THE MAJORITY OF "A Future Untold" takes place inside a house in Mbare whose bright turquoise exterior belies the dark secrets it shelters. 

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Tadiwa, an orphaned teenage girl, moves in with family members after losing both her parents in a car accident. While there, she experiences sexual abuse at the hands of Sekuru Thomas and witnesses him physically abuse his wife, Mbuya Chenai. Everything comes to a head when Tadiwa falls pregnant. The film's title crystallises in the last few scenes when she makes a choice that could change everything. But just what her future entails, the audience can only speculate.

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It's a story many in Zimbabwe are familiar with, said Prosper Kunyetu, a cinematographer and the film's director. "Each and every one of us knows someone who knows someone who's been involved in a situation like this," he said, which made telling such a difficult story well worth it. 

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The film began as a commercial commissioned by RAES, a Senegalese non-governmental organisation. But the confines of an advertisement didn't feel quite right for such a complex story, said Monalisa Chisango, the film's executive producer, whose many job titles include filmmaker, entrepreneur and TV producer. "We wanted to bring it close to home to say, 'This is reality,'" she said.

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Spearheaded by Chisango's production company, Monzyice Creations, the team began working on the concept in September 2024. Chisango tapped Kunyetu to bring to life the script written by Enock Chihombori, famously the creator and writer of "Gringo," and the cast and crew shot the film in February 2025.

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In under 10 minutes, "A Future Untold" deftly tackles the themes of gender-based violence, abuse and teen pregnancy, issues that reverberate across many Zimbabwean communities. On 31 May, the film debuted at the European Film Festival in Zimbabwe at Mbare Art Space alongside shorts from all over Africa. While "A Future Untold" isn't available to the public just yet, the team is working on distributing it over a couple of phases that include local screenings in the near future.

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Chisango and Kunyetu spoke to Landlocked about the making of the film and the importance of its message. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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One of the first shots in the film is a drone shot that shows houses packed closely together, and then we get the title card that tells us the story is set in Mbare. Why there?

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‍Chisango: We wanted it to be stories from the ground, stories from the community. We're sharing real stories from individuals within our communities, and one of the things we wanted people to be able to do is to face the realities of what's happening. Even in our so-called "bustling cities," a lot of things are happening, but behind closed doors. We're bringing light to the silence, the stigma and the pain that many people are going through each day. 

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If I remember correctly, you filmed this in just a couple of days. Was that due to budget or time constraints?

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‍Kunyetu: It took two days to film because we had enough time to do the pre-production, and we knew how long it was going to take. And also, I think from, I wouldn't say budget, I would say from an efficiency point of view, we just wanted to get in and get it done, so we could move on to post-production.

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‍Chisango: With this particular project, and that's one thing that I'm so happy about is, in terms of collaboration, we had filmmakers coming from all walks of life. People were coming from different cities. Our second assistant director came all the way from Bulawayo. We had Siza Mukwedini producing, and anyone who knows, when you work with Siza, you are in good hands. We had an amazing team. We knew exactly what they wanted to achieve, and it just made life easier for us, and we were able to do everything within the two days. We had resources in terms of whatever Prosper, as our director, wanted. We ensured that he had everything, but he can attest to that.

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‍Kunyetu: I had everything I needed, including coleslaw.

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Was that your one directorial non-negotiable?

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‍Kunyetu: Yeah. 

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‍Some of the most memorable parts of the film for me are the close-up shots that we see of Tadiwa in between these harrowing moments. The shots are really close up to her face, and as the audience member, you get to go through the emotions with her. Prosper, that may have been your directorial choice. Can you tell me a little bit about that decision?

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‍Kunyetu: Those were exclamation marks to say, "Really come close to me. You can just go into my mind, me as Tadiwa, and see what's happening." So we had those mainly in the flashback scenes, and we really wanted you to feel what she was feeling. The angle is close up, but we used wide-angle lenses so that you see the warping and the unflattering shape of the head but still get confused about what's happening. So, it was really to emphasise what she was going through and the pain that she has been through on her journey.

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‍When it comes to Tadiwa, there's only ever the suggestion of sexual violence. You never really see anything play out. Why approach it that way?

