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Zimbabwe often grabs headlines for its economic
woes and political crises, but producer Joe Njagu said the film
sought to project a different image.
"I wanted the world to know that there is more to Zimbabwe than
what they hear. We also fall in love, we also enjoy nice food.
We also have very nice stories," said Njagu.
With a production budget of only $8,000, Njagu said he used his
personal relationships with the cast and crew to sign deferred
contracts and to bring on board studio owners and equipment hire
companies without making immediate payment.
The low budget film was shot in 2017 but very few people in
Zimbabwe had heard of it, even after it won several awards at
international film festivals, including in the Netherlands,
Durban and United States.
Everything changed two and half months ago, when Netflix, the
world's leading entertainment streaming service with 189 million
paid viewers, came knocking on the door.
"It's a big 'hello, this is Zimbabwe we are here'. It's an
opportunity for us to introduce our content to the rest of the
world. It's really a big deal for us," Njagu said.
He would not say how much the Netflix deal was worth but that it
was enough to pay the deferred expenses and make a profit.
The film creators are now in talks with Netflix about possible
future productions while television stations in Europe, Africa,
United States also want to air Cook Off.
"It's a different story, it's no longer deferred payments, it's
now commissioned work, it's now getting budgets to do
productions," he said.
"We can't fall short anymore. This is the world stage."
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Olivia
Kumwenda-Mtambo and Raissa Kasolowsky)
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