Feature drama-documentary Amashinga comes to Cumbria for the first time 

Cumbria is set to showcase Amashinga- a beautiful and epic explanation of the British invasion of the Zulu Kingdom. Set in 1879, Amashinga, a unique feature drama documentary tells the story of the last sovereign King of the Zulu Kingdom, a female British missionary, an ambitious colonial official and a young Welshman. This is the first time this film has been shown in the county. 

Amshinga’s key characters are voiced by actors to make a compelling narrative of events using the actual words of Harriet Colenso, a missionary and Zulu advocate, and Magema M. Fuze the first Zulu historian to publish in isiZulu. Much of the Zulu narrative in isiZulu with subtitles.   

Amashinga brings new material to the screen that led to the battles dramatised in the films Zulu and Zulu Dawn. The outcome is a beautiful experiential film with a narrative which is hard to believe, but true. 

The film will be showing at RHEGED on Friday 20 March, with proceeds supporting Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life. The fundraising evening will include a question-and-answer session with the creator of Amshinga, historian and Trustee of Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life, Simon Sole. Simon will examine the context of colonial rule in 1879 and highlight the modern lessons of how this war came about.