Zambeef’s e18hteam spectacular screening

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Hot from the its mammoth tour of the country, Zambeef’s e18hteam football movie moved to the glamorous world of Lusaka’s Manda Hill this week as a full-house of movie-goers turned up in numbers to watch the acclaimed film at screening at the Barefeet Festival Film Night.

The audience, from all walks of life, were treated to rarely seen footage of football legends such as Eston Mulenga, Debbie Makinka, Efford Chabala, and John Soko, as well as Kalusha Bwalya, Chris Katongo and Herve Renard.

The screening comes just before the final lap in the Zambeef “In Your Town” e18hteam dibili roadshow national tour in which Zambeef set out to share its love for the game with the nation in a series of free screenings of the film.

Football enthusiasts all over the country have turned out in numbers to support the film as it has made its way to Kabwe, Chingola, Kitwe, Kaoma, Mongu and most recently Choma and Livingstone.

Zambeef’s e18hteam tour will reach Chipata on August 29 and Mansa on September 5 and has been selected for screening at this year’s Lights, Camera, AFRICA! 2015 Festival in Nigeria next month.

Zambeef’s Board Chairman Dr Jacob Mwanza, who was also at the Lusaka screening, had this to say about the movie: “The e18hteam speaks to us as a nation of the pride, passion, hope, faith and determined spirit we have to succeed. It also points us to the fact that good things do not come easy and that there is honest hard work to be done before we can see the benefits coming through.”

“The goal was really to make sure that nothing of this proud national moment was lost and to ultimately inspire a new generation of young achievers. It was not an easy road for the national team and the country that led to the 2012 AFCON championship, and we owe it to ourselves as a nation to build on that momentum to be all that we can be and that involves supporting local growth, which for us is working with local small-scale farmers,” said Zambeef Joint Chief Executive Officer Carl Irwin on the decision to sponsor the production of the film.

Among the audience was Captain Philip Lemba of Proflight Zambia, who said: “The film movie was very good; very touching, especially watching the accident period and seeing the celebration when we won. This is the first time I’ve been to a Zambian cinema in 40 years.”

“It means a lot to us and it’s great because we need examples as Zambians and a standard to work towards. Seeing the content that was made by a Zambian sets an example and Zambeef supporting this initiative to preserve our history is really inspiring because it’s very rare for the creative industry to receive such support but this will help the industry grow,” said brothers Kambole and Martin Chonga, in reviewing the film.

Another member of the audience, Marcus Makukula, found the movie to be touching, saying:, “It’s a challenge for people to wake up and do something great. If we work together as Zambians, we can do more.”

“The only thing that was missing at the end was some meat from Zambeef, we could have used a braai,” continued Marcus on a lighter note.

In a fun twist to the whole event, four members of the audience were issued with surprise “red” labelled cards and a few lucky winners went home with the coveted limited-edition e18hteam football and one went away with a limited edition paid of Jubilee Kaleza Z-10 football boots.

The co-production by Zambia’s Ngosa Chungu and her Spanish counterpart Juan Rodriguez-Briso is the recipient of the country’s largest local corporate sponsorship ever to have been given towards an arts project at K1.5 million.

“I didn’t know how we were going to convince a Zambian company to sponsor footage worth that much but I’m thankful that Zambeef had stepped in and made my dream come true,” said Ngosa Chungu.

The movie takes us through the high and lows of Zambian football including the 1993 Gabon disaster and the 2012 AFCON championship that had Zambians swelling up with national pride over the national team’s victory.

“It’s been an immense privilege to actually be the one to spearhead the project to preserve such an amazing part of our history. And Zambeef fit into the whole thing because their story and where they came from is very alike to the Chipolopolo and the fact they supported this movie and continued to support the football at various levels over the years goes to show just how committed they are to ensuring that the proudly Zambian spirit is kept going,” said Ngosa.

Zambeef’s story is akin to that of the Chipolopolo’s in that it went against all odds to become a national success. Having started from humble beginnings in the meat business, Zambeef quickly won the hearts of Zambians with the consistent delivery of quality home grown and produced products; a policy that it has deliberately employed in efforts to advance the local sourcing of products by Zambians.

Zambeef is an avid supporter of football and has sponsored teams playing at football leagues and at community level that have groomed footballers at the grassroots including AFCON 2012 squad member James Chamanga.

Zambeef’s own Zamleather division makes the popular Kaleza Z-12 model leather football boots, the first of its kind to be locally designed and manufactured in Zambia. It is also home to the Alive & Kicking employment-generation project, which makes quality leather soccer balls that carry health messages and are distributed to under-privileged teams nationwide.

Follow the tour on the Zambeef Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Zambeef and Twitter @ZambeefPlc or with the hashtag #ZambeefInYourTown.

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About Zambeef Products Plc
Zambeef Products Plc is the largest integrated agribusinesses in Zambia.
The group is principally involved in the production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chicken, pork, milk, dairy products, eggs, stock feed and flour. The group also has large row cropping operations (principally maize, soya beans and wheat), with approximately 8,350 hectares of row crops under irrigation and 17,000 hectares of rain-fed/dry-land crops available for planting each year. The group is also in the process of rolling out its West Africa expansion in Nigeria and Ghana, as well as developing a palm project in Zambia.
It slaughters more than 80,000 beef cattle and 6 million chickens, and processes 8 million litres of milk per year. The company has 122 retail outlets throughout the country, along with three wholesale depots.

More information is available at www.zambeefplc.com.