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Arts Reporter
In a bid to continue promoting art, and giving women space to shine, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe has opened for the inaugural Matamba Immersiv Festival which is being hosted by Matamba Film Labs for Women.
The week-long festival is being coordinated by three female powerhouses in the local media fraternity – Siza Mukwedini, Kudakwashe Makuzwa and Courage Z Chinokwetu.
It started off with the arrival of guests from countries such as Mozambique, Mauritius, Spain, Kenya, Germany and the United Kingdom to showcase their talents.
The festival is the inaugural virtual reality show in Zimbabwe and serves a curious audience that has been dabbling with the idea of experiencing films, games and content through immersive new media.
The edition is running under the theme, ‘Exploring New Realities,’ and is both physical and virtual, allowing physical users, users on desktops, phones, and in virtual reality (VR) headsets to experience 360 films and content from all over the globe.
In an interview with The Herald Arts, creative director for Matamba Film Labs for Women, Mukwedini, said the week-long programme was jam-packed, catering for everyone.
“The films and experiences are curated from Zimbabwe, the Sub-Saharan region as well as global content makers, and topics vary and range from educational, entertainment, children’s as well as social impact content,” she said.
“Apart from VR screenings and experiences, we have workshops and industry talks for all those who may want to venture into new media-related careers.
“We will facilitate talks from local industry leaders, from across the continent as well as from our European Partners who have also been using VR across platforms like tourism, medicine, agriculture, entertainment and gaming.”
Mukwedini said the festival will have stations and ports at different venues such as the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Germany Society and Matamba Film Labs where people can visit and experience virtual reality.
“Some of the physical stations include; 360 Dome Station by 4pi Productions, music and entertainment station, VR for Social Good Station, films station, kids and gaming station, experiences and art gallery station, product demos training workshops, 360 filming workshop, VR and the Metaverse, opportunities within the space, industry meet-ups with local, regional and global counterparts,” she explained.
Mukwedini said the objectives of the festival were to offer a new experience to our national, regional and global audience in immersive, engaging and, multi-sensory virtual reality and its interjectory role in art and technology.
“We want to create interest in Zimbabwean art, media, music, gaming and filming industries in VR and its possibilities in line with emerging applications in tourism, medical, health and safety, agriculture and entertainment,” she said.
Mukwedini said they will facilitate talks from local industry leaders, from across the continent as well as from European partners who have also been using v.r across platforms like tourism, medicine, agriculture, entertainment and gaming.
“We have guests from Black Rhino VR (Kenya), Electric South Alumna, and local VR experts who will be physically and virtually present, showcasing their work and sharing experiences and skills transfer through the Immersiv workshops and online talks,” she said.
“We also have international speakers from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom who will be giving industry talks as well as trends.”
Prior to the festival, Matamba hosted ‘The Matamba Immersiv Incubator programme’, which is supported by the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe, funded by the delegation of the European Union to Zimbabwe.
Apart from day to day, the Matamba Film Labs for Women equips and empower the new generation of storytellers with original Zimbabwean and African perspectives to produce compelling films and digital content.
In 2021, they hosted the Future Femme Filmmakers Lab (FFFL) Residency which incubated 10 talented young women as they received augmented reality and virtual reality storytelling training, exposing them to opportunities, equipment, mentorship and networking with other women who were working in the virtual reality world globally.
Online Reporter