A scene from the film “The Murderer,” parts of which will be shot Saturday morning in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park. Alegria Mangala Kinfumu

LEWISTON — On Saturday, Kennedy Park will be crawling with police. And FBI agents. And a couple of bad guys in orange jail suits to complete the scene.

Take a breath, friend, none of it will be real. Those aren’t police officers, as it turns out, they’re actors. The snarling dude in the jumpsuit? Also an actor.

All the hubbub in the park will be the work of Alegria Mangala Kinfumu, a filmmaker from Angola who is working on his latest project, a film called “The Murderer.”

Mangala is president of World Vision Cinematic. With the cooperation of the city, his crew expects to be in Kennedy Park for roughly three hours starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Lewiston police are helping out with the cause, but alas, none of their officers will be acting in the movie — one cop has been assigned to help with traffic control, that’s it.

Also not in the movie? Mayor Carl Sheline. But he’s plenty enthused about it nonetheless.

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“Lewiston is a great place to do business and this includes filmmaking,” the mayor said on Thursday. “With our stunning downtown architecture and beautiful city parks, I can’t think of a better urban backdrop for a story. I can’t wait to see the movie.”

In an interview with city officials in 2018, Kinfumu said he had come to the U.S. three years earlier and “what I appreciate about Lewiston is the peace and security that I find here.”

The people he talked to about his project, Kinfumu said, convinced him to film his movie here.

City officials say roads around the area will be closed for about 30 minutes. Some scenes are expected to be shot in the areas of Lisbon and Pine streets as well as at Park and Ash streets.

As of late Thursday afternoon, the filmmaker was still looking for volunteers from the area to help with the project. Anyone interested can email Alegria Mangala Kinfumu at Graciekinfumu@gmail.com.


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