Zanzibar International Film Festival to celebrate 25 years in style

The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) has always been tremendous and one of the biggest festivals celebrating culture and heritage through arts and films. For 24 years, the festival has become the embodiment of memories for individuals, the organization, the nation, films and the art world.

This year, ZIFF marks 25 years since its establishment. One of the major features of this year’s edition is the production of the ZIFF@25 book. The book will be all about Ziff’s 25 journey in celebrating history and culture, with each participant over the years getting an ample opportunity to be featured in the book.

“We will soon release an email address for every participant at any point over the years to share with us their pictures which will be published inside the 25th anniversary book,” said the , at Alliance Francaise on April 19, 2022.

This year, the festival is expected to feature more than 3,431 films, with 2,124 short films, 415 feature films, 766 documentaries and 424 student films.

More than 29 countries have submitted their films, and in Tanzania 77 films have so far been submitted and 8 were picked to be in the film awards because of their quality and script.

Opening film

In celebrating the 25th anniversaries of (ZIFF) in 2022, ‘Vuta N’Kuvute” which means ‘Tug of War’ was announced as this year’s opening film.

Vuta N’kuvute is one of the first feature films in Tanzania, which made its debut screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2021. The film was produced by Steven Markovitz (Big World Cinema) and Shivji (Kijiweni Productions).

The film is based on the Swahili novel of Shafi Adam Shafi in 1999. It is about a young freedom fighter’s love affair with a young Indian Zanzibar girl escaping an oppressive arranged marriage.

Apart from the opening, the festival will establish a permanent ZIFF YouTube channel for the screening of the selected films. The retrospective will include films that have won or made an impact at ZIFF.

“We intend the YouTube Channel to be a regular screening and discussion space where filmmakers can reach discerning audiences and conduct dialogue with them,” said Mhando.

This year’s theme for the festival is “Lake Mtu Halimtapishi” Swahili for ‘Nothing offends its marker’.

The idea of the theme comes from the words used at Khanga that speak about the pride that Tanzanians, in general, have in ZIFF as one of the top three most vibrant film festivals on the continent.

“Despite surviving where others failed, ZIFF forged a strong base on which to build. Whatever weakness ZIFF might exhibit, we remain proud of it hence, Lake Mtu Halimptapishi,” said Martin Muhando.

The idea of the poster and words is the calling card to the community. The poster was designed by Hoclay Mganga, a former winner at ZIFF. Apart from that, the festival asks other designers to support cultural events by assisting with promotional activities.

Speaking about this year’s programs, the festival is celebrated in other countries in a special way, whereby countries like Kenya, South Africa and European nations.

Special ‘country-day’

Mhando says, “This year we shall have Kenya day, South Africa day and European Union day. During the festival, full days will be given to these countries to showcase their film industries and culture,”

As traditional, ZIFF will include some programs which are the ‘Women, Children and Village Panorama’. Here is where the festival is focused on film and activities around the three community groups.

What’s good about this year’s festival is that they will be able to undertake film and cultural activities in Pemba after failing to do so last year. There will be film screenings on the theme of women and entrepreneurship and women production groups that are sponsored to produce ZIFF visibility materials and merchandise.

Apart from the programs, like previously, this year the festival will include six major workshops which will be highlighting the role that the festival plays in African film production.

The workshop includes, ‘On Documentary (Docubox-Kenya), TV Series writing (Pili pili Entertainment, Tanzania), Women and Film (EU), Short film Lab (Kenya/Wales), Experimental filmmaking (Spain and Ajabu-Ajabu), Post–Production (Off Court-France).

Talking about the women and film workshop, the festival will present the views of women film directors on how they develop their women characters, as well as how they wish the audience to perceive them, thus inviting women filmmakers to reveal how they work.

Call for funds

Like many other festivals since the outbreak of the global pandemic, corronavirus, Ziff named lack of fund as one among the challenges that hinder the international film festival

Professor Mhando calls for stakeholders’ support including the two governments of Tanzania and Zanzibar .

He narrates that the festival brings not less than $10 million a year in its five to seven days at the spice island’s land.