Cook Off (2017)

Interesting facts

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Cook Off is a 2017 Zimbabwean romantic comedy film written and directed by Tomas Brickhill. Set in contemporary middle class society of Harare, the film stars Tendaiishe Chitima, Fungai Majaya and Tehn Diamond. Production of the film was delayed by power failures, budget constraints, anti-government protests, and riots which erupted during the final stages of the Presidency of Robert Mugabe. It is the first film released after the Zimbabwe Mugabe era, which lasted for nearly 40 years. The film also became the first Zimbabwean film to be streamed on Netflix. It is the second Zimbabwean film to reach Western audiences and critics since Neria, in 1991.

Production

The principal photography of the film commenced in 2017 when Robert Mugabe was still the president of Zimbabwe. The initial days of the shooting procedure of the film was disrupted by regular power cuts and the production team was forced to hire power generator for the shooting. The film budget was limited to only food and bottled water for the cast and crew members.

The portions of the film were predominantly shot on the sets of ZBC TV's reality show Battle of the Chefs: Harare, a Zimbabwean version of the popular American reality television show Top Chef. The film shooting proceeded in the sets of the Battle of the Chefs at a time when the show went off-air.

Popular UK indie rock band Noisettes was roped into feature in the soundtrack of the film. Shingai Shoniwa of the Noisettes band was also roped into play the cameo appearance in the film. The shooting was also delayed on few occasions as few of the cast members were unable to commit to the schedule allocated to them due to the tear gas and riots in Harare which erupted against Robert Mugabe's administration.

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