MINISTER of Youth, Sports and Arts Elvis Nkandu says government takes film and television production very seriously on its agenda because the industries are a huge potential for creating employment.
And Multichoice has congratulated seven Zambian filmmakers on their nomination for the eighth edition of Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) scheduled to take place in Nigeria on May 14.
Zambia’s renowned creative talents; David Kazadi earned a nomination in the Best Movie Southern Africa category through his Black Dollar movie and Paul S Wilo was nominated under the same category for Maria Kristu’s production.
Mwaka Nakweti’s, Butuku was nominated in the Best Television Series Drama or Comedy category whilst in the Best MultiChoice Talent Factory category, Masuzyo Mwale, Cosmas Ngandwe, Abel Ngoma and Edward Sakala got nominated for their Nyau production.
In a speech read on his behalf by Ministry of Youth, Sports and Arts Permanent Secretary Kangwa Chileshe when MultiChoice Zambia hosted nominees in Lusaka, Friday, Nkandu said government had created an enabling environment through policies and programmes to help the growth of the film and television industries.
“The government believes that the film and television industries are a source of homegrown wealth that should enable filmmakers to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country. Therefore, the government takes film and television production very seriously on our agenda because they are central in helping to bring about development of our local creative industry. The government has created an enabling environment on multiple fronts through policies and programmes to help the growth of the film and television industries. We have in place the local content policy and the film policy programmes. This shows a serious commitment on the part of the government toward supporting the growth of the creative industry,” said Nkandu.
“From the seven AMVCA Zambian nominees, film and television production is important not only to enrich lives but also to create employment opportunities for young people. The film and television industries are a huge potential for creating employment and MultiChoice effort in empowering young talent through supporting film and television is in line with the government’s agenda to create more jobs for people in the country. Therefore, the work that MultiChoice is doing is commended by the government.”
And MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF), Academy Director Southern Region, Chris Puta said the nomination of Zambian productions was a great testament to how the film and television industry had now grown beyond Zambian borders.
“We are very excited that Zambian productions have been nominated for these awards and this is a great testament to how our film and television industry has now grown beyond our Zambian borders. We have taken a keen interest in developing talent and we have done it for years through our Corporate Social Investment initiative MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) Academy. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to supporting film and television industries and we have given young Africans the chance to hone their television and film production skills through a world-class training programme,” said Puta.
