AFTER taking social media by storm, creators of the Bulawayo Show believe they are ready to step into Zimbabwe’s showbiz industry.
ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
The Bulawayo Show is a series of video clips that tackle various topical issues distributed mainly via Facebook and Youtube.
It has an impressive following of about 34 000 people on Facebook and at least 10 000 watch its videos on Youtube every week. The Bulawayo Show is a brain child of Ingwe Studios and Brucik Lungovich, a Russia-trained animator.
Zenzele Ndebele, the executive producer of the show said they decided to venture into animated comedy after identifying a potential niche market that remained untapped. The first opportunity to test the market would on August 8 when the Bulawayo Show premieres at the Rainbow Cinemas.
“We realised there was a gap when it comes to comedy especially animated comedy and also there was an opportunity with social media to share the content,” Ndebele said when quizzed about the idea behind the series.
“We decided to do the show not only to entertain the people, but also educate them.
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“The response was good and each episode was viewed by more than 7 000 people on Facebook and was shared a lot on Whatsapp.”
He said the series, a vibrant and witty way of dissecting issues facing Zimbabwe today, would demonstrate that contrary to doomsday prophecies Bulawayo is still alive.
“We want to promote our culture, and debunk the myth that says there is no business in Bulawayo when it comes to the entertainment industry,” he said.
“Our themes are mostly about social issues. We also warn people on dangers of social media.”
Brucik’s real name is Thabani Lunga. He got hooked up into animation in Russia while training as a medical doctor and worked for a gaming company on a part-time basis.
“We first met at Thekwane High School,” Ndebele, a community radio campaigner and media lecturer based in Bulawayo said.
“Later he went to a medical school in Russia and while there he worked for a gaming company where he learnt to do animation. We have set up an online store. We will sell merchandise related to the Bulawayo Show and put the material DVDs.”
He said the show was promising to be a commercial success.
“We are also selling advertising space in our show to companies and so far we have reached an agreement with Zollyhood a United Kingdom-based company that distributes Zimbabwean films,” Ndebele said. To buy tickets for the Bulawayo Show contact 0773103262
