A new Zambian movie focusing on the ills of gender-based violence (GBV)
premiered recently, adding to the country’s growing film industry.
LSK Heroes, produced by a leading local private station Muvi Television,
premiered in Fresh View Cinema in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, on 14 March.
The levels of violence against women are escalating in Zambia, prompting
various stakeholders to team up and tackle this resident evil.
The movie is about an abused woman who is trapped in the house by her
abusive husband and her only hope for survival depends on a group of
opinionated individuals on a bus who also have their own struggles to fight.
The film was written, directed and produced by Zambian producer and actor
Henry Joe Sakala. The director of photography was Frank Sibbuku and the
executive producer was Steve Nyirenda, Muvi TV proprietor who has a passion
for local production. LSK Heroes forms part of Nyirenda and Muvi TV’s ongoing
efforts to increase the number of local productions on Zambian TV and cinema
screens.
Featuring a cast of stars old and new, LSK Heroes centres on Patience, an
abused wife, who decides to leave her abusive husband. Her only way out is a
group of colourful, opinionated individuals on a bus. The big question is: will they
turn back and save her?
The inspiration for the story came from the many cases of gender based violence
(GBV) being reported in the media.
Sakala knows that there are many more cases of GBV that are not being
reported in communities and what saddens him the most is the fact that society
does not want to help the abused woman in a relationship, opting instead to let
the couple deal with the problem. This is the attitude that LSK Heroes seeks to
change. The message is that we are all involved and we all must lend a helping
hand to abused women.
The film premiered at Zambian cinema chain Freshview recently and is enjoying
good public response. “The response that we received for this film clearly shows
that the Zambian people are ready for Zambian cinema and they are ready and
willing to watch, in their numbers, Zambian stories. – stories that depict our way
of life, stories that highlight the issues that are affecting us,’ said Sakala.
There is no doubt the Zambian film industry is growing. This multi-million Kwacha
industry has the potential to help reduce the high levels of unemployment. The
film industry can provide jobs to many people who are skilled in other fields
apart from filmmaking and acting. It is steadily proving to be vital in enhancing
economic growth through job creation.
“We need film schools, acting schools and other schools where all this raw
talent that we have can go to and sharpen their skills. Funding for these movies
is also very cardinal. The private sector is doing its bit in supporting the film
industry – although they can do more – but the government really needs to
come in and do even more to get this industry off the ground,’ Sakala says.
