our country needs to be accessible in terms of promoting film and television.

Talking about his role model, the former teacher said the late Safirio Madzikatire (Mukadota) was one of many.

“For television, Mukadota, for stage Ronald Mukonda and Athol Fuggard when it comes to scriptwriting and Steven Soderbergh when it comes to movie directing. If I were to change local television, I would push towards creating local content that engages our people,” he said.

Zemura, whose wife and kids are based in the US said he was working on his first local soap.

“We can compete very well with anyone but that’s only possible if all things are equal in the industry. I can’t reveal much about our next production but just know that it is something that is set to make history on television in Zimbabwe,” he said.