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‍Kunyetu: It's already a story that's hard to tell. Even when we were on set, the mood was like that. So, just imagine going about it graphically and showing all those things. So, we had to try and find a balance.

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‍Chisango: There is also a way that we're supposed to treat our cast, especially in such sensitive situations. It would have involved us bringing in an intimacy coordinator. There are certain protocols that we would have needed to go through, so just keeping it that way for us was enough.

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‍But then on the flip side, you have the gender-based violence, the domestic violence, very explicit and very upfront. Why did you decide to portray it that way instead of keeping it off-screen?

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‍Chisango: Gender-based violence is still a silent crisis. It continues to occur, often unreported, often unaddressed. So, as a community, the question was, what systems are in place to protect survivors? How can we create safe places for victims to speak out? Are we doing enough to support healing and justice? So we needed to put it there, even in terms of our promos, they were very intentional. You are hearing this, but what are we doing about it? And the fact that we're in Mbare, remember those houses and the way that community is, what's happening next door, I can hear it, but I'm choosing not to intervene. I'm just choosing to be a bystander. But I've got a role as a community member.

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‍One visual element I'm curious to hear more about is the turquoise house. In some of the behind-the-scenes videos, it looked like the house was yellow. Did you change locations at some point? Is the house painted? 

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‍Kunyetu: When we were location scouting, we found a house that looked aesthetically pleasing on the outside, but then the interior and the kind of art that we were going for, we found it in the other house, the yellow house. So the exterior shots were of the [turquoise] house, and then the interior shots were in the yellow house. It was just a production trick.

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‍For me, a blue house is kind of classically Zimbabwean. You walk into a lot of high-density or low-income neighbourhoods, and you see the bright blue house. But I'm curious about why you chose that one instead of the yellow house.

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‍Chisango: That's a question that Prosper asked me right up front when we were location scouting. And then he's like, "You know what? What period piece is this? Is it a '90s piece? Something in the '80s or in the early 2000s." And then he was like, "Actually, I would like it to be in the late '90s. What are the things that were found in those kinds of houses?" And then we just went off that. I said to the art director, when I was growing up, there was this particular prayer that you would find in every house, in a girl's room. It was back in those days that you had the kitchen units that were white and red. Some were white and blue. Also, those little magnets that you used to put on the fridge. So it was all that kind of detail. And that's in the yellow house. We found this amazing Gogo who still had all the things. They're still in good condition. So, everything just fell into place for us.

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‍Monalisa, you've done a lot of reality TV, including "The Cook Along," "The Ultimatum: South Africa," and "Young, Famous & African." And Prosper, you've done commercials and mini documentaries. How different was it for both of you working on this project compared to the work you've done previously?

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‍Chisango: My first love was always film. I started working on reality TV when I came to South Africa, but I've always had a passion in terms of telling stories that are impactful, and this particular one speaks to that. I love this particular story because it's something that resonates with me and where I come from. It was an opportunity to be part of a truly Zimbabwean, proudly Zimbabwean story.

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‍Kunyetu: The opportunity to collaborate was one of the many blessings of this project. One thing that was really different for me was that this was the first project that I got to just sit and direct and not do anything else. Monalisa said, "No, you're not going to shoot. You're not going to do anything else. Just sit and direct and carry the vision." So that was the highlight for me. That, and then having a very capable and amazing crew helping you and working with you to make sure you bring the vision alive.

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‍What is something about filmmaking in Zimbabwe that you're excited about at the moment?

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‍Kunyetu: The direction it's taking. Now we can say we have a film that's made by an all-Zim crew, and not having to bring in a director of photography from South Africa or somewhere else. We still have a lot to learn. It just means that we're ready to take on bigger projects on our own.

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‍Chisango: We didn't need to bring any equipment from outside of the country. Everything was locally sourced. There was a time when if you wanted to do a project, you'd have to fly lights from South Africa, lenses, cameras. But now everything is readily available, and I think we're all ready to work and tell our stories. For a long time, we have always imported other people's cultures, imported other people's narratives. But I see a lot of our stories now going out there. We're ready to get the global platforms now.