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Showing posts with label Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe. Show all posts

19 July 2020

Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) - Stakeholders Report 2019: Eradicating Violence against Women and Girls through mainstream women’s audio visual narratives in marginalised urban and rural communities

Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe
WFOZ
Stakeholders Report 2019

Eradicating Violence against Women and Girls through mainstream women’s audio visual narratives in marginalised urban and rural communities

This report summarises the findings of the project by Women Film Makers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) on Eradicating Violence against Women and Girls through mainstreaming women’s audio visual narratives in marginalised urban and rural communities.

***

The methodologies adopted for this analysis included surveys and interviews. Films that involve violence against women and girls were sought and screened in different communities, followed by discussions. The films were used as tools to gather information in the communities’s understanding of VAWG as well as to raise awareness on issues and impacts of VAWG. A monitoring and evaluation exercise that measures changes before and after the screenings was also
carried out.

***

The purpose of the report is to share information gathered from communities engaged to prevent and obtain feedback on how WFOZ methodologies can be used in the future.

SEE COMPLETE DOCUMENT AT :
http://www.icapatrust.org/WFOZStakeholdersReport2019.pdf


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15 February 2018

Zimbabwean Women in Cinema, Visual Media and Screen Culture

Zimbabwean Women
in Cinema, Visual Media and Screen Culture

“Film is one of the arts disciplines that women use as a way of communicating their artistic expressions and also as a tool for change.” (1)

Joyce Jenje Makwenda’s assertion above introduces her presentation on the history of women in film and television in Zimbabwe. In the article, "History of Women in film and TV in Zim" she gives a survey of Zimbabwean women in media, highlighting its significance before and after independence in 1980.

Miriam Patsanza set up the video production company Talent Consortium in Zimbabwe in 1984. The company, which is also a school, moved in Johannesburg in the 1990s to take a more active part in "redefining the media" in South Africa: "Whilst there are specific gender related obstacles for the majority of us in Southern Africa, the problems endured by most women in TV and film are the same as those experienced by males who have also been excluded because of their race. The strategy for change, therefore, is to address the issues of media ownership and cultural representation as a joint force whilst at the same time insisting on bringing about respect and acknowledgment of other sexes, different languages, and the culture and style of indigenous peoples".(2)


Chido Matewa’s doctoral thesis (2002) on the Africa Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT) offers further research on the important role that media women have played in the use of communication technologies as a tool for empowerment. She highlights the pioneering work of Mavis Moyo of the Federation of Africa Media Women-Zimbabwe Chapter, who was among the Zimbabwean women who attended the World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, with a draft of the FAMWZ constitution. The organisation endeavoured for the development of media women in the urban and rural areas of Zimbabwe and has a primary goal to advance the cause of women media practitioners and to empower women through the media. Currently known as Gender and Media Connect (GMC), the name changed in 2015 in order to reflect the organisation’s belief that achieving gender justice requires the combined efforts of both men and women in the media. The Africa Women Filmmakers Trust, created in 1992 by founding members Tendai Munawa, Rebecca Kapenzi and Chido Matewa, works to advance gender equality and justice through the use of information and communication technologies by facilitating content production and dissemination that supports girls, women and disadvantaged communities to take informed choices. 

Other initiatives quickly followed, such as Nyerai Films, founded by Tsitsi Dangarembga in 1992. The Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) created in 1996 by Joyce Jenje Makwenda and first chaired by the late Petronilla Munongoro, has as its mission, to strengthen the gender perspective in Zimbabwean society by narrating women’s stories and experiences, whether told by women or men, or any other gender, powerfully through the medium of film. In 1997, the Zimbabwe International Film Festival was formed. The International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) was launched in 2002, and in 2007 established the Distinguished Woman of African Cinema Award, which is presented to a woman of African descent anywhere in the world who has made and continues to make a significant contribution to the African film industry within any of its areas. The Wild Track Newsletter, created in 2010 is an influential online publication featuring the myriad initiatives and activities of Zimbabwean women in visual media, art and beyond. Also in 2010, Priscilla Sithole introduced the Ibhayisikopo Film Project, an academy for women filmmakers aiming to increase the number of female audio-visual producers in Bulawayo. The Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa (ICAPA) formed in 2011 by Tsitsi Dangarembga, features an important online portal. In 2016, the African Women Filmmakers Hub was launched by ICAPA and the following year the African Women Filmmakers Hub Scriptwriting Residency.

The history of Zimbabwean women in cinema, visual media and screen culture, is the story of the extraordinary resourcefulness of women producers, directors, organisers, journalists, writers, storytellers, and all the others who work to empower each other, locally, nationally and beyond.

A list of Zimbabwe women in cinema, visual media and screen culture, which is not exhaustive, includes: Jackie Cahi, Francisca Sibanda Chamunokara, Dorothy Chidzawo, Tapiwa Chipfupa, Lydia Sue-Ellen Chitunya, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Angeline Domingo, Agnes Gwatiringa, Annie Holmes, Rebecca Kapenzi, Marian Kunonga, Bella Matambanadzo, Tawanda Gunda Munpengo, Dorcas Hove, Kubi Chaza Indi, Joyce Jenje-Makwenda, Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Yvonne Jila, Rumbi Katedza, Marian Kunonga, Susan Makore, Maryann Mandishona, Nakai Matema, Chido Matewa, Dorothy Meck, Karen Mukwasi, Tendai Munawa, Linda Mvusi, Yeukai Ndarimani, Miriam Patzanza, Emma Shamuyarira, the late Jennifer Makunike Sibanda, British-born Ingrid Sinclair, Priscilla Sithole Ncube, Patience Tawengwa, Beauty Naikai Tsuro, Prudence Uriri. (2)


Articles on Zimbabwean Women in Cinema Visual Media and Screen Culture from African Women in Cinema Blog






















NOTES


(2) Miriam Patsanza: From Zimbabwe to South Africa: starting all over again | Du Zimbabwe à l’Afrique du Sud: on recommence tout by/par Julia Landau. Ecrans d’Afrique/African Screen N° 8 - 1994. p. 30

(3) Several of the women from the list are drawn from the Joyce Jenje-Makwenda Collection Archives.


REPORT BY BETI ELLERSON

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27 March 2015

Wildtrack Newsletter #17, March 2015, published by Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ)


The WILDTRACK NEWSLETTER, published by the Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) is accessible on the ICAPA TRUST website: http://icapatrust.org/news.html

The Wildtrack Newsletter covers information, issues and events relevant and related to African women in cinema in general and specifically those from Zimbabwe, including coverage of the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF), the annual film festival which takes place in Zimbabwe. In addition, it covers gender related arts-based activities in the Zimbabwe area.

Back issues are also available on the ICAPA Trust site: Issue 15, Issue 14, Issue 13, Issue 12, Issue 11, Issue 10, Issue 9, Issue 8, Issue 7.


Current issue contents include:







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27 December 2014

Wildtrack Newsletter #16, December 2014, published by Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ)


The WILDTRACK NEWSLETTER, published by the Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) is accessible on the ICAPA TRUST website: http://icapatrust.org/index.html

The Wildtrack Newsletter covers information, issues and events relevant and related to African women in cinema in general and specifically those from Zimbabwe, including coverage of the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF), the annual film festival which takes place in Zimbabwe. In addition, it covers gender related arts-based activities in the Zimbabwe area.

Back issues are also available on the ICAPA Trust site: Issue 13, Issue 12, Issue 11, Issue 10, Issue 9, Issue 8, Issue 7.


Current issue contents include:

-Women Alive: Women of Heart 2014 Opening
-Dress Your Diva
-What the people said about the festival
-IIFF Breaks the Silence
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11 April 2013

Film Screening and Discussion on Female Genital Cutting (Zimbabwe)



Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe in cooperation with Women's Law Centre and Gender Studies Association present : Bondo: a Journey into Kono Womanhood by Sunju Kumba Ahmadu and The Cut by Beryl Magoko with an after-screening discussion of social issues portrayed in the film.


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05 November 2011

Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe Community Outreach

Source: WILDTRACK Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) Newsletter 3rd Edition (November 2011)

Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) is excited to take the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) outreach to the Matabeleland North town of  Binga for the first time. The project will take place from the 5 to the 8 of December 2011 where local films will be screened to the Binga audiences. Located in Matabeleland North, 450km away from Bulawayo, Binga district has a population of about 118 842 people. Targeting an audience of about 5000 people, IIFF will screen the films Nyami nyami amaji abulozi (Nyaminyami and the Evil Eggs), Peretera maneta (Spell my Name) and I Want A Wedding Dress. Each film is specifically chosen for the community because of its theme, content and relevance.  Nyami nyami is an adaptation of ancient Tonga folklore. Peretera maneta tackles child sexual abuse, while I Want A Wedding Dress focuses on HIV and AIDS and behavioural change, particularly amongst young people. 

Binga, like any other community, has its own challenges and these range from cultural practices such as wife inheritance and domestic sexual violence.  Secretive sexual performance with a close relative as a cleansing ceremony has been highlighted as another challenge that Tonga women still face.  Such practices drive the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  Disastrously, as a result of cultural circumstances, 'mothers' are viewed as contributing to the spread of the pandemic by not defending the girl child from abuse.

Several initiatives to create space for women to freely interact, to build confidence and attain collective power, as well as share sensitive gender information have been introduced in the area. Participating in these initiatives, Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe uses the medium of film to enable these women, especially the young to identify, analyse and find possible solutions to problems that affect them as individuals and as a group through engaging with messages in the film. Film allows viewers a chance to discuss and debate issues normally swept under the carpet.  WFOZ almost always experience this during community outreach programmes. Discussion participants, having seen engaging films on problems that affect them personally, can both identify with protagonists and "hide" behind characters.  Audiences bring up issues citing the 
film, yet in reality referring to a real life experience. 
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04 August 2011

Films Focusing on Women's Lived Realities

Republished from Wildtrack Newsletter by Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe, 2nd Issue, July 20, 2011.

The Women's  Law  Centre, having seen how powerful film is in conveying information one doesn't find in textbooks, partnered with the Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) to screen films from previous editions of the International Images for Women (IIFF), which is sub-saharan Africa's only gender-centred film festival,  at the Centre's premises in Mount Pleasant.
  
The Women's Law Centre, a department of the Faculty of Law at the University of Zimbabwe, amongst other things, runs the South East African Regional Law Centre (SEARLC), a regional Master's programme for students from southern and eastern Africa that specialises in law as it affects women. All the films chosen for the collaboration focused on women's lived realities.  Dr Amy Tsanga, the Deputy Director of the centre, said the film screenings were a very useful teaching methodology. One of the films screened, THE GREATEST SILENCE, is a harrowing documentary that looks at the lives of the many tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army. Since this documentary, and others looking at the same issue , was made, some  perpetrators of this heinous crime are being tried in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A local production by Nyerai Films, l WANT A WEDDING DRESS, which interrogates the choices women in their everyday lives especially concerning their sexuality, was also screened at The Women's Law Centre. Interesting to note during the discussions following the screening of this film, was the different perceptions the students held about the definition of what a" strong" woman is.

The  controversial  documentary UNGOCHANI investigates the different views of the church, community, gays and lesbians about homosexuality. The documentary drew mixed reactions from different viewers especially since The Women's Law Centre embraces students from all over the continent who have different traditions and beliefs. At the same time, homosexuality is a taboo topic to most Zimbabweans who are extremely uncomfortable when talking about it. As women with goals working in different sectors, the Women's Law Centre and WFOZ confirm that working together provides more intellectual and  practical opportunities than going it alone.

Dr. Amy Tsanga, a senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Zimbabwe and activist with broad experience in gender, development, human rights law, activism, teaching, action research and information dissemination, said the partnership with WFOZ had proven to be very effective and the students were looking forward to another series of seminars in the second term. 

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28 July 2011

Tsitsi Dangarembga: Filmmaker, Writer, Cultural Activist

©Tsitsi Dangarembga
It has now been over 20 years since Tsitsi Dangarembga was catapulted into international renown with her first novel Nervous Conditions. Shortly after its publication she combined filmmaking as a mode of communication. She has become a cultural ambassador for Africa and Zimbabwe in addition to other capacities in the area of cultural production and scholarship. Here she discusses her role and experiences as writer, filmmaker, scholar, producer, film organizer, and cultural professional.

Tsitsi, you have had a parallel trajectory as writer and filmmaker, how did these interests take shape?

Initially my idea was to develop another skill, besides prose writing, that would enable me to earn a living. At that time, in the mid 1980’s, I could already see that skills in moving images narration were essential to the national agenda.  Our then Minister of Finance, Bernard Chidzero also saw a role for motion picture in development. That was good in that he incorporated film as an important medium for sending out development oriented messages (such as Neria – women’s rights, and many HIV films such as More Time, Everyone’s Child and Yellow Card.  The down side of this was that film became identified with social messaging in the minds of the local public. We had a strange dichotomy: film was either frivolous, meaningless entertainment, or it was disseminated of didactic developmental. The study of film theory and the way the medium speaks to the individual and shapes the individual consciousness, was still a specialist area.  But I had a premonition about these matters, so I decided to study film as an adjunct to making my living. I was aware I could read up the theory on my own, but needed guidance in practical matters. So I researched schools in filmmaking.  It was one of the great blessings of my life that I was accepted at the German Film and Television Academy, Berlin, where I received excellent tuition.

©Tsitsi Dangarembga on the set of Kare Kare Zvako
What do you find to be similarities and differences? What relationship do you see between literature and cinema?

At first I could not see any parallels in prose narrative and film narrative. I was surprised at how my approach to creating narrative simply did not work for film. I think the biggest difference for me was to understand the difference between who and why (prose) and what and why (film), i.e. character against action. It came to the point where I found that writing prose interfered with my learning the techniques of film narrative. But I was determined to conquer it. So I stopped writing prose.  With practice and good teachers, slowly and agonisingly, I became proficient in creating for film. Now that I am able to write both fiction and screen, I am more aware of the similarities than the differences.  The similarity is in what – character, plot, setting, and so forth – the traditional aspects of narrative. The difference is in how one manifests these to suit the medium.
       
Your role as film activist is apparent in your various initiatives in the area of cinema. In 1992 you created Nyeria Films, a film production company in Harare, what is its mission and what are some of the projects that it has undertaken?

The mission of Nyerai Films is to produce and distribute compelling international standard moving images product on issues that our societies have difficulty in engaging with. Zimbabwean society is a very secretive society. People seem to thrive on intrigue and subterfuge. This means the real problems are rarely discussed in the open with the idea of finding solutions.  Our idea is to bring these issues to the public attention through film. For example, one film that Nyerai Films co-produced concerns child sexual abuse. In the story in question was the abuse of a primary schoolchild by her headmaster, with the tacit consent of parents and other adults. This went on until one teacher started to question the situation. The woman who played the questioning teacher said she wanted the role because the kind of script we had showed that anything could be talked about, even if our societies thought the issues were ‘unspeakable’ as Toni Morrison so often describes in her writing.

So Nyerai Films mission is to make the unspeakable speakable. This is done by presenting difficult topics in the form of a compelling narrative, with all the visual and narrative spectacle that makes film engaging. This is one of the key issues, I find: what is to be the source of spectacle? Because spectacle in film is what is engaging visually. No one will watch a film for long if it hasn’t got any kind of visual spectacle. Sometimes the spectacle is only suggested, as in the short film about the abused girl, called Peretera Maneta (Spell My Name). Of course, a child having intercourse with her headmaster is a spectacle. We don’t show it. We only suggest it, but everyone fills in the act for themselves. It took me some time to distinguish between overt and covert spectacle.

©Tsitsi Dangarembga on the set of Kare Kare Zvako
You are a member of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe, (WFOZ) what are its goals and how do your activities and interests as a film professional coalesce with the organization?

When Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe was formed in 1996, its general objective was to increase the participation of women in the film industry in the country.  I joined the organisation in 1998, at the personal request of the then Chair, the late Petronilla Munongoro, who was a Production Manager. That will always remain one of my highlights of my time with the organization—the fact that a competent woman called on another competent woman to work together in the medium. However, I quickly saw that the organisation’s goal could not be fulfilled without some sort of training or capacity building element to the programme, and most of the women who wanted to depict the things important to them in motion picture had no or little training. 

Realising this, I racked my brains for a platform from which to spring activities that gave women a chance in the industry, and sought to redress the kinds of images and messaging that women were not comfortable with. This idea took the form of a festival, which offers sponsors a platform, while at the same time enables them to contribute to worthwhile projects. The festival was the woman-centred International Images Film Festival for Women, whose first edition was in 2002. The festival features films with a female protagonist in line with a festival theme that is decided on each year. As I had hoped, we were able to stage other events in addition to the main festival. These other events include outreach programmes to communities that cannot reach the festival; training seminars, which produced the above-mentioned film on child sexual abuse Peretera Maneta (Spell My Name). WFOZ membership is increasing, especially amongst young women, who realise that moving images in this day of the Internet offer a career path. The enthusiasm that has stemmed from young women, and international filmmakers who have heard about the orgnisation as well as some who have attended the festival and met the women of WFOZ, has led to some remarkable developments.

One of these is the quarterly newsletter, WILD TRACK. We came up with the name to incorporate the idea that women are still not in the mainstream with respect to the medium, no matter how institutions speak about the woman question. The situation of women with respect to film sounds 19th century, and from the point of view of a woman filmmaker it is. Few countries have significant percentages of women in the industry. Fewer countries still have quotas of money spent in the industry going to women according to their equivalence in the population. Wild Track talks about all the activities of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe. It talks about films members make, such as the recently released documentary by Porcia Mudavanhu, Ungochani (Homosexuality). Wild Track presents the far-reaching successes of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe. There are so many of these successes, besides the festival and productions like Ungochani (Homosexuality) and Peretera Maneta (Spell My Name).

We have interns from various institutions each year vying for places in the office. Sometimes the departments of these institutions ask us to contribute to their planning. Then WFOZ members interact with the communities through our outreach screenings and subsequent discussions. Our films are invited to festivals, or members are invited to conferences. The important feedback from these events is included in the newsletter. Finally, we strive to continue our training programmes. Any news on training, whether our own seminar, or seminars by other organisations that our members or interns attend, are also included in Wild Track. Naturally, we also feature our current productions. Wild Track is a kind of barometer on the local film industry, as few events of note take place without a WOFZ member, or a person who is connected to WOFZ, being involved in some way. I always say it is hard to find, at the present moment, a film in Zimbabwe that is being shot without someone who has learnt something from periods spent at either WFOZ, or its sister organisation, Nyerai films.  I do not think this is an exaggeration. It would be great for us if someone could do the research and verify. 

International Images Film Festival for Women in Harare (IIFF) created in 2002, of which you are founder and director, is significant in its scope and vision. One important interest of the Festival is to mine visual representation, in particular, of African women. It is exciting to see this critical engagement with the critique of the image. How was IIFF conceptualize and what are some of its goals and objectives? 

IIFF was founded in 2002, a year which saw a proliferation of beauty contests in Zimbabwe and in the southern African region. We resolved to question society’s reduction of women to the object of the gaze, where the gaze is male and leads to male gratification. This time-honoured theoretical maxim is a starting point, which needed to be taken further in the Zimbabwean context, where many other possibilities of oppression beyond the male gaze existed. These ideas of the male gaze and making a narrative in film that does not rely on the male gaze are very foreign to just about the whole world. This is why it was particularly exciting when I was invited to take part in a meeting of African Women Filmmakers last year (2010), organised by the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg. As I understood it, the purpose of the meeting was to come up with some concrete and specific programmes that would contribute to the voice of women filmmakers on the African continent. This has also been the aim of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe, although WFOZ confined itself initially to Zimbabwe and then to the region and only thereafter to the continent. 

In any case, the meeting organised by the Goethe Institute was immensely stimulating to the continental and Diaspora filmmakers and film theorists who attended. The gathering formulated a manifesto that requested proper gender desks at all media outlets as well as 50% of funding for any media related exercise to be directed towards female players. This request was made to be in line with SADC quotas on women’s representation in decision making, since the filmmakers were aware of how often the role of the media is ignored in decision making issues. The meeting to ratify the manifesto was duly held at IIFF 2010, with delegates from Africa and European countries. We have so far received a small grant from the Urgent Action Fund. We have put in proposals for more funds for our advocacy in this regard, amongst our other activities.

Your doctoral studies in African Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin, I am intrigued by the proposed title of your thesis, "The exotic has always already been known: changing the content of the black signifier as a means of improving reception of African films." Please talk about the research, your findings and the contributions you would like it to make to African cinema studies.

I have not completed my doctoral thesis, but I am hoping to find the means to do so. The idea for this research was inspired by the work on gender as a signifier in film, particularly the work of Laura Mulvey. My reading of Mulvey was that biological differences correspond to systematic differences with respect to how individuals are portrayed in film stories. According to Mulvey, the man is portrayed as the dominant character, while the female has no significance in herself in film narrative, but is only represented as an object of male gratification. This immediately said to me that the female is only represented as a figment of the male imagination. I thought one could expand the categories of difference beyond sexual difference, or even gender difference, to incorporate other aspects of difference. For me, these other categories of difference mean also race. However, I think Mulvey’s analysis can be extended to any other category of social difference such as class, or sexual difference, or indeed religious faith. What strikes me about Mulvey’s theory is that it gives us mechanisms for analysing outcomes of certain interactions based on the degree of difference or similarity of the players.  If that is unintelligible, that is precisely what I want to articulate in my research.

Thirty-one years after independence, twenty-three years after your novel Nervous Conditions, a quintessential discourse on post-colonial identity, how would you assess Zimbabwean culture today and what are your hopes for its future, especially as it relates to cinema culture.

In my opinion, the average Zimbabwean has become more desperate in the years since independence in 1980. Desperation is never a good state to be in because then one lets oneself open to all sorts of attacks which one would not otherwise give in to. Zimbabwe has indeed opened itself wide to attacks from the international community that would never have been launched against us thirty one years ago. Zimbabweans are accused of wholesale corruption from the bottom to the top. We are accused of poor fiscal management at government level. This poor fiscal management translates into either ignorance or wholesale corruption. Zimbabwe is accused of human rights abuse. We are accused of sabotaging our own economy and of defying international protocol. The list is endless. All the accusations can be traced to a single problem. This problem is called lack of morality in global parlance.  It is a lack of ‘unhu’ in the languages understood in Zimbabwe, or a lack of ‘ubuntu’ in the wider languages of our region. 

So I think, yes, we in Zimbabwe have lost the knowledge in the intervening thirty years of what it means to be human, to be ‘munhu’, and have humanity, ‘unhu’. We have listened too much to propaganda that tells us about our own inhuman destructiveness. We have read too many books and seen too many films that depict us as losers in the battle of knowledge. In my opinion, Zimbabwean culture today is a culture of intimidation, fear, malice and ill won gains. I do not know of a single sector, my sector included, where rewards are given in accordance to merits, whether these rewards are given by the government or international organisations. I can only hope that the people who control Zimbabwe’s narratives and artistic output understand soon the destruction they are doing to the nation by their current practices.


Interview by Beti Ellerson, July 2011

 LINKS:

Towards a Critical Debate: Nyaminyami Amaji Abulozi (Nyaminyami and the Evil Eggs), a film by Tsitsi Dangarembga
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2011/12/towards-critical-debate-nyaminyami.html

Tsitsi Dangarembga: I Want a Wedding Dress
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2011/02/tsitsi-dangarembga-i-want-wedding-dress.html

Tsitsi Dangarembga Reflects on the First Decade of the International Images Film Festival for Women
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2011/12/tsitsi-dangarembga-reflects-on-first.html

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15 November 2010

International Images Film Festival for Women 2010 presented by Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe


From the International Images Film Festival For Women (IIFF) 2010 E-Catalogue

WELCOME!

It is with great pleasure that Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe presents the 9th edition of the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF), the only professional women's festival south of the Sahara. Running under the theme WOMEN OF DECISION which investigates among other things, the societal pressures women face when making decisions for themselves, their families, and the community, IIFF will continue to stand out as a festival where people are not only entertained but are also educated and inspired.

IIFF received an overwhelming response of more than 100 films of different genres from across the globe. The selection was stiff but IIFF is proud to say more and more women are coming out of their closets to tell their stories and through their eyes. Screenings will be held at Ster Kinekor - Eastgate, Alliance Française and the Zimbabwe German Society in Harare where the premier television showcase, INPUT will take place. The Bulawayo leg of the festival will be celebrated at the Stanley Hall in Makokoba and finally for the first time ever, the Gwanda community will get an opportunity to watch the films at the Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library.

This year, IIFF incorporates some exceptional local films and therefore sees it fitting to open and close with local productions. The Ndichirimupenyu (While I Am Still Alive) Awards will this year take place in collaboration with UNIFEM during a special event on Gender Based Violence.

In attendance will be acclaimed filmmakers from Belgium, Britain, Poland, Belgium, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia taking part in different training workshops. As always, it is necessary for us to thank the people without whose help this festival would not be possible. In particular, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to SIDA, Culture Fund, UNIFEM and Afrykamera, the corporate world for coming on board as well as friends, partners who have always supported IIFF. WFOZ team, your support is appreciated. We would also like to thank the audiences who love and support IIFF.

Yvonne Jila
Programmes Officer

THE FESTIVAL FILMS:

AN UNCOMMON WOMAN dir. Abdoulaye Dao
Burkina Faso 2008, Feature, 100mins, DVD
Mina, the Chairperson and Managing Director, decided to have co-spouses. For which reason! Her husband Dominique, unemployed ‘was cooing’ with Aicha, the neighbor’s wife…

AT STAKE dir. U. Agustin, M. Ichsan, L. Kuswandi, I. Setiewan, A. E.Susanti
Indonesia, 2008, Documentary 127mins, DVD
At stake is a brave and eye-opening documentary anthology tackling taboo issues that many women are facing in the world’s most populous Islamic country, Indonesia. Topics range from female genital mutilation to the conflict that arises when unmarried women want to go to the gynecologist.

BEACHES OF ANGELS, THE dir. Angès Varda
France 2008, Documentary, 110mins, 35mm
Agnès Varda explores her memories, mostly chronologically, with photographs, film clips, interviews, reenactments, and droll, playful contemporary scenes of her narrating her story.

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE dir. Vahur Laiapea
Estonia 2008, documentary, 58mins, DVD
From every corner of Estonia, mentally challenged young women are preparing for the beauty pageant Miss Vaimukad. The winner goes on to make her own movie.

BETWEEN THE CUP AND THE ELECTION dir. Monique Mbeka Phoba& Guy Kabeya Muya
DRC/Belgium 2008, documentary, 56mins, DVD
The Leopards, Zaire’s 1974 world-cup team, where are they today.Did they vanish into obscurity or are they running for political office? DRC’s veteran filmmaker Monique Phoba can tell...

BOLLYWOOD BOUND dir. Nisha Pahuja
Canada 2001, Documentary, 85mins, DVD
Bollywood Bound is a feature length documentary which tells the story of four young Indo Canadians who return to Bombay to find fame and fortune in the Hindi film industry, and who are at various stages of success.

BURNING MAN, THE dir Adze Udjah
SA 2008, Documentary, 24mins, DVD
Burning Man is a story of a Mozambican man burnt to death by a xenophobic mob in South Africa. Nigerian Filmmaker Adze Udjah follows his footsteps.

CATCH 22 dir. Simbi Gibson
Namibia 2010, Documentary, 24mins, DVD
A young lady is trapped between two choices, to kill her unborn baby and get her prestigious dream job or to keep the baby and lose the job.

CAMEL THORNS dir. Genevieve Tanya Detering
Namibia 2010, Short Film, 17mins, DVD
Set in Namibia, Africa, this short film serves as a teaser for a feature project and tells the story of two girls, Marie (Nicole Davidow) and Jessica (Klara Mudge) who find themselves in a threatening and life-altering situation.

CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME dir.
Denmark/Kenya 2010, Documentary, 29mins, DVD,
“Rose Nyambura is among the characters featured in the film Challenges Of Our Time portraying lives of women in Kenya. Rose is living in Korogocho, a slum dwelling just outside Nairobi, with her grandmother.

CRIES AT NIGHT dir. Oshosheni Hiveluah
Namibia, 2009, Short Film,13mins, DVD
Lazurus’ niece is involved in an accident where he meets Victor. Something about Victor leaves Lazurus restless and he can’t forget the encounter or the man.

CRY OF THE SEA dir. Aicha Thiam
Senegal 2008, Documentary, 26mins, DVD
The “cry of the Sea” is the struggle of a mother, Yaye Bayam DIOUF, who lost her only
son in a dugout (or boat) for the Canary Islands.

ESTERHAZY dir Izabela Plucinska
Poland/ Germany, 2009, Short Film, 23mins, DVD
The story of a small Esterhazy and his research of Bunnies’s Paradies that truly existed between East and West part of the Berlin Wall.

EXIT dir. Malgorzata Bielkowska-Buehlmann
Poland 2009, Documentary, 29mins, DVD
This film was shot between 10th and 20th October 1989 and contains unique footage of the “Autumn of Nations” of 1989 – the beginning of transformation in Central-Eastern Europe. Through Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland people try to escape west. This film documents the emotions of desperate people in a moment of historical change.

FIGHTING SPIRIT dir. George Amponsah
UK/ Ghana 2007, Documentary, 80mins, DVD
Bukom is a tiny shanty suburb of Accra in Ghana, and a factory for the toughest, most skilled boxers in the world.

FRAGMENT OF HISTORY dir. Uma Chakravati
India 2009, Documentary, 22mins, DVD
This documentary is based on the life of Subblakshmi who was born in 1897 and died in 1978, lived in Tamilnadu and was involved with the national movement for independence

FROM A WHISPER dir. Wanuri Kahui
Kenya 2009, Feature, 79mins, DVD
When an intelligence officer and a young, rebellious artist discover that they both lost somebody in the US Embassy bombing 10 years ago, they learn how to confront their fears and forgive.

GOD’S OFFICES dir. Claire Simon
France 2008, Feature, 122mins, 35mm
A realist dramedy about dedicated social workers who devote their long shifts to helping pregnant women.

GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO, THE dir. Lisa F. Jackson
DRC, 2007, Documentary, 76mins, DVD
This film features interviews with activists, peacekeepers, physicians and even- chillingly - the indifferent rapists who are soldiers of the Congolese Army. Despite all the harrowing moments talking to survivors and perpetrators, this powerful film also provides inspiring examples of resiliency, resistance, courage and grace. Winner of IIFF 2009 Documentary Award!

HOMELAND dir. Jacqueline Kalimunda
Rwanda/ France 2005, Documentary, 90mins, DVD
Homeland is a journey around Rwanda , with characters from two different generations: those who were 20 years old during the genocide and those who are old enough to have been 20 during the sixties, the independence years.

HOW THE THEMERSONS WALKED BACKWARDS dir. Victoria Davies-Szymanska
Poland/ France/Netherlands/UK 2008, Documentary, 72mins, DVD
The film retraces the love story of an unusual and unique creative union. Franciszka and Stefan Themerson lived and worked together for almost sixty years, first in Poland, then in France and eventually they settled in England.

IMPASSE dir. Bram Schouw
Netherlands 2008, Short Film, 5mins, DVD
A beautiful short about a young Nazi skinhead who finds himself sitting with a young black woman on a suburban night train.

IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES dir. Mariano Barroso
Mexiko 2001, TV-Movie, 89mins, DVD with Salma Hayek
A young woman and her sisters fight against the brutality of the rule of Leonidas Trujillo, life-long dictator (1930-1961) of the Dominican Republic.The day of the Mirabal sisters’ death, Nov 25th, is observed in many Latin American countries as the Day against Violence towards Women.

I WANT A WEDDING DRESS dir. Tsitsi Dangarembga
Zimbabwe 2010, 3-part Feature, 89 min, DVD
The story of young Kundisai Sande who desperately wants to get married but finds herself in a sexual network with disastrous consequences. Her boyfriend Teri deserts her, only to find himself in the same sexual network. Mahachi, the successful, promiscuous businessman who seduces Kundisai, brings infection to the marriage bed. In the midst of their misery, the players in the sexual network come to realise that One Love can conquer all. OUT OF COMPETITION

IZULU LAMI, MY SECRET SKY dir. Madoda Ncayiyana
SA 2009, Feature, 93mins, DVD
A young girl and her little brother leave their rural homestead for the city when they are orphaned, and meet up with a gang of street kids. Hoping to fulfill their mother’s dream, in the end they find their own.

KICK IN IRAN dir. Fatima Geza Abdollahyan
Germany 2010, 82 min, documentary, DVD
‘Kick In Iran’ gives insights into the life of Tae Kwon Do fighter Sara Koshjamal- the first female athlete from Iran who has ever qualified for the Olympic games.

LOBOLA dir. Joe Ngagu
Zimbabwe 2010, 93mins, Drama, HD
The mutilation of the African marriage custom by a cosmopolitan groom, his brothers and their accomplice, the bride. OUT OF COMPETITION

MALL GIRLS dir. Katarzyna Roscaniec
Poland 2009, Feature, 77mins, DVD
Mall Girls looks at the trials and pitfalls of adolescence that can occur when moral support is lacking for a young teenager.

ME, MY GIPSY FAMILY AND WOODY ALLEN dir. Laura Halilovic
Italy 2009, Documentary, 50mins, DVD
A documentary by 19-year-old Laura Halilovic, won the Bellaria Film Festival 2009, “for the ability to describe in a soft, at times ironic, but always direct way, her own story, the one of her family and through these the difficult conditions of Gipsies in Italy.

MY VOICE dir. Flora Gomes
Portugal 2002, Feature, 110mins, 35mm
It has always been a firm conviction of Vita’s family that any woman who sings, will die. While in France, Vita becomes an international recording star. She realizes that sooner or later her mother in Africa will learn about it. To solve this dilemma she goes back to her native village and stages her own death and resurrection.

NOTHING PERSONAL dir. Urszula Antoniak
Netherlands/Ireland 2009, Feature, 85mins, DVD
A young female rebel and an old sage challenge each other in a story about personal freedom and attachment. She is a young Dutch woman, who becomes a vagabond by choice and finds solitude in an austere Irish landscape.

ONE WAR dir. Vera Glagoleva
Russia 2009, Feature, 85mins, DVD
Among modern films about WWII, Vera Glagoleva’s “One War” stands apart in many ways. Exploring themes that have been a taboo subject for years, the film strikes a very painful and dramatic chord.

P-STAR RISING dir. Gabriel Noble
Austria 2009, Documentary, 84mins, DVD
When Jesse discovers that his youngest daughter Priscilla can rap and perform, he sees redemption for his own failed music career and financial salvation for his family, and commits his life to make her a star.

PEARLS OF THE EAST, THE dir. Zulkarnain Meinardy
Indonesia 2009, Documentary, 23mins, DVD
A young girl living on an isolated mountain is struggling to attain an education and realizes that school is the most precious thing in her life.

PINK SARIS dir. Kim Longinotto UK 2010, Feature, 97mins, DVD
‘A girl’s life is cruel...A woman’s life is very cruel’, notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the centre of Kim Longinotto’s latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women.

RIDER WITHOUT THE HORSE
Namibia/ Germany, 2008, DVD, 11mins, Short Film
As Namibia celebrates its 18years, a colonial monument German Soldier steps down from his monument and is confronted by the Namibian army.

SACRED HEART dir. Ferzan Ozpetek
Italy, 2005, DVD, 116mins, Feature
Sacred Heart is a ‘love story’, of a woman coming to her true self , in a confrontation with her past, and the memory of her mother; the present, and the death of a young girl whom she befriended; and the future, and the direction her life will take.

SHE’S GOT AFRICA ON HER SHOULDERS dir. Idriss Diabate
Ivory Coast 2008, Documentary, 55mins, DVD
Portraits of ordinary African women from Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, who spend 10 hours a day working in order to better their lives as well as to those around them.

SHIRLEY ADAMS dir. Oliver Hermanus
SA 2009, Feature, 92mins, DVD
A movie about a mother who has to take care of her crippled son - a victim of gang violence.

STARRING MAJA dir. Teresa Fabik
Sweden 2009, Feature, 91mins, DVD
The film is a heart-warming drama-comedy about overweight 18 year old Maja, whose size makes it difficult for her to be socially accepted and to make her dreams come true. It is an intimate story about people and their dreams - unfulfilled, suppressed and lost.

STRANGER dir. Malgosia Szumowska
Poland 2004, Feature, 95mins, DVD
19-year-old Eva gets pregnant by mistake and is talked by her family into having an abortion. But she starts talking to the child in her womb and, by describing the world for him, discovers it herself.

SUMMER IN BERLIN dir. Andreas Dresen
Germany, 2005, Feature, 105mins, 35mm
Two friends, one a carer for the elderly, the other unemployed live, live in an old tenement house and spend their evenings on a balcony high above the streets. A young man comes along and threatens to upset the harmony but brings one of them momentary happiness.

SUN SHINES ON ALL EQUALLY, THE dir. Abbas Rafei
Iran 2007, Feature, 90mins, DVD
Neger and Janet are close friends. Reza, Neger’s husband and Janet’s former lover, is a chemically injured war victim, with his recovery a total disappointment to his doctors.

TIMPOKO dir. Serge Armel Sewadogo
Burkina Faso 2008, Short Film, 14mins, DVD
Timpoko is a Yaaba (grandmother) who lives in her daughter’s family. One day her grandson is followed into her room and is beaten up by his father. She also ends up being hit whilst trying to defend him: a lack of respect that yaaba cannot accept.

THREE AND A HALF LIVES dir. Richard Pakleppa
Namibia 2009, DVD, 30mins, Short Film
Phillip Wetu- a young and attractive IT Professional- is envied by his buddies for his success with women.

TOKYO TOWER dir. Matsuoka Joji
Japan 2007, Feature, 142 mins, 16mm
Based on the book by: Lily Franky, the film alternates between the past, in which the central character, Masaya, narrates his life story, and the present, in which Masaya watches his mother die of cancer in the hospital.

TUNNEL, THE dir. Jenna Cato Bass
South Africa 2009, Feature, 24mins, DVD
A short film about a girl and her dreams during the 80s in Zimbabwe.

UNGOCHANI dir. Porcia Mudavanhu, supervised by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Zimbabwe 2010, documentary, 43 min, DVD
A young woman media studies student is fascinated by the uproar about homosexuality in Zimbabwe and the people her society condemns. Courageously, Porcia sets out to approach a taboo by looking compassionately at the lives of gay people in Zimbabwe. OUT OF COMPETITION

WILL YOU MARRY US dir. Micha Lewinsky
Switzerland 2009, Feature, 90mins, DVD
Rahel is employed as a civil registrar, She hasn’t believed in the so called ‘love of her life’ in ages. Bet when a childhood friend Ben, suddenly turns up, Rahel recalls again what it felt like to be in love.

WITCHES OF GAMBAGA,THE dir. Yaaba Badoe
Ghana/ UK 2009, 55mins, documentary, DVD
All over Ghana women who are in the way of their husbands, their lovers, their neighbors or anybody greedy enough to want what is theirs, are chased away from their families as “witches”. Sounds familiar? In Ghana, they find refuge in Gambaga, a “village of witches” under protection of a local chief.

WOMAN WITH FIVE ELEPHANTS, THE dir. Vadim Jendreyko
Switzerland 2009, Feature, 93mins, DVD
Her father ends up in one of Stalin’s prison camps, but young Svetlana Geier from Kiew, Ukraine is a survivor. She learns German and ends up in Germany after the war. 65 years later, she is one of the greatest translators of Dostojewsky’s novels.

ZIMBABWE dir. Darrel James Roodt
SA 2008, Feature, 91mins, DVD
A young 19 year old rural girl named Zimbabwe by her patriotic father, is orphaned. Starving and with few choices, she leaves her village in search of a distant aunt.

THE INPUT FILMS:

CONTACT dir. Martin Butler, Bentley Dean
Australia 2009, documentary , 52 min, DVD
The story of the indigenous Australian women and children who were the last to establish first contact between the western world and “the desert people” in the 60s.

THE WOMAN OF BRUKHAM dir. Isaac Isitan
Canada 2008, documentary, 52 min, DVD

THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM - WHO’S GOING TO PAY FOR IT ?
Germany 2009, 12 min, documentary, DVD
Innovative report about journalism in the times of the “ new media” and it’s future.

24 BERLIN, A DAY IN THE LIFE dir. Volker Heise
Germany 2009, 40 min, documentary, DVD

RABBITS À LA BERLIN dir. Bartek Konopka, Piotr Rosolowski
Germany, 2009, 39 min, documentary, DVD
Documentary on the destruction of a huge wildlife resort in the middle of the German capital: the green meadows around the Berlin wall.

THE LITTLE BOY AND THE BEAST dir. Johannes Weiland, Uwe Heidschötter
Germany 2009, 6 min, short animation, DVD
Both tragic and funny, this little animation by a German tv-station will move your heart.

SAVAGE EYE dir. Kieron J. Walsh, Damien O’Donnell
Ireland 2009, 25min, TV Satire- Magazine, DVD
Authentic and with sharp humor, this tv-satire looks at the most important status symbol of the Irish: owning a house.

LIKE A MAN ON EARTH dir. Biadene
Italy 2008, 60 min, documentary, DVD

GOLDFISH dir. Hiroshi Kurosaki
Japan 2009, 53min, feature, DVD

ESTERHAZY dir. Izabela Plucinska
Poland 2009, 23min, animation, DVD
The story of a small Esterhazy and his research of Bunnies’s Paradies that truly existed between East and West part of the Berlin Wall.

PLAIN TALK
South Africa 2009, 25min, Talk Show, DVD
Community TV at it’s best. A high-density community in South Africa is producing it’s own talk show.

LIFE ON JEUNG ISLAND dir. Hyoung-Suk Kim
South Korea 2008, 60min, documentary, DVD

THE VOICES OF PAMANO dir. Lluis M. Guell
Spain 2009, 75min, documentary, DVD

TABOO dir. Orane Burri
Switzerland 2008, 52min, documentary, DVD
Courageous report on one of the big taboos in the western media: a loved one’s dying.

WONDERLAND: THE BRITISH IN BED dir. Philippa Robinson
UK 2009, 60min, documentary, DVD
British obsession with sex from an unusual angle - the most ordinary people talk about their most normal sex life. In the most usual place: their bed.

THE NDICHIRIMUPENYU AWARDS

National Arts Gallery - 24 November 2010 during the launch of Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence in association with UNIFEM GENDER FORUM

The Ndichirimupenyu Awards is a Women Filmmakers Of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) initiative to recognize the achievements of women in various fields and especially as their achievements relate to uplifting lives in the women's respective communities. The awards are aimed at energizing the commitment of other women and men to engagement beyond the pursuit of mere personal gains. The awards reach out to women from all walks of life in Zimbabwe. The awards are for women who are alive, and conquering the world around them positively and effectively as builders of homes, communities, society and the nation.

One more objective of the awards is to counter societal discrimination against women, which tends to commend and applaud the contributions of men to development at the expense of women's equally important involvement. This year, WFOZ has joined hands with UNIFEM GENDER FORUM (network for various organizations) in selecting the nominees and a have also introduced the idea of activism against GENDER BASED VIOLENCE THROUGH ART.

NDICHIRIMUPENYU/ NGISAPHILA/ WHILE I AM STILL ALIVE
ART EXHIBITION AND WOMEN’S FAIR

Quite often you find people discussing how they saw death knocking its doors through domestic, gender-based violence. They talk about how she shy she was and how she had silently endured the physical abuse and violence, all for the sake of her marriage and the children. They relate certain incidents that probably explain the build-up to the final blow resulting in the death of the wife and children and the suicide death of the husband. If only these stories had been talked about in time before this tragic event, solutions and preventive measures could have been taken.

Women filmmakers of Zimbabwe in association with United Nations Fund for Women GENDER FORUM decided to mark the Sixteen Days of activism against gender based violence by using Art as a tool for visual activism that raises public awareness and promotes participation of local communities and mobilizes them to create safe places for women in the society. Art is a powerful voice for the voiceless and a means of message conveyance that reaches out to everyone and has no boundaries. NDICHIRIMUPENYU/NGISAPHILA/WHILE I AM STILL ALIVE women's fair and art EXHIBITION encourages women to tell their stories on Gender-Based Violence and related issues through art.

The exhibition and women's fair will inform and educate the communities that Gender Based Violence goes far beyond the physical violence that millions of women suffer every day, but that it has far reaching consequences harming families and communities and its effects can be physical, psychological, sexual or economical. Art will be used to expose and display TRUE effects of GBV as well as to advocate for positive behavior change concerning the status of women in society and through modeling positive attitudes in films and art works. Women's organizations and women from all walks of life will be able share information on practical solutions for creating a safe environment for women against all cultures of violence.

WOMEN Filmmakers Of Zimbabwe have over the years, successfully used art as a means of expression and communication.. THROUGH EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND EXCHANGE OF IDEAS, GENDER BASED VIOLENCE CAN BE MADE A THING OF THE PAST.

MINI-INPUT HARARE 2010

We are very happy to present as part of our festival the Mini-Input Harare 2010 at the Zimbabwe German Society with a selection of programmes from this year’s International INPUT conference.

Input (the acronym is derived from international public television) is an annual weeklong television showcase where the rules of broadcasting are challenged and redefined. Founded in 1978, this event is the only international conference that focuses specifically on the innovative programmes produced by public as opposed to commercial broadcasters.

But INPUT is much more than a television festival. It is a voluntary organisation governed and administered by men and women working with public television worldwide. So this Mini-Input will screen, discuss and evaluate the latest trends in public television programmes from around the world, and is therefor a must for all film-, television- and electronic media professionals in Zimbabwe.

Input is dedicated to exploring the limits of television beyond the merely conventional and derivative and reject the notion that it must be either “popular” or “cultural”, refusing to view these terms as mutually exclusive.

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