Let’s support local film, actresses

converged at either the Muchenje or Madiro homestead early so that you could at least secure a place by the floor and partake in the dramatic antics of the Mukadota Family and the spine chilling episodes of the feature film, Children of the Stones.
It was also during that time that we would watch other local dramas like King Dube’s Xoliwe and Xola, which featured talented actress Pretty Xaba and several other notable ones, whom I have lost count.
In the 1990s, we now had a television at home and I could watch any films I wanted at any given time.
It was fascinating to note that the same actresses, among them Xaba, were now featuring in a local drama series, Chakafukidza Dzimba Matenga, and several sitcoms of that time. In the case of Xaba, she even appeared in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s feature film, Wedding Dress.
These icons continued to feature in several television drama series. Sometime around 2005, Xaba, who had since graduated from just being a familiar face on TV to become a close friend, had landed a part in Studio 263 where she had a difficult role of being a philanderer’s wife, Mai Muwengwa. If my memory and calculations serves me right, Xaba and several female artists of her calibre have been appearing on the national television — albeit in different hats — for more than three decades and boast of a wealth of experience.
It is, however, sad to note that all that could go to waste if nothing is done to harness such expertise. These individuals are living cultural heritage in the arts sector, but sadly, it appears that nothing will be happening to them anytime soon because there are not many opportunities locally for female artists who want to spread their wings and venture into filmmaking and become producers.
It is even sad to note that there are no resources to ensure that these women can start their own production companies.
If anything the film sector has not contributed meaningfully to the skills development and training of women filmmakers and actresses who harbour hopes of starting their own production houses.
Save for a few individuals like Nakai Matema, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Susan Makore, several talented female artists who have got the potential to become renowned filmmakers and producers remain in the doldrums, while they watch their male counterparts making it big in the film sector either as producers, directors and even owners of production houses.
Very few opportunities exist in Zimbabwe which means that a lot of women who are getting opportunities to study film holistically abroad are not coming back to share whatever they will have learnt.
Lack of appropriately structured film schools (where experience is a better prerequisite than an O’ Level certificate) academy forums and capacity building workshops, has further compounded woes by female actresses who continue to cast for roles in Mickey Mouse productions at a time they should be imparting their wealthy of knowledge to upcoming actors and actresses.
Research findings done by the Culture Fund in 2009 revealed that 45 percent of the women who were in the film sector were not accessing resources in the category of film equipment and infrastructure facilities. It noted that proper equipment was in the hands of a few individuals, making it impossible for women filmmakers and aspiring ones without any budget to access proper and good equipment for a production they may wish to undertake.
Despite the outcome of this research, it appears nothing has been done to address these imbalances that currently exist in the sector. These challenges continue to hamper any efforts by women to undertake practical processes in fulfilling their objectives in the film sector. Even those that have tried their hand in getting into production will testify that just sourcing filming hardware and software in Zimbabwe alone is just a nightmare.
Film production requires serious capital injections, banks and the corporate world have not been fully supportive of women’s efforts to venture into film production so that women can tell their stories using film or television as what is happening in other countries.
Even grants or concessionaries are not easily accessible for women to make documentaries, feature movies and dramas that capture their trials and tribulations their own communities and how they would want policy makers to take note of contentious issues.
I know for a fact that given the opportunity and the resources, the likes of Jesesi Mungoshi, Marian Kunonga, Mahaka and Xaba are filmmakers of repute, who possess the skills, the experience, the willpower and the tenacity to revolutionalise the film sector in Zimbabwe.
Yes, in Zimbabwe we have the Zimbabwe International Film Festival that is held every year, but I don’t believe it has the capacity of taking care of aspirations of female filmmakers who continue to cast for roles at a time they should be running their own production houses.
I stand to be corrected, but I believe that the ZIFF is very elitist in nature and has not been able to advance the cause of the ordinary female aspiring filmmakers.
Now that I am a mother of two and slowly edging towards 40, I keep wondering whether Xaba will join the queue of actresses casting for a role in a new production at a time she should be running her own academy.
If that happens, then I will have to tell my daughters that I started seeing Xaba on television when I had just enrolled for Grade One, 29 years ago.
That won’t sound right.
Come on Zimbabwe, it is high time we should be elevating our own women in the arts industry as in the case with other countries where women are playing a pivotal role in telling their own stories in their own words.