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Takudzwa Chihambakwe
THERE was drama at the just ended 18th edition of the Zimbabwe Film Festival (ZIFF) as Gilbert Chapara of Zambezi Magic, was blasted by local filmmakers during a film forum. During the heated debate that lasted for more than an hour, local filmmakers indicated that they feel cheated by Zambezi Magic channel head, Addiel Dzinoreva, who visited the country in 2015 and made a number of promises to them but has failed to deliver.
“When Dzinoreva came through last year, he promised he would fund our concepts and support our projects,” said one of the filmmakers who attended the forum, Albert Brown.
“We were full of hope when Dzinoreva came last year thinking we had found an alternative platform to local broadcaster ZTV which was not doing well then, but that hope is all lost.
“We sent our proposals, scripts and films to Zambezi Magic as Dzinoreva had encouraged but we never got any responses. We now believe there is no future for us with Zambezi Magic as you have shown no concern for our content,” he fumed. However, Chapara defended the station.
“We have been receiving a lot of proposals, scripts and projects from filmmakers in different parts of the region, hence the delay in response time.
“We have since introduced a digital platform for all submissions, which has resulted in improved speeds in response times.
“As for the financing of projects, I would want to clarify that as Zambezi Magic we are currently dealing only with content creators who have finished products — though exceptions can be made in some cases. But for now we are only dealing with licencing issues and not funding the development of concepts into running projects.”
Some filmmakers felt that Chapara was ill-prepared for a presentation at the forum. He could not give solid responses to some questions.
“When I came here I was hoping to discuss opportunities that Zambezi Magic has to offer to Zimbabwean filmmakers. I didn’t know about these previous issues and I cannot respond to some of the questions because they would require the involvement of our financial team.
“What I can assist with is information to do with content. Issues to do with what we look at when you send your projects and the processes that it goes through before it is approved,” he said.
However, what became clear is that there is poor communication between Zambezi Magic, which is based in South Africa, and local content producers. Whilst most of the filmmakers were in the dark with regards to what they need to do to get their content on Zambezi Magic, the channel always issue statements concerning its operations via its website.
ZIFF festival director Elton Mjanana commended the interaction.
“We partnered with Zambezi Magic for this year and were extremely elated that they chose to respond to the growing concerns by local content producers regarding their representation on the channel.
“The film forum is a platform for such discussions and outcomes and as ZIFF we are happy that it was a fierce engagement that rightfully touched raw nerves with the intention to fix things,” he said.
The channel has been supporting the local arts fraternity and has managed to sponsor a number of events this year, among them the International Images Film Festival for Women, Shoko Festival as well as ZIFF.
Online Reporter