been rescheduled to end of September
It will run from September 30 to October 7 this year. Shifting of the dates was necessitated by the need to have the festival during cool weather to attract a large audience since all the screening will be an outdoor event at the Harare Gardens.
The festival to be held under the theme “Finding Common Ground” is set to attract entries from all over the world with special focus on Africans at home and abroad. The competition is open to all African films and co-productions between them and other nationalities from around the world with special focus on the country and the rest of Africa.
Some of the films to feature at the festival include “Viva River” the first film from the DRC, “The Redemption of General Butt Naked” from Liberia, “Restless Spy” from New York in the United States and “Paradise Stop”, a comedy from South Africa.
Television series and filmmaking forums will be held at the Book Café as part of the festival, which is held to promote love, peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. There will also be another segment of the festival behind the National Art Gallery where there will be free film screenings.
Features, films, fiction and documentaries throughout Africa will form part of the festival exhibitions but must have been directed or produced between 2009 and this year to be eligible for the competition. The films must also present the lived realities of Africans on the continent and or in the Diaspora with an authentic approach to their lived realities.
The films must also be able to enlighten, teach, amuse and decisively encourage or inspire the audiences to take and exploit the films to their benefit and enlightenment.
“We want to assure the audience that the festival will be extraordinary and is under new management to bring back the old days of Farai Mpfunya,” ZIFF acting director, Charity Maruta, said. There will be numerous seasoned artistes that will include Oliver Mtukudzi, Victor Kunonga, Dudu Manhenga, Chiwoniso Maraire, Winky D, Andy Brown and Lubumbashi Stars.



