The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
WHILE “funding constraints” might be the popular excuse used by most local filmmakers for the sector’s stunted growth, the truth is that disorder and classism among members of this community is the major cause for the slow development.
Those who acquired skills in foreign or local institutions tend to look down upon those who have had on the job training or are self-trained. Those who have studied abroad have a tendency of showing off to those with less exposure and therefore there is no cohesion whatsoever in the community.
Why it is even called a community or an industry baffles the mind. There is no structure to clearly show the path a product moves from producer to consumer. However, the irony of the matter is that, the very same untrained filmmakers who come up with shoddy productions, are getting the love from local audiences while the egocentric classy crew is frustrated by the people as they cannot access their products let alone relate to some of their themes.
A classic example that came up during an interesting three-day forum held during the just ended International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) was that of “Sabhuku Vharazipi” — the storyline has social relevance but the production is very poor and yet people still buy it.
While many experienced filmmakers castigate it, their productions are nowhere to be found and local audiences cannot relate to their themes. These ego and attitude issues impacted heavily on the 2016 edition of IIFF as most locals did not submit their films as they did not see the value, resulting in only 14 entries from Zimbabwe being submitted out of a total of 120. Only 11 of those 14 films were screened during the six days of festivities.
“There are some filmmakers who used to submit their films for IIFF but now they no longer do so because they said we always submit but do not get recognised and never win at any of the awards ceremonies that take place at the end of IIFF,” said IIFF programmes officer, Karen Mukwasi.
“For them it’s all about winning at this annual festival and yet they don’t see the bigger picture in that we have a very broad network that will see their production screened in other mini festivals we hold in the region and across the continent.
“Some feel their content is not good enough, hence they do not submit. However, in the past we have received material that was lacking in some areas and communicated with the producer who in some cases corrects the errors and we have taken their films for screening in other festivals,” said Mukwasi.
Another issue raised by Mukwasi was that Zimbabwean filmmakers are not responsive to calls by other platforms hence they are left out in many events that take place on the continent and the global stage.
“When there are calls for applications for fellowships or even film submissions from Southern Africa it is also disheartening to note that there will be no entries from Zimbabwe. I really don’t know why filmmakers do not submit their work or respond to some of these calls that will see their skills being sharpened.
“This year’s edition of IIFF is being held in partnership with Zambezi Magic and we were tasked to commission work by local women filmmakers but again there was no response despite all the efforts we made in advertising.”
At the end of the forum, attendees came up with resolutions that included; setting up training programmes, creating a central directory, establishing a base for weekly film screening sessions, setting up distribution channels and audience development programmes among many others.
“Some feel their content is not good enough, hence they do not submit.
