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tonight.
The festival – now in its 10th edition and running under the theme “Women With Goals” – will see the curtain coming up with tonight’s ceremony and run until November 26.
The opening ceremony will also see Tsitsi Dangarembga, the outgoing director of the festival, handing over the torch to her successor, Yvonne Jila.
Tsitsi, a renowned filmmaker and novelist in her own right, has been at the helm of the festival for 10 years.
The event is expected to attract eminent filmmakers both locally and abroad while a total of 40 films from different countries around the world countries including Germany, Japan, Sweden, France, South Africa and Zimbabwe will be screened during the fete.
The venues of the film screenings will include Ster Kinekor, Mannenberg, Alliance Française and the Zimbabwe Germany Society.
Jila, the new IIFF director, was born in Bulawayo in 1984.
She attained her Advanced Level at Thekwane High School in 2002 and later moved to Harare where she graduated with a National Diploma in Mass Communication from the Harare Polytechnic in 2006.
Yvonne, who is currently in her second year of study in sociology at the Women’s University in Africa, holds a Diploma in Public Relations and several certificates on proposal writing, reporting and feminism.
Yvonne joined Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe in 2008 as a programmes assistant and was later promoted to be programmes officer before assuming the festival directorship, her current position. Her portfolio includes overall management of IIFF, fund-raising for the festival, festival reporting and networking, among other duties.
Yvonne strongly believes women can achieve great heights as long as they adopt the do-it-yourself mentality and do away with the give-it-to-me syndrome. IIFF helps women validate their value as active and creative contributors.
Online Reporter