Bwalo la Luso best film maker shoots fourth movie

Bwalo la Luso Awards best feature filmmaker Joel Mkandawire has come back to shoot his fourth movie The Dark Cloud.

The movie, to be released in December this year, is adapted from a stage play written by Mzuzu University (Mzuni) lecturer Dr Mapopa Sanga, now studying in the US.

“The movie is in its first level of production. So far I have identified the main cast comprising Manasseh Chisiza, Suzgo Chitete, Lily Banda, Nicholas Msowoya and Precious Kamuzu Banda. For the rest of the cast, I am conducting auditions this week,” said Mkandawire.

He said shooting of the movie starts in March and will be completed in November.

The Dark Cloud is an action thriller; a story of murder where Lyton Chinangwa is wrongly accused of murder, sacked from his work and abandoned by his lovely wife. The story climaxes with a lonely Chinangwa trying to find out who implicated him.

“I thought of using a script written by a professional because I believe in involving experts in their field of expertise,” said Mkandawire.

Although the original play was written in English, Mkandawire said it will be shot in Chichewa with English subtitles. “My research has shown that people want movies with a cultural aspect. That’s why I thought of translating it into Chichewa,” he said.

Apart from producing movies, Mkandawire is also an actor and has appeared in several major productions such as Footsteps of the First Lady where he performed alongside Desmond Elliot, Stand by Me, an American Embassy commemoration stage play and Justice, a musical play produced by My Brother’s Keeper School of Music, among others.

 Apart from his award winning movie The Darkest Hour released in 2010, Mkandawire has also shot Zintchito Zoyipa in 2006 and The Black Angel in 2008.