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Arts Reporters
The International Images Film Festival 2016, which is underway in the capital, has been a rich bouquet of pulsating screenings as the world of patriarchy crumbles from a sustained cinematic assault. Film fans have not disappointed either, with many full houses being recorded. And as the curtain comes down on the week-long film fête tomorrow with the prize-giving ceremony at the National Art Gallery, this year’s festival will be remembered for having showcased films that are relevant and speak to our times.
Hollywood-based Zimbabwean hotshot Arnold Tongai Chirisa seemingly made up for not gracing IIFF’s 15th edition by a stellar performance in “Happiness is a Four Letter Word”, a blockbuster movie shot in SA where he rescues the fast fading notion that love makes this world tick.
“Happiness is a Four Letter Word” screened to a full house at Ster Kinekor Borrowdale on Tuesday night and resonated with the film fans as issues of finding real love, work pressures, the superficiality of life at the top and the effects of family separation due to career commitments are an epitome of Zimbabwean life.
“Paradise Suite” is another movie that won the hearts of many as the generous humanity and sacrifice shine through the brutality of sex slavery, Africans living illegally in the Diaspora and also the pain of a mother who sees a former army captain who executed her son, along with dozens of others, in Srebrenica living large and even having a child of his own.
The women found succour in “Suffragate”, which is more of a movement-building manual and seemingly spurs them on as Zimbabwean women have been in the trenches for decades, fighting for gender equality.
“Bilatena”, a feature film from Ethiopia directed by Kinfe Banb, brings laughter in the face of marauding Hepatitis B with someone who has passed away being referred to as a “soil researcher”.
“Black”, a feature film, shows the power of love as a girl and a boy from rival gangs fall in love while cultures collide in “Bound Africans versus African Americans”. “House of Nwapa” by Onyeka Nwelue celebrates Flora Nwapa, who is regarded as Africa’s first female novelist published in English.
On Wednesday many people showed overwhelming support for the local film industry as Alliance Francaise played host to a full house, with Culture Fund director Farai Mupfunya and US-based media academic Dr Winston Mano also in attendance as fans jostled to watch short films.
Fungai Makoni inspired many as they realised that he directed, produced and edited his debut short film “The Oath” due to a tight budget.
There was also the tale of sheer bravery and determination in the face of meagre resources as director of “The Girl Child Genocide: Tale of Maternal mortality in Zimbabwe”, Abel Dzobo, revealed that he filmed the 26-minute film in literally six hours.
“We set up our cameras around 11am on set in Karoi and by 5pm same day we were on the road back to Harare,” Dzobo said.
But the tales of tight film budgets were in sharp contrast to the well-polished “Across Grasslands”, a short film directed by Sharon E Lee, produced by Rudo Idah Chakanyuka and with script written by Privillage Mutendera.
“‘Across Grasslands’ received a $10 000 grant from Culture Fund of Zimbabwe and the production took us four years,” Chakanyuka said.
Trailblazing female Malawian filmmaker Joyce Mhango-Chavhula’s feature film, “Lilongwe”, sends chills running down spines of wives and girlfriends as it candidly portrays how women prey on expatriate men in Lilongwe.
IIFF director Laura Ganda feels that beside the “intense, relevant” films, filmmakers have also benefited immensely from various activities.
“Audience engagement has been a great success this year. Films like ‘Eva’ have people thinking in other spheres, whereby discussions went to whether as parents we are doing enough to look after our children. And the Film Forum has been a success, where issues such as film distribution and funding have taken centre stage while local cinema houses’ inclination for foreign content has also been rapped,” Ganda said.
Many filmmakers also attended the post-production boot camp, which ends today with veteran filmmaker Sylvia Vassilatos calling it “a bonus for producers, who find themselves at the mercy of cocky editors”.
Renowned editor Olaf Koschke, who is conducting the post-production workshop, says that it will help raise the standards of Zimbabwean productions.
“The post-production boot camp is meant to ensure that though we don’t have the budgets Western films enjoy, we can still come up with films that match international standards with our available resources,” Koschke said.
Online Reporter