FORMER model Melgin Tafirenyika’s decision to quit modelling and pursue acting and film has paid off, as he continues to shine while raising the country’s flag high following the adoption of two of his films to be showcased at the Afro-Chinese Arts and Folklore Festival in Egypt later this month.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
Tafirenyika is currently reaping the fruits of his creativity, which has seen him frequently rubbing shoulders with the glitterati of filmmaking at several festivals across the world, after his productions — Are We Strangers and 5th Anniversary — were adopted for screening at the fiesta.
The two films will also be featured in the festival’s official catalogue.
In an interview with NewsDay Life &Style yesterday, Tafirenyika said he was humbled by the recognition he continues to receive.
“As Zimbabwean filmmakers, we are growing and we need that recognition as it opens up collaborations with other filmmakers outside Zimbabwe. This continued recognition is testimony that hard work pays,” he said.
“I will be looking forward to travel to Egypt end of October to represent these films. It is not about me or Light Image Productions, but these films are representing the whole nation, so guys I need your full support.”
Tafirenyika saluted the film’s cast and crew — Munashe Chitsiga, Mapfumo Katsaya, Nomupumelelo Tshuma and Mathias Kureva — for their midas touch.
“As the writer and producer of both films, I did not do much, but the crew did the wonders, and other people who supported the project,” he said.
Apart from the latest development, Tafirenyika will be among the esteemed guests that will grace the inaugural King Moshoeshoe Film Festival set for March 2020 in Lesotho, only a few weeks after attending a festival in South Africa.
The film 5th Anniversary appears to be charming the international community as it will be its third screening at an international festival within a space of three months.
Are we Strangers features veteran actor Daniel Tapera as a father who neglected his family for almost 30 years and regrets the failure of staying alone, spending his 70th birthday away from his five children, who are living in the diaspora.
Tafirenyika, who runs Light Image Production Studios, has worked as a writer and film producer, directing several films that include I Will Marry Myself, Sour milk, Love is not Enough and Flowers of Dry Thorns. He has also featured as an actor in The Widow and Had Better Days.
