Private Project

Two Dead Government Officials

After signing a law that declares all forms of corruption, punishable by death; the Zimbabwean Minister of National Security learns that her daughter has been arrested for the same crime.

Best on the Award Winning Play By Thandiwe Mawungwa

  • Charles Mawungwa
    Director
  • Thandiwe Mawungwa
    Writer
  • Thandiwe Mawungwa
    Producer
  • Munya Guramatunhu
    Key Cast
    "Temptation"
  • Felistus Tizola
    Key Cast
    "Immaculate"
  • Munya Chidzonga
    Key Cast
    "Knowledge"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Zimbabwe
  • Country of Filming:
    Zimbabwe
  • Language:
    English, Other
  • Shooting Format:
    BMD 4k RAW
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Charles Mawungwa

Charles Mawungwa has been in the film Industry for over eleven years as an editor, screenwriter and director. His last feature film, Mind Games, has won several accolades at various festivals around the world.

He entered the industry as a writer and assistant director for a short film called The Search and it won the DSTV best short film production at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) in 2006 and was featured in over 40 countries. He wrote and directed another short film called Mind Games which won Outstanding Production at the National Arts Merits Award (NAMA) in 2011 and Most Promising Director at ZIFF in 2010. Charles has directed music videos for local and international artists and currently holds a 2016 NAMA for one of his videos. As an editor, he has edited two feature films which include The Gentleman which won an award at the American International Film Festival. He also edited a television series called Fading Pictures which won four awards at NAMA 2009. His strengths lie in the ability to work with minimum resources to produce innovative and unique productions. Charles has also been involved in the production of over one hundred documentaries and awareness videos for various UN organisations.

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Director Statement

As a young boy growing up in Zimbabwe, the idea of paying a bribe to a police officer was unthinkable. But after 2001 as the country entered into a period of hyper-inflation, where a loaf of bread costed 3 trillion dollars, we were all plunged into a new normal. By 2008, there was no fuel, no water, no sugar, no power, no jobs.

Politicians, police officers and those with access to these basic necessities began to demand bribes to do their jobs. Every Zimbabwean had to pay a bribe, not to get ahead in life, but to simply get by.

You paid a bribe for groceries, a bribe for fuel, a bribe for a passport, a birth certificate, an ID, a job. There were police roadblocks every 5km, literally demanding bribes to let you pass. But it was the only way the police officers could feed their hungry families.

This is the Zimbabwe that our young brothers were raised in. It’s the only Zimbabwe they know, and it is the world that this story is set in.

When I read the script, I automatically felt that this was a story that has been waiting to be told, it's a world that deserves to be understood. Though I had zero budget, I had to make this film.