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Home / Namibians urged to use Zambezi Magic to tell their stories
Namibians urged to use Zambezi Magic to tell their stories
2016-03-07Staff Report 2 Namibian filmmakers and producers gathered at MultiChoice last week to find out how they can use the Zambezi Magic channel (DStv Channel 160) to showcase their craft and talent on the channel and to tell their stories to the rest of southern Africa. Since local content in the form of film, TV productions and music videos has been a hot topic in Namibia, stakeholders in the local film and entertainment industry were invited to attend a Q&A session with head of the channel, Addiel Dzinoreva. The session, which took place at the MultiChoice head office in Windhoek, was geared to share information with members of the entertainment industry with the aim of getting Namibian content onto the Zambezi Magic channel. During the session Dzinoreva gave a presentation outlining the roles, vision, approach and target market of Zambezi Magic. Stakeholders were also given clarity on the differences between a commissioned production and the licensing of content. Dzinoreva, who was in Namibia on a special visit to seek inspiration for relevant local titles and talent that can be added to its developing content line-up, acknowledged that West Africa and South Africa are dominating the African entertainment industry and therefore appealed to Namibians to use the opportunity to showcase their and other cultures and provide insight on other countries on the African content, including Namibia. “We want you to tell stories that are authentic to your location. The more local we are, the richer the stories are. Native languages are welcome; English is also fine as long you stay true to your stories. We want to create new superstars, a multi-million dollar industry within the SADC community,” said Dzinoreva. Dzinoreva said the channel is in need of local content including movies, soaps, reality shows, music videos, comedy, sitcom, lifestyle, documentaries just to mention a few and called on stakeholders to collaborate through mutual learning, new perspectives and innovation to make magic together and use the Zambezi Magic platform to tell Namibian stories. Also present at the event were MultiChoice Namibia general manager Roger Gertze who emphasised that MultiChoice Namibia advocated for more Namibian content to be showcased on the DStv platform: “Local content is high on our agenda, and we aim to identify our role in uplifting the local film and television production industries to greater heights to see more Namibian content being showcased on our platforms.” “Recently we’ve seen the rise of many Namibians to stardom on international hit TV shows such as Big Brother Africa, MasterChef, Survivor, TLC and Southern African Countdown, not to mention our national rugby team and world-class boxers on SuperSport,” said Gertze. Filmmakers and producers can submit their work at the MultiChoice head office or connect with the Zambezi Magic links by visiting: www.dstv.com or www.zambezimagic.tv and follow Zambezi Magic on Facebook: Zambezi Magic TV;Twitter @zambezimagictv; Instagram zambezimagictv and WeChat ZambeziMagic 2016-03-07Staff Report 2
