THE indefinite postponement of the epic movie, Chinhoyi 7, could have been necessitated by the need to re-work scenes that showered praises on former President Robert Mugabe, who has become a persona non grata in Zanu PF after being linked to the New Patriotic Front.
BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO
NewsDay Life & Style is reliably informed that the premiere of the 1966 Chinhoyi battle film — initially scheduled for last Friday — was postponed to allow re-editing of scenes that showered too much praise on Mugabe.
“The movie was supporting Mugabe big time, therefore, the timing of the premiere was now very tricky,” an insider said.
Another source confirmed: “The film has a lot of shortcomings, like you have people chanting ‘Pamberi na Cde Mugabe’.”
The film’s producer, Tawanda Sarireni, refuted the allegations as “a big lie” and referred this reporter to Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) public relations officer, Overson Mugwisi.
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Mugwisi said although people were free to speculate, but what ZDF said following the postponement was the true position.
“I don’t know anything about that. We have no information on what they are speculating on. It’s up to individuals to speculate. They are free to because we are a democratic country. Why don’t you believe what we said formally?” he said.
A terse statement was released last Wednesday by ZDF announcing postponement of the premiere, but did not disclose the reasons.
“The postponement has come due to reasons beyond our control or that of our hosts Ster-Kinekor is sincerely regretted,” Mugwisi said.
In some circles, people have started believing the high-budget movie may never see the light of day after, it was initially scheduled to be launched in 2015.
Movie director, Moses Matanda cited the delayed importation of the software used in the production of the special effects, as they wanted the movie to be a world-class production.
Filmmaker Beauty Tsuro argued that the continued postponement of Chinhoyi 7 would make the film lose its “world class” feel.
“But the more they are delaying that’s the more their film is losing that world-class feel. Better films are being made, while they are going round in circles, by the time they want to release it might be irrelevant,” she said.
Meanwhile, ZDF said ticket sales would continue at Ster-Kinekor, Borrowdale and Eastgate in Harare