Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
AFTER what might have seemed like a long wait for Zimbabwean movie lovers, Trees of Peace, a film about the Rwandan genocide starring Zimbabwean Hollywood stars Tongayi Chirisa and Charmaine Bingwa, was released on Friday for global audiences.
Tongayi Chirisa
The critically acclaimed film won the top three jury prizes at American Black Film Festival and earned the top jury award at Santa Barbara International Film Festival after it premièred there last year before getting snapped up by the streaming giant earlier this year.
Charmaine Bingwa
In the film, Chirisa plays the character of Francois and Bingwa plays Jeanette.
Trees of Peace is the story of four women who find unity, hope, and strength through one of the world’s darkest tragedies.
Based on events during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, four women from different backgrounds and beliefs are trapped together in an underground room.
As they contend with the fear of being found and fight a slow death from starvation, they are forced to reconcile their inner demons and put their differences aside to live through the day — for 81 days straight.
In a review, leisurebyte.com said of the film: “Director Alanna Brown has managed to give us chills with everything that’s happening with the characters.
The constant question of whether the women will make it out alive or not eats you up till the end.
The ending will stay with you for a long time.
Actors Eliane Umuhire, Bola Koleosho, Charmaine Bingwa and Ella Cannon are brilliant with their portrayal of the fear, uncertainty and trauma of their characters.
It’s a waiting game not only for them but also for the viewers.
One can only imagine how they must have filmed the distressing story in such a small space.”
The two Hollywood-based Zimbabwean stars are no strangers to success.
Blockbuster roles have been coming in thick and fast for Chirisa, who in 2020 starred alongside Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, Peter Gallagher, and J K Simmons in Hulu and Neon’s critically acclaimed romantic comedy Palm Springs.
The film debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and sold for a record breaking US$22 million rights deal.
Chirisa, who is represented by Domain Talent and Industry Entertainment, also starred opposite superstar actress and musician Janelle Monáe in Lionsgate’s thriller Antebellum.
Apple TV+
Meanwhile, Bingwa, along with Ben Foster, Gilbert Owuor and Mustafa Shakir recently joined the cast of upcoming Apple TV+ original thriller Emancipation, which stars Will Smith as a civil war runaway slave named Peter.
Bingwa will play Peter’s wife Dodienne in the film, inspired by the true story of “Whipped Peter,” an enslaved black man who emancipated himself from a southern plantation and joined the Union Army.