Two short films nominated for international film festival

15 Jun, 2014 - 01:06 0 Views

The Sunday News

Peter Matika Senior Leisure Reporter
TWO short films written and directed by two local up and coming artistes were recently nominated to be featured at the International Images Film Festival for Women in Harare.The short films were shot in Bulawayo through a recent collaboration between an up and coming film production company, Rebel Film Productions and a Harare-based agency — Invision Studios.

The collaboration, which is less than two months old, is proving fruitful, as two short films out of eight have already gained recognition.

The eight short films were produced during the collaboration, which has also created a platform for new up and coming actors and writers to practise their art.

The two films are: Sthandwa Sami by Xavier Dlomo and Blurred by Pride Mpofu.

This year’s International Images Film Festival for Women will be held in August, in Harare and will run under the theme, Women Alive: Women of Heart.

The festival aims at showcasing films that celebrate daring women; women who emerge stronger despite the challenges that they face.

“We collaborated with Invision Studios soon after releasing our debut movie, a fantasy horror movie — Moonlight Cross. They felt they could work with us, as our debut project was good. We partnered soon after the launch last month. It took us eight days to shoot the films, all on different locations in the city and all featuring young and aspiring directors, actors and writers,” said Gani Phiri, a veteran artiste and up and coming film producer.

Phiri also said they would be premiering short films once every month in an endevour to revive the film industry and film culture in Zimbabwe.

“After we premiered the movie and short films, we found it necessary to revive the waning film industry in Zimbabwe, particularly focusing on Bulawayo. We will be premiering and showing short films once every month at the Rainbow Cinemas in Bulawayo,” he said.

Phiri, who had been based in Europe for more than a decade, also expressed disappointment in the “dying” film industry blaming the situation on corruption orchestrated by some players in the arts industry.

“The arts industry in Zimbabwe could be in a far better state than it is right now. There is far too much bogusness happening in the sector and authorities should step in and see to it that culprits are brought to book. Funds are only channelled to certain individuals and groups only to enrich themselves at the expense of the whole fraternity,” he said.

 

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