Inside the making of Hobo

That was the green light. From there, planning began in October 2024, a year set aside to shoot. Eight months have since been spent in post-production, piecing sound, color and performance into something that will outlive all of us.

As writer and director, Mambo was on every call set, at every location scout, and in the edit room long after everyone else had gone home.

The role was not just about saying “action.”

It was about holding the story together when time, money and sleep were running out. For the cast, that leadership mattered.

They came to Hobo for different reasons. Some wanted a script worth the fever. Others saw a chance to work on a project with a real shot at being seen.

Others believed in the experiment — to test where Zambia’s film industry is right now, and to push it forward.

The main cast understood this was not a big-budget studio set. It was a laboratory.

And they gave it everything: early mornings, sharing tricks from other sets, offering notes, and staying loyal to the story even when the shoot days stretched past midnight.

As Mambo puts it, a rising tide lifts all boats.

That tide carried an international ensemble. Mary Isabela Shikanda plays Asha, anchoring the film’s emotional center.

Jeremy Mumba plays Nemo, her counterpart in a story that cycles from hope to grief, identity and the internet.

The supporting cast filled out the world with precision and depth: Mumba Mutale as Mutale; Mutema Maria is Linda; Henry Joe Sakala takes on the Grandkeeper; Violah Banda plays the Ministry of Morality; Amon Phiri is Thomas; Nahaku Mufungushi Machinda doubles as Chief Justice and Kaka; Kashiwa Ng’andu plays Mo and Sister Stella.

In the calls, shots went out. In the end, two actors were broadcast, broadcaster Jonny Bowa approached, and BBC anchor Lushomo Banda appeared as herself.

Sangwa Kasuba is the Lady in Black. The end-to-end journey, through the tireless efforts of Ms Hachibee, who had to have the production keep putting the schedule after schedule.

Jonah Bowa, a longtime supporter of Zambia’s arts scene, said yes to a cameo because he believes in what local filmmakers are trying to do.

Those two appearances give Hobo a texture that jumps off the screen — familiar voices in an unfamiliar story.

The theme itself is deliberately uncomfortable and timely. First, the film argues there is no right or wrong way to grieve.

Grief shows up however it needs to, and if it gives someone a sort of pressure on the screen, then it can happen.

Second, Hobo looks at what it means to be an active user of the internet today — what we scroll past, what we argue about, and what we are willing to tolerate just to stay online.

Third, it pokes at a quiet debate about freedom: how much of it we actually have when society keeps trying to police what we can say and do.

At its core, it is a film about identity, and about the lies we wear to soften the truth.

But the theme is only as good as the people who bring it to life, and the crew of Hobo moved mountains to make it possible.

Twenty days of principal photography sounds efficient on paper. In reality it meant call times before sunrise, wrap times after midnight, heads of department running on little sleep, and a production van that seemed to live on the road.

Coffee became a department. Locations were another battle won by negotiations, not budgets.

Tovya Hara came on board as executive producer. The Remembrance Park, at McMar Street, thanks to Mr and Mrs Mwanza. The Falls Apartments at Roma, with Mr and Mrs Bendeleker, and at Kapanina House with Mr and Mrs Lubinda.

The National Arts Council Board of Zambia, and the traders of Chelston Market all opened doors. Each yes meant one less problem for a crew that was already fighting a ticking clock.

Behind the camera, the effort was just as intense. The production design team worked with limited resources, chasing shots at night and market scenes at noon, sometimes on the same day.

Production design did not have a dedicated crew, the art department turned borrowed spaces into sets that fit the story.

The production manager coordinated permits, meals and transport while keeping 30 people moving.

Composer Joseph Nyirongo created a separate world in the edit, color grading in sound, and in music.

That is where a film is really made — in the quiet rooms, in the small decisions, at the junctures where one decision changes everything.

The cast matched that energy. They trusted a first-time director and gave him everything they had. This script was so tough.

Mary Isabela Shikanda carries long dialogue scenes with a steadiness that grounds Maya’s grief. Jeremy Mumba underplays Nemo in ways that make his pain feel. Viola Banda’s Minister of Morality could have been a caricature.

Amon Phiri’s Thomas could have been a politician, but Henry Joe Sakala found humor and pathos in a small role as the Grandkeeper.

The supporting cast, notably Mumba Mutale, Amon Phiri, Nahaku Mufungushi Machinda and Dev’ce Chimphe each built characters that didn’t exist at all, not a single line of dialogue.

And the cameos from Jonah Bowa and Lushomo Burak landed because they did not wink at the audience. They played it straight.

What comes out of all this is a film that feels both local and global.

Hobo was shot in Lusaka after work, shot in Zambian streets and stores and ceremonies, and it speaks to conversations happening far beyond Zambia’s borders, about what we choose to share, about what we decide is worth saying, and about what we hold onto.

Hobo took three months to write, 20 days to shoot, and eight months to finish.

In a region where film is often treated as a side idea, the cast treated this experiment like a premiere, and a crew that treated limited resources like an open invitation.

It took a village. And in typical Zambian style, it took many villages to ensure that the people of Zambia can travel.

The work of the village came together over time. What remains is for audiences to meet Mavu and Nemo, to sit with the questions the film raises, and to decide for themselves what is real, what is memory, and what is worth remembering.