Yellow Card: a must see for teenagers

Yellow Card, a locally produced contemporary movie is now showing at a theatre near you.

Staring 20-year-old Leroy Gopal, as Tiyance, a youth who tries to kill four birds with one stone this Pathfinder International-funded movie and Media for Development Trust production, was premiered in Mutare last Saturday night at the Rainbow cinema theatre and will continue showing until tommorow.
The movie, which grossed box office figures in Harare at the Eastgate and Westgate movie houses, has already been premiered in Bulawayo and its producers this week took it to the cities of Gweru and Kwekwe for the same purpose.

Although the movie is not in the mould of the commerically driven Hollywood stuff, Yellow Card appeals to today's youth as the target audience.

Produced by Louise Riber, the wife of John Riber, the movie's director, the script is woven around the exploits of Tiyance, a teenage boy who winds and breaks the hearts of two girls in his pursuit of love and at the same time wants to satify the long-cherished ego of most soccer players in Africa, to play professional football in Europe. The star, Tiyance, wants to turn pro and play for Manchester United. A first attempt to be a Romeo to Linda, a school girl role played by Ratidzo Mambo, turns sour for him as the first cut proves to be the deepest. She gets pregnant and he dumps her but Linda is no dumb girl as he discovers later.
When she delivers, she equally dumps the child and Tiyance ends up holding his child in his arms. And in a moment of revenge, she falls for another guy.
There are sayings such as 'you can run but can't hide' and 'the past will always catch up with you' and this is what eventually happens in the love exploits of the teenage boy from the township.
At this juncture, life's little secrets begin to unfold. Tiyance's newest lovebird, Juliet discovers he is already a father and does not take kindly to this. She too, dumps him and the star loses in this teenage love story but he wins his soccer and keeps the child. To ensure that the movie keeps the audience glued on the big screen, casting director, Andrew Whaley, brought in some of the popular stars of local drama into the whole scenario as extras but those with notable roles are Lazarus Boora (Gringo) and the late Collin Sibangani Dube.
The two liven up things in a story that makes you feel pity for the girls whose hearts are amorous Tiyance breaks. Its a pity that he is late, Dube stars as Skido, the class joker whose clownish ways make his infection with HIV all the more painful. Dube died last year in a freak-drowning incident in a swimming pool at a Bulawayo hotel.
And besides the infusion of local television drama stars, the icing on the cake for this movie are 12 original sound tracks that provide the background music. The movie being marketed together with a CD which features music by among other artists, Steve Dyer, Oliver Mtukudzi, Pepe Kalle, Soul Brothers, Bayete and Miriam Makeba.
After the show, many in the audience felt that the film didn't really end and suggested a sequel to it.
Ironically, Yellow Card itself is a sequel to an earlier locally produced movie, Consequences.
While the former film concentrated on the dangers of teenage prenancies, the latter focuses on the boys' side - to accept the responsibility of their actions.
Ask any soccer player, there is one thing they dread most on the pitch and that's not losing the match but being sent off. But how does it all start. It begins with the yellow card.
Want to find out more? Watch Yellow Card. This is a message-driven film, which is worth watching and is suitable for all ages.

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