We hope this series will open people’s eyes to the amazing intellectual wealth that township geek culture carries and also get people to listen to local music from 8nine Muzique .
iNgudukazi Magazine: What is the web series about?
Lenni: It’s about a teenage township maths genius who finds himself in cross hairs with local criminals who want to abuse his maths skills for profit, whilst navigating through his love for the hottest girl in his school.
iNgudukazi Magazine: Where is the story set?
Lenni: The story is set in a typical Bulawayo township and the characters are ordinary people.
iNgudukazi Magazine: What inspired this web series?
Lenni: The rise of township geek/ nerd culture as more young people are joining up tech, mathematics, science, gaming etc. So we are acknowledging and celebrating the township geeks/ intellectuals.
iNgudukazi Magazine: Who stars in the web series?
Lenni: The series is a potent mixture of experience and new talent. Featuring familiar faces like NAMA award winning Charmaine Mudau and Indlalifa super NomaQ Moyo plus a NAMA award winning writer/director Lenni Mdawini Sibanda. There is also introduction of new talent in the form of Ronald Stone, Tinashe Chitsaka and many more.
iNgudukazi Magazine: How long did it take to shoot?
Lenni: The project was shot over 2 months ,with short breaks inbetween.
iNgudukazi Magazine: Who is on the production team?
Lenni: The film is directed by Lenni Mdawini Sibanda produced by South Africa trained Gil Mbulo and sound handled by Tafadzwa Evelyn Chipadza
iNgudukazi Magazine: Where will it be available for streaming?
Lenni: Episode 1 of Chillas will premiere on 26/11/2020 10am on Junza TV (YouTube channel)
iNgudukazi: What’s the one thing you hope people will get out of this webseries?
Lenni: We hope this series will open people’s eyes to the amazing intellectual wealth that township geek culture carries and also get people to listen to local music from 8nine Muzique .
iNgudukazi Magazine: With high data tariffs, how will you ensure the success of this web series?
Lenni: We believe Zimbabweans (local and foreign based) are looking for local content on the interwebs . Our marketing efforts will be directed at reaching out and encouraging Zimboz to watch this new series.
iNgudukazi Magazine: Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?
Lenni: We have a collaborative production with CleoPatra a writer based in South Africa for adaption of one of her novels Mayenziwe into a web series . We also have a feature film in the works plus a cooking competition show