(Tembe
Nondumiso. Photo Daniel Rutland Manners)
The release date for the much-anticipated
Zulu Wedding has been postponed.
There is good news and bad news for fans
looking forward to director and producer Lineo Sekeleoane’s much anticipated
rom-com, Zulu Wedding.
It has been announced that the film,
initially scheduled for release later this month, will now only premiere on April
20, 2018. But while moviegoers will have to hold out a little longer to see
their favourite stars in action on the big screen, the team behind the film
promises that the wait will be worth it.
“While we were extremely excited about the
February release date, several new ideas started to take shape in recent months
and we needed time to mobilize the right people to launch these initiatives. As
such, we had no choice but to move the release date to April,” explains Sekeleoane.
The first of these initiatives is that
instead of only showing the film locally, Zulu
Wedding will be released simultaneously throughout Africa, with VIP
screenings in several countries. “We are currently working on a surprise
screening in Los Angeles, but our goal is to tour the African continent with Zulu Wedding and premiere it in as many
countries as possible,” she says.
“With the support of our funders, Tsoga
Afrika Lifestyle, we will also be launching a pop-up cinema campaign to ensure
that people in rural and low access township areas will be able to watch the
film.” This, explains Sekeleoane, is aimed at starting new township economies
that will rebuild the ‘bioscope’ movie going culture that was so popular in the
townships during the 1980s.
Furthermore, inspired by Casper Nyovest’s Fill up the Dome, the team behind Zulu Wedding is hoping to sell 1 million
tickets for the film – a goal that will be driven by the #1MillionTicketsSold
for Zulu Wedding social media campaign.
All these initiatives will be supported by
a star-studded soundtrack, curated by DJ Maphorisa and featuring Afrotainment’s
Tira and Prince Bulo, Kelly Khumalo, Goapele, Shekhinah and JR, among others.
Zulu
Wedding is the first South African film to boast a
black female producer and director.
The film is unashamedly romantic, glamorous
and hilarious all at the same time and pays loving tribute to the richness of
African culture. It acknowledges the, sometimes schizophrenic, reality of many
urban South Africans who live sophisticated modern lives which are nonetheless
shaped by their family cultures, traditions and expectations.
It tells the story of feisty choreographer,
Lu “Lungile” (Nondumiso Tembe), who will do anything to avoid falling in love.
Even more to avoid going home to South Africa, where she’s traditionally
engaged to a king. However, when she meets her soulmate Tex (Darrin Dewitt
Henson) she is forced to confront the tradition she’s been running away from
and the stage is set for hilarity, hijinks and heartbreak.
With an effervescent screenplay by Julie
Hall and stunning cinematography by award-winning Lance Gewer of Tsotsi fame,
Zulu Wedding promises a lush, playful, escapist experience which should appeal
to fans of films like Happiness is a Four-letter Word and My Big Fat Greek
Wedding.
The star-studded cast includes Nondumiso
Tembe (True Blood, King Kong The Musical);
Darrin Dewitt-Henson (Soul Food, Lincoln
Heights, Stomp The Yard); Pallance Dladla (Tempy Pushas, Isibaya, Hard To Get); the hilarious Carl Payne (Martin, The Cosby Show); Bubu Mazibuko;
Kelly Khumalo; Lorcia Cooper, S’thandiwe Kgoroge; Treasure Tshabalala; Kole
Omotoso and Makgano Mamabolo, with cameo appearances from DJ Tira, Carolyn
Steyn and many more of South Africa’s best-loved celebrities.
This Luju Pictures Film was produced in
association with Brand Contact, the DTI, NFVF and Tsoga Afrika.
Watch the trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP2IXewPkw0
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