Film festival got sponsor after two years of break

Film festival got sponsor after two years of break

By Letwin Mazarura

Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) has secured sponsorship for this year’s showcase, which will be held from December 8 to 11.

The festival makes a return after a two-year intermission and will be held under the theme “Owning Our Story.”

“This year’s edition of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival will take place from December 8 to 11 in response to the COVID-19 safety regulations,” said ZiFF director Nigel Munyati.

“The festival will be in hybrid form, incorporating livestreaming of films, discussions and works from academics, filmmakers and producers.”

Munyati said they had secured sponsorship for this year’s edition of the festival.

“During the break, we lost our traditional sponsors but we are still strong enough to be the soul of Zimbabwe filmmaking. ZIFF has new committed partners who signed for a meaningful and much longer relationship,” he said.

Munyati acknowledged efforts by the former ZIFF director and accomplished filmmaker Nakai Matema whom he said had helped in the training and making of over 40 films screened locally and abroad.

“Since 2018, ZIFF has been making films in pursuit of the theme Narratives from Africa and it has been an overwhelming success,” he said.

“Zimbabweans should tell their own story and subsequently come up with the narratives from Zimbabwe Project. Africans and Zimbabweans at large should be on the forefront in telling their own histories.”

“It’s time Africans start telling their own stories and this has so far brought us much closer to curate narrations on Zimbabwean heritage and historical figures like Nyatsimba Nyamutota, Changamire Dombo, and Mbuya Nehanda among others”.

Munyati said the films would be accessible in digital archives.