Times Of Swaziland: SA’S SHELEMBE PRODUCTIONS SIGNS MOU WITH ESWATINI

SA’S SHELEMBE PRODUCTIONS SIGNS MOU WITH ESWATINI
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Nombuso Dlamini on 15/06/2023 08:26:00


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.