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ANDREW WORSDALE in Zimbabwe
THE biggest grossing films in Zimbabwe this year are Waiting to Exhale and Showgirls. Sign of the times: Hollywood is still dominating world movie production.
But at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Southern Africa Film Festival, Post and Telecommunications Minister Joyce Mujuru urged representatives to reduce dependence on foreign films. “Look more to the sub- region and exchange whatever quality films there are,” she appealed.
In line with its theme, Cinema for Regional Integration, the festival is showcasing new films from the region. These include the premires of two new Zimbabwean films, I Am the Future and Everbody’s Child. Both deal with the plight of children and are funded by development agencies. There’s also a healthy selection of documentaries and shorts including the avant garde-ish Passion Play which was made for Z$8-million, and several South African features including If Truth Be Told, A Day With the President and Broken String. The event also serves as a showcase for previous winners at Fespaco, Africa’s premier film festival and a major retrospective of Burkinab director Idrissa Ouedraogo’s work, which coincides with the Harare-based shoot of his first Anglophone film, Through the Day. Other curiosities include the first Zambian feature in 14 years, Redflower, and a delightful short entitled A Lucy from Mauritius. The Americans are present in the form of two independent features, Naked Acts – a witty, sensual and incisive picture about an actress obsessed with her body and Follow Me Home – a quirky road movie complete with red indians and the cavalry.
Originally designed as a biennial event, the festival suffered administrative problems and was delayed for a year. South African delegates were banned in 1993, but some independents managed to attend as observers. This year too, the festival faced funding problems. Initially budgeted at Z$4,5- million, there was a major hiccup when the European Union (EU), the major donor, withdrew. Rumours have it the reason was bad management and corruption. Then other funding bodies threatened to follow the EU lead. Isaac Meli Mabhiwa, the festival director, is philosophical: “When the big guy sneezes, everybody catches flu.”
But he managed to placate panicking funders and the budget was scaled down to Z$1,2- million. For the moment the 1996 festival appears to be a rousing success and it seems possible that the festival will be able to attract the financial support it needs. Officials have established a permanent office in Harare (funded by Dutch agency Hivos, which has committed support until the end of 1997), and it’s hoped that this office will become the hub of a support network for film-making projects. Already, delegates from across the sub-continent are attending financing workshops, organised by enterprising local production company, Framework International.
At night, the jacaranda-festooned Harare avenues buzz with filmmakers off to cocktail parties. Here one bumps into the producer of the regrettable South African flop Soweto Green, Toron’s Carl Fischer. Or one can rub shoulders with the likes of Cheik Omar Sissoko of Mali – maker of the exquisite, folkloric Guimba the Tyrant.
Although attendance at the screenings is a trifle disappointing (locals still prefer catching Mission Impossible and Bad Boys), the raison d’etre of the festival seems to be gelling. The mission here is to promote co-operation in the production, distribution and exhibition of African films in the region; improve links between film-makers in the Southern and Eastern African area with those elsewhere in Africa, and help create sustainable film production in the region.