Hi-5 competition opens

Lovemore Meya Arts Correspondent
The Zimbabwe International Film and Festival Trust (ZIFFT) have started accepting entries from filmmakers for the Hi-5 short film competition as preparation for the film festival gathers momentum.

The film festival will be running from August 26 to September 2 under the theme “The Business of Film”. Last year more than 150 entered the competition and the figure is set to go up this year.

The festival will be held in collaboration with the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) which is the flagship of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ).

Festival consultant Ms Nakai Matema said doors were now open for those willing to take part to come forward.

“We would like to remind all film makers interested in the competition that the closing date is nearing,” said Matema.

“The highly popular competition has now opened its doors for film submissions and we urge film makers to submit their films before the closing date.

“Filmmakers are invited to produce and submit original documentary films or drama films on a subject of their choice in a narrative manner in five minutes or under. If they submit a documentary they should not use interviews but rather be clever with their use of sound and images to tell their compelling stories. The film must have a strong visual language.”

The competition will be held in partnership with Media Matrix Rental and those taking part will battle it out in best feature, documentary, with best directors, actors, scripts awarded for their efforts. The winners will be announced on September 2 during the ZIFF 2017 Zambezi Magic Awards Night.

The competition which, rolled into life in 2015 is a platform for young and emerging film makers to show off their film making craft and skill in coming up with fully packaged films of five minutes, or under.

This year’s aspiring filmmakers’ pedigree is challenged in a manner that is mostly designed to have them tell stories using moving images which in essence is true to defining film in whatever format works for them, whether it is a documentary or drama.