From the streets of Zimbabwe to the stages of global film festivals, Kudzai King’s journey is anything but ordinary. Known for his work in fashion, photography, and now film, King has carved out a unique path as a storyteller who refuses to shrink.

Best known for his fashion collaborations with Helmut Lang, Vogue Germany, and Elle Ukraine, and now, the award-winning short The Hitman’s Dalliance, Kudzai is no longer just dreaming in full sentences, he’s rewriting the language of cinema itself. From his solo leap to the U.S. with zero connections, to launching Curious Minds Entertainment, this young auteur has forged a creative ecosystem that centres African identity, defies genre, and refuses to compromise.

In this exclusive conversation with My Afrika Magazine, Editor Nico Abote (NA) delves into the confessions, inspirations, and cinematic revolutions that fuel Kudzai King’s (KK) universe, one frame at a time.

NA: Kudzai, take us back to your early days in Zimbabwe, what was the moment you realized your obsession with visuals and storytelling might actually become your calling?

KK: It started with shadows. I’d pause VHS tapes, not to follow the plot, but to study how light wrapped around a face, how emotion moved through silence. I didn’t yet have the language for it, but I understood the feeling.

In Zimbabwe, stories weren’t just told, they were felt. Whether it was elders gathered by firelight in my family’s village in Marondera, or the haunting swell of Neria on a television screen, narrative was everywhere. It became a kind of oxygen.

Spielberg sparked my love for drama and adventure, but it was our own stories, layered, spiritual, unspoken, that made me want to author rather than observe. Once I picked up a camera, it stopped being a dream. It became inevitability.

NA: From directing fashion shoots for brands like Helmut Lang and landing pages in Vogue to writing and directing a genre-bending short, how do you balance fashion, photography, and film as a creative expression?

KK: They’re all tools in the same arsenal. Fashion gave me a reverence for silhouette and detail. Photography taught me to frame silence. Film gave me chaos, consequence, and narrative velocity. I don’t separate them, they serve each other. At Curious Minds Entertainment, I’ve found that storytelling thrives in hybrid forms. Each discipline becomes a dialect in the same language of vision.

NA: Your journey to the U.S. was a leap of faith, zero connections, no safety net. What has that experience taught you about risk, identity, and survival as an African artist abroad?

KK: That survival is an artform. Risk is less scary when you have nothing left to prove but everything to say. I learned to navigate spaces that weren’t built for me, not by asking for permission, but by bringing undeniable value. Identity became less about background, and more about authorship. I learned that success as an African artist abroad means transforming your difference into your leverage.

NA: You mentioned being inspired by visionaries like Tarantino, Kurosawa, and Leibovitz. How did those influences show up in The Hitman’s Dalliance?

KK: Tarantino gave me permission to stretch dialogue like jazz. Kurosawa taught me to embrace moral ambiguity. Leibovitz showed me how to photograph a soul, not just a subject. The Hitman’s Dalliance draws from all three, it’s structured like a confession, dressed like a noir, but ultimately it’s about what we hide when the world stops watching. Their influences show up in the rhythm, the stillness, the tension, and the refusal to offer easy answers.

NA: You’ve described The Hitman’s Dalliance as more than just a film, it’s a confession, a battle, a question. What personal truths did you confront during the making of this film?

KK: That aesthetics can become armor. That storytelling isn’t just about crafting fiction, it’s about confronting your own silences. I had to face my relationship with intimacy, memory, and control. The film forced me to ask myself whether I was telling stories to feel seen, or to hide. It became a battleground between the image I project and the truths I carry.

NA: Winning the Award of Excellence at Global Short Fest must feel like a milestone. What does this recognition mean to you, not just as a filmmaker, but as a Zimbabwean creative reshaping global narratives?

KK: It feels like a signal. Not validation, but amplification. That our stories don’t need translation, they need trust. It tells me that specificity is power. And for me, as a Zimbabwean creative, it’s a reminder that we don’t have to dilute our roots to make global impact. We just have to own them fully, and build with precision.

NA: You’ve worn many hats, as a creative director, photographer, screenwriter, filmmaker. Is there one medium that feels most like ‘home’ to you, or do they each fulfill a different part of who you are?

KK: They’re all extensions of the same machine. But filmmaking, that’s where everything fuses. It’s light, time, psychology, design, and narrative rolled into one. It’s where I feel most complete. That’s why at Curious Minds, we’re launching Slash Lab, our experimental wing. Projects like AeonForge live there, where film meets code, AI meets emotion, and narrative becomes an interface. That’s the home I’m building now.

NA: “The path of an artist is not paved in gold”, what advice would you give to young Zimbabwean or African creatives who are dreaming beyond the borders of home?

KK: Own your name. Protect your masters. Learn to negotiate with your value, not your vulnerability. And above all, don’t romanticize struggle. Build networks, not just dreams. You don’t need to wait for the world to let you in. Construct the door. Then, make it a revolving one, for others.

NA: Can you share any details about your next project?

KK: Absolutely. Right now, we’re building something much larger than a single project, we’re building a cinematic ecosystem.

At the core of it is Curious Minds Entertainment, our company devoted to reimagining what cinema feels like when it’s seen, not streamed. We believe physical experience still matters, and we’re putting that belief into practice. We’re developing a new model of theatrical exhibition rooted in ritual and community. Films are screened only in person, Friday to Sunday, in curated venues where tuxedos and ballgowns are the dress code, not the exception. No streaming. No compromises.

That same spirit extends into The After Image Live, a live-audience podcast where filmmakers are interviewed in front of thinkers, lovers of cinema, and members of our film society, CinéCult. It’s not about promotion. It’s about philosophy, authorship, and process.

We’re currently developing The Tapestry of Whispers & Lies, a feature film exploring fractured memory, betrayal, and power through a Rashomon-inspired lens. It’s darker, more psychological. But while we’re building for the present, we’re also engineering for what comes next.

Under our experimental wing, /LAB, we’re developing AeonForge, a private AI engine built for directors, designers, and studios who want full control. It runs offline, adapts to your workflow, and helps you write, code, plan, and build, without the cloud. It’s not just AI. It’s infrastructure.

In short: Curious Minds is building the world we wish existed, for filmmakers, and for the audiences still curious enough to show up. And yes, we love taking bold swings.

NA: Lastly, if you could go back and speak to your younger self, binge-watching films in Zimbabwe and dreaming out loud, what would you tell him now that you’ve taken the leap and landed on your feet?

KK: You’re not too much. The world just hasn’t caught up yet. Keep dreaming in full sentences. Keep making the strange beautiful. And whatever happens, don’t shrink. The stories you’re dreaming up are the same ones they’ll study later, but you got to tell your story first! We deserve a piece of the pie.