New blood of Zimbabwean film making
By Silence Charumbira
Showbiz Editor
Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.
The famous Shakespeare statement may be a high sounding nothing for many but surely rings true for Batsirai Masvinge, a 28 year old film producer based in South Africa who from a tender age of Primary school going had his eyes set on his career.
Growing up in the mining and farming town of Concession may not have been the most convenient, but fate had him bumping into Rufaro Kaseke and Joe Njagu in Bulawayo while they were holding auditions for a new film.
“I have always known what I wanted to do ever since I was in primary school in the small farming town of Concession and my dreams of being in show business later became more alive at Bernard Mzeki College in Marondera, when everyone was talking about being a Doctor, being and Engineer, I wanted only one thing: to tell great stories and make people feel good through entertainment,” said Masvinge.
While Njagu and and Kaseke were auditioning for the film that was to feature South African Presley Chweneyegae from the Oscar winning Tsotsi, Masvinge’s zeal was matched and he found himself in Harare knocking on people’s doors for film funding.
Then 23, Masvinge linked up with American based entrepreneur Sylvia Chimhina who in the end came on board as an executive producer for the film and sponsored a prestigious UK premiere for the film.
“I highly regard Sylvia as one of the most important people who played a critical role for a group of young Zimbabwean film makers to break into to their dreams to the next stage and has continued being a valuable mentor and very close friend to me personally,” he said.
The Gentleman went on to win a Best Director award at the American Film Festival: Best Foreign Film.
“From then I knew, we probably were going somewhere. I found my calling and a gap in the entertainment industry which led me to specialise in film and television financing, publicity and marketing, production management and script development/packaging, they were areas that most people never took time to understand as most people specialize in directing/ writing but I took that up and ran with it.”
He has produced several projects for film and television in Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa and Swaziland.
But Masvinge says the turning point in his career was in 2012 when he was commissioned by Jewel magazine to produce a television sitcom titled Salon.com which was later released through the leading women publication owned by Daniel and Tsitsi Mutendi.
“It was a very innovative project where readers of the magazine got a free copy of the sitcom’s DVD sitcom. As I look back I realise this could have been one of the most successful television shows due to the positive buzz it received on the pilot episode, and up to now people are still asking why the show never went on,” he said.
Currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa where, Masvinge works as a producer and publicist through his media company Group Six Media which is developing a 13 part documentary film series for a top South African channel.
He has in the past done work for Zimbabwean business magnate Dr James Makamba organisation for a program called Africa Entrepreneurship Exchange which featured guest speakers such as popular South African television personality Peal Thusi and ex Generations star Sophie Ndaba.
Masvinge has also appeared on SABC 1’s Generations as a guest.
“I currently do a lot of television work in the area of casting with my partner Nhlanha Ndlovu through Cidi Productions where we supply extras and actors to top South African productions such as Generations (SABC 1), High Rollers (SABC3), Ashes to Ashes (Etv) and we also host and run top workshops for actors in Johannesburg.
