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Malawi has been starved of own television soaps in the likes of the South Africa’s Generations and Backstage for a long time. One of the arguments for this situation has been that the country does not have enough human and financial resources to produce films and develop the film industry.
But one of the new players in the film industry, Dreamland Artists Theatre Company, says it is ready to offer Malawians a TV soap with a local touch titled Mama’s Restaurant to be broadcast by Television Malawi (TVM) from January next year.
The managing director for the company Thom Chibambo said in an interview recently, the TV series’ major sponsor is GTZ who have pumped in K7.5 million for the production and beaming of the artistic work. Other sponsors are Southern Bottlers Malawi Limited and Dulux Malawi Limited, who will be advertising during the broadcasting.
Chibambo said the project was launched with assistance from the Germany-based Filume Filmproduktion GmbH, who have also provided for the technical resources for the recording, editing and post-production of the series to the company.
Mama’s Restaurant, created and produced in Malawi with Malawian writers, actors and actresses is focusing on gender-based violence, HIV and Aids, democracy and decentralisation and dialogue and peace.
“We want to use this initiative so that we can tell Malawians that we can also make it. Malawians should have their own film company just like the Nigerians and that is why we have ventured into this project,” said Chibambo.
The pre-beaming production was done last week at CTC Lodge premises in Blantyre.
The series has six episodes in both English and chichewa “ in order to reach all Malawians with messages on HIV/Aids, gender-based violence, democratisation ills and peace and dialogue.”
Co-written and co-directed by Matthews Singano, Noel Chinkwende, Emmanuel Maliro and Linda Zulu, the series is set in one place — Big Mama’s restaurant — where Big Mama is the soul of the area.
It is basically a story of an average Malawian family, striving to run a successful business while remaining independent and providing a meaningful contribution to its community.
It features Big Mama, the main actress, who has a husband Chisale and two children, Mike and Thandie. But Chisale has another wife, who benefits from Big Mama’s restaurant because the husband takes money from the restaurant and gives to another woman.
According to the Executive Director of Filume Filmproduktion GmbH, Wolfgang Panzer, each and every episode has its own climax and the climax of the first one is when Mike falls head over heels with Lizzie, Thandie’s best friend and Big Mama falls in the same boat with a rich tobacco farmer, Sauzande, who also frequents the Mama’s Restaurant.
The key actress, Mary Mkandawire, said in an interview that the soap is good, truly Malawian and comic.
“This series has taken my acting to a new horizon. It is a Malawian play and all facts are factual,” said Mkandawire.
TVM director Benson Tembo welcomed the soap opera series by the Malawian producers, saying Malawi has a wealth of art, which need to be tapped.
“It is high time Malawians start enjoying their own materials like the Mama’s Restaurant series of episodes that will soon be on TVM,” he said
Tembo said it would be cheaper for TVM to sustain a local programme than foreign soap opera series such as Generations, which was costing TVM US$33,000 (over K3.6 million) every month.
He said TVM has two hours set aside for entertainment and educative programmes but had no material because there were no companies like Dreamland Theatre who could buy air time.
“TVM’s job is to broadcast programmes not to produce and we are ready to buy local programmes,” he said.
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