BY WINSTONE ANTONIO THE National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) says the second edition of NACZ/PIFF-Africa 2022 festival will look to create platforms for African filmmakers to develop their skills through collaborations.
Launched last year, the NACZ/PIFF-Africa festival is one of the programmes which fall under the memorandum of understanding between NACZ and Piton International Film Festival (PIFF), based in the United States.
This year’s edition will be held under the theme Narratives from Africa Embracing African Culture Through Film, Poetry and Dialogue.
In a statement, NACZ spokesperson Rodney Ruwende said they had opened calls for submissions for the NACZ/PIFF-Africa 2022 festival, that seeks to enhance filmmaking among African filmmakers.
“The call for submissions for the second edition of NACZ/PIFF-Africa 2022 opened on February 1 and will close on April 30,” he said.
“Last year, NACZ/PIFF-Africa heralded the collaboration of Zimbabwe’s Gesh23 Studios and King Paul Media of Uganda working on a short film titled Find Me. NACZ/PIFF hopes to improve on that and provide fresh impetus for different practitioners in the film industry to develop their skills through working with others and sharing their different experiences.”
Ruwende said this year, they were focused on increasing the number of submissions from Zimbabwe as the host to increase audiences and raise