25-YEAR-OLD Yves Mizero, a.ka. Wayeem, is the brains behind ‘The Secret’, a YouTube local drama series that has grown popular among Rwandans. The film project is the first for Mizero, which for him has been a dream true. His love for film production started from his childhood and so he got to study it as his major in university. He shared more about his journey; Can you tell us about yourself? I was born in the village but was raised in Kigali. Due to life’s struggles, I had to go back and forth from town to village which was so challenging since I couldn’t get used to one life or the other at some point. But again, it is good that I am able to live in both situations. How did you find your passion in the film industry? Since my childhood, I used to write stories and share them with my sister who hyped me up to write more. Then when I was in Senior Four, I began watching music videos and imagine their production process and so I was willing to learn more about such based on the Behind the Scenes. I prayed hard to get to study it; when the chance to study university came in, I pursued Film Making and Film Production so that I can be the best at what I wanted to be in this field. What was your first big movie project? My very first big movie project is ‘The Secret’. The series became such a successful start. So far, three seasons are out and can be seen under TOPLINE TV YouTube Channel. I am the writer, director, and editor of that whole project. How did you come up with the idea of ‘The Secret’? I was sitting on a motorbike on my way home. I was from a place that had enough materials to make an amazing movie and so I couldn’t stop thinking about the best I can do with them. Since I was already dreaming of making a very nice movie and was only hoping to get the chance to access the best materials, I then had to make my dreams come true. I scripted the movie, did the casting with my colleague, Eric Ingabikwiye who directed the first season and so we shared ‘The Secret’. Since then people have loved it. What motivates you to keep on delivering ‘The Secret’ consistently? In the beginning, the whole project was mine until an investor bought it but I still I kept on writing it. The series’ fans motivates me a lot and I keep the consistency that I promised them from the beginning. I am doing the things that I have been dreaming of doing, so that is a motivation, as well as the team of all characters in ‘The Secret’ all, are into it. This makes the work so easy. What message are trying to put across in ‘The Secret’? ‘The Secret’ is more of a youth story that talks about their daily life. It contains some love stories, trust, and betrayal among people. The story is about a girl named Saranda who is the main character; she grew up with her elder sister and they rarely saw their mother. They had no chance to live with their father, and their mother had another child whom she hid from them as well. When Saranda learned that she had an elder sister whom their mother didn’t mention, she lost it and her trust for everybody was ruined which affected her whole circle of friends too. Which criteria did you base on while casting? We did the casting based on talents. Most of the team acting in ‘The Secret’ are my go-to people, they are my friends. I knew they had dreams of acting in movies and so I equipped them with the casting opportunities which made some of them passed and so their dreams come true. How did you know they are talented yet they are almost all new in this cinema industry? When it comes to talent, I don’t focus on years of experience. I only focus on what you are capable of doing since I know some who have been in this for years, but still have no talent. We knew that they were talented based on their abilities to perform and the love they have for cinema. What challenges did you often face while making this movie? The most challenging thing is time. Since time can make money flow, it can make you do what you didn’t even plan to do due to pressure. When time becomes an issue, we lose focus, get in a rush and end up delivering less than what we are expected to give. Can we expect to watch ‘The Secret’ on national TV? We are so open and ready to welcome any opportunity and we would be happy to have our movie on any television. In case any TV station becomes interested and finds us eligible to serve, we are available and so ready. Apart from ‘The Secret’, what are your future plans? We have so many movie projects in store for our fans who expressed their love towards our first movie. We have a movie dubbed ‘Waz You’, that will be soon released, in which you will get to see the amazing actors and actresses you loved in ‘The Secret’ like Tessy, Bertin, and others just to mention a few. I am so sure that people will love it. Is there any message you want to share with your movie fans? I am so thankful for their love and continuous support. Without them, we couldn’t have done all three seasons. We will soon share the fourth season and we will be adding English subtitles such that people who don’t know Kinyarwanda can watch it too.
