While the likes of Spiderman, Adventures of Tintin, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV and Batman have established themselves among the world’s must-watch 3D movie animations, the making of ‘Ze Match’ makes a big statement of how Rwandan filmmakers dream of seeing their films making the A-list of world’s animation movies sooner or later. The 60-minute movie series is a production of IT Simplified, a technology company that deals with IT solutions and other services related to technology. Filmmakers who attended ‘Ze Match’ movie premiere described the movie as a game-changer for the local film industry that is not used to 3D animation movies. It also brings diversity and a new taste for the audience, especially kids. “We thought about our kids. If our kids are always excited to watch Spiderman, Batman…all these superheroes around the world, why can’t we bring a Rwandan superhero to their screens?” wondered Rodrigue Baributsa, the movie director. Rodrigue Baributsa, the director of ‘Ze Match’ . / Photos/Courtesy “We thought about creating our own superhero for our own kids and even for neighbouring countries,” he says. Baributsa says they wanted to bring something new to Rwandan film enthusiasts and give the movie a Rwandan concept that involves local characters. “I believe that there are a lot of people out there that can do better than us but maybe they don’t have that power or strategy to do it the way we are doing it right now,” he adds. For a company that deals with IT Solutions, the idea to produce a movie which involves technological creativity came naturally. They just needed to find the right characters for the right theme of the movie. “The idea came and I was like ‘okay we have gaming machines, I have beautiful machines that can animate this thing…why can’t I find someone who can animate it?’ I got the right people to help me animate the movie and here we are,” he says. ‘Ze Match’ is a full season of four episodes and each episode takes at least 15 minutes. It is played in Kinyarwanda. The superhero in the movie is Joseph Rutungura, while renowned actor Daniel Gaga also features in the film as the villain. “We tried to cast some famous actors like Gaga so that people can be more interested to watch a movie that features characters that they know,” Baributsa explains. “We decided to work with Gaga and have him in the movie as the bad guy because he is used to similar roles in previous movies that he’s acted in,” he adds. The movie is built around the story of a group of bad guys who are used to fighting and stealing money from betting. A superhero gets involved when he sees the gang chasing a person who won a lot of money. He rescues the person and chases the gang from the betting place and peace is restored. According to Baributsa, ‘Ze Match’ intends to teach kids about peace and love just like the superhero in the movie. “We just felt we can do something not only to entertain but also teach our kids that they have to help each other, love each other and be there for each other,” he explains. The movie marks the beginning of production of more 3D animated movies. Producers say that they have many stories in store for kids and adults. They are, for instance, working on a new 3D animated movie that could be released around the festive season. The movie will be on the market next month.
