MBABANE - Shelembe Productions from PineTown, Durban, South Africa (SA), on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Eswatini National Film and TV Association.
An MoU, is a non-binding agreement that states each party’s intentions to take action, conduct a business transaction, or form a new partnership. This type of agreement may also be referred to as a letter of intent (LoI) or memorandum of agreement (MoA).This was during the launch of the new partnership between the local and SA associations and production houses, which was held at Mountain View and also shared snippets of a collaborative film that the two production houses are working on titled ‘Fake Love.’ The MoU was signed in the presence of the president of the Eswatini National Film and TV Association, Siyabonga Nkambule, Nhlanhla Shelembe from Shelembe Productions, his team, SA actors, Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture CEO Stanley Dlamini and local actors.The Arts and Culture CEO shared during the launch how such partnerships and collaborations were essential for the growth of the local arts industry and gave great exposure to local talent.
This rang true because it was announced that local RnB musician Mandisa Mamba was also part of the project on which the production house was working on, which was briefly screened. In the film ‘Fake Love,’ a Zulu man from Durban, SA leaves his wife under false pretences that he will be going to Cape Town, but it turns out he will be meeting a liswati woman, a role played by Mandisa Mamba,who is also in a relationship,and the pair collate a relationship.After the screening of the film, Shelembe shared with the audience how it gave them great pleasure to be in the kingdom to formulate a relationship that would give talent endless possibilities to be discovered.The SA film production house has recently been working on projects like ‘Taxi Bosses’ which has taken over SA TV screens. Taxi Bosses deals with the dynamics of the volatile taxi industry and how family feuds can end in death.
Budget
Despite operating on a shoestring budget, the film managed to involve established actors like Bhekisizwe Mahlawe, who played a male nurse named Calvin Gumede on e.tv’s Durban Gen, former Uzalo actor and comedian Siyabonga Radebe; and former Isibaya actor Andile Mxakaza. There are more projects in the pipeline, and it was revealed during the launch that local actors should be vigilant for opportunities that may arise.
