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| McDonald Maluwaya: We want more local language fims |
Malawi Government has commended Theatre International (TI) for promoting local language and art in its movie 'Mwayi Wotsiriza'.
Performed in Chichewa language but has English and French
subtitles, Mwayi Wotsiriza weaves its themes around sexual abuse of
girls and working conditions of teachers in rural primary schools.
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| Chimombo, Maluwaya, Luhanga: watching the movie |
"We really need these kind of movies in Malawi. As a
country we would like to have more films produced in our vernacular
languages as it has been done in this film"Said McDonald Maluwaya, the
Chief Arts Officer in the Ministry of Sports and Culture at the end of
premiering of the film last Friday night at Golden Peacock Hotel in the
Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.
“The mission….the vision…. Superb! The strategy…all
wonderful! And what touches me the most is the idea of promoting
cultural expression while appealing to the minds of the international
world...” He added.
Maluwaya who was the guest of honor at the event then
promised that government will continue with number of programs that
promote the film industry in the country and also to end challenges that
the film industry is facing in the country such as lack of formalized
markets, growing rates of piracy, high costs of producing movie and also
technical expertise.
In the film, a frustrated teacher ‘propositions’ a daughter
of an economically vulnerable rural woman and impregnates her. The
system, already baffled by inadequacy of teaching staff, has to find a
way of disciplining him.
Reactions after watching the 1 hour movie, from the
audience who filled the hall were mainly good appraisal to directors and
producers for making a realistic and quality work which they said is a
true representation of current plight of primary schools teachers and
girls as well as how communities often responds to such situations.
“This is a remarkable work. It reflects reality on the
ground in our communities and towns. And it ends on the good note.” one
of the woman in the audience said.
Some of the reactions were questions to invited government
officials from Ministry of Education and Ministry of Gender on how
education system responds to the situation presented in the film, on
girl child protection and how best can people respond to those
situations.
Others made their observations by presenting real stories
similar to situations presented in the movie while sharing some best
practices that other few communities are doing in dealing with such
problems. And more importantly, there were comments with proposed
solutions and call for action by every person.
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| Chimombo: We are aware of the challenges |
When responding to some of the questions from the audience,
one of the invited guests at the launch, Dr. Joseph Chimombo, Director
of Basic Education in the Ministry of Education Science and Technology,
acknowledged that Mwayi Wotsiriza highliths almost all challenges being
faced at the moment in the education sector.
“As Government we are aware of these problems. We are very
much concerned and we are at the moment working hard to end them.” He
said
Later, the undersecretary for the Ministry of Gender,
Children, Disability and Social welfare Dr. Austin Owen Luhanga
indicated that the ministry is also at the moment making number of
strides to ensure that a girl child is being protected by mentioning
that government has hired a full-time lawyer in the ministry who will be
dealing with issues of violence against women and girls.
The Artistic Director for Theatre International Chancy
Mauluka said the movie was inspired by his encounter with one teacher
‘victimized’ by the system and one girl victimized by the victimized
teacher in Kasungu District.
Mauluka says the movie aims at inciting debate on how
Malawi can effectively deal with some of these problems including on
reporting channels when such issues arise and how communities can solve
such problems.
“This movie is something that can be used for social
development and is a good example of communication for social change”
said Mauluka who thanked audience for coming in high numbers and
appreciated their reaction to the film
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