Chronicle Editor
Yvonne Ncube, Showbiz Correspondent
THE Signal, Zimbabwe’s first Ndebele science fiction film, has been selected for the prestigious FilmQuest Festival slated for Utah in the United States of America.
The movie, that is set to show at the ongoing Zimbabwe International Film Festival, was chosen from 1 567 global submissions, which is a significant advancement for the country’s film industry.
Recently, Zimbabwean films have been demonstrating extraordinary quality as they have been adhering to international standards. This comes after another Bulawayo-produced film, Veza: The Unfolding was nominated for the Zambian Sotambe Awards last week.
In a letter written to The Signal director Daniel Lasker, the FilmQuest said the project was chosen among the best of the best.
“. . . At FilmQuest we have worked tirelessly to judge every submission, of which we received a record number of 1 567 this season, and we feel that yours is among the best of the best, a project that can sit proudly with the top genre films and/or screenplays on the planet, a project that exemplifies quality and vision.
“It has been our mission from day one to create a film festival unlike any other, a festival that seeks the highest quality in its selections, and one that offers real opportunities and rewards that you can take throughout your career,” read the letter.
In an interview with Chronicle Showbiz, Lasker said he is thankful for the opportunity.
“I’m so thankful, excited, and honoured that The Signal has been selected for the prestigious FilmQuest Festival in Utah! Once the film has finished screening at the various international film festivals, it will be made available online for everyone to watch,” said Lasker while adding that he hopes that the film can be enjoyed and appreciated by film lovers all over the world.
“The fact that it is the first-ever Ndebele Sci-Fi movie, and it being proudly Zimbabwean, is something unique and special that the film festival has decided to celebrate and share with the people of Utah. They have never selected a Zimbabwean movie before.”
He said the selection is a win for the Zimbabwean film industry.
“I’m so proud that our film from Zimbabwe will be showcased at such a prestigious, highly regarded film festival alongside some of this year’s best films from around the world! The competition was very strong so to be included among the selected films is a great honour for myself and the Zimbabwean film industry.
The journey is still only just beginning as many more exciting projects are on the way and I look forward to continuing to represent Zimbabwe on the global Film stage,” he said.
For FilmQuest, The Signal was selected along Checkpoint (USA) Sci-Fi, Stepmother (Finland), and Out of this world (USA) among others.
FilmQuest is one of the fast-growing genre film festivals. It was twice named on MovieMaker Magazine’s prestigious lists as one of the “World’s 50 Best Genre Festivals” and “30 Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World,” and three times named a MovieMaker Magazine Top 50 Film Festival Worth the Entry Fee. – @SeehYvonne
Online Reporter