Running under the theme ‘Narratives  From Africa’ the Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF2018) will this year screen a full programme of films relevant to this theme in partnership with corporate sponsors, embassies as well as local and international independent filmmakers.

According to the festival director Nakai Matema, this year’s film fete will put the spotlight on Zimbabwean and African films as a way of cultivating and embracing the African culture.

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“We are exclusively focusing on stories on the African experience from the continent and beyond because it is high time for us to celebrate and harness our own culture, heritage and history ourselves as Africa’s place begins to take center stage on the global stage,” she said.

In line with the theme, ZIFF2018 will kick off with the locally produced comedy ‘Cook Off’.

Produced by Joe Njagu and directed by Tomas Brickhill, the star studded romantic comedy has graced various regional and international festivals including the just ended Durban International Film Festival as well as the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Netherlands.

“In order to embrace ourselves as Africans and develop the arts in Zimbabwe we are specifically opening the Festival with a local film for the first time in over a decade. Also in conformity with the African theme, various  embassies are again going to host Afro -centric films,” added Matema.

Moving on, Matema urged emerging Zimbabwean filmmakers who are finishing off their submission projects for the Hi-5 Short Film Competition ahead of the 27th August deadline to also explore the idea of African narratives.

The Film Forum will present an exciting Industry Program featuring, workshops, seminars, discussion, pitch sessions and collaborations among industry stakeholders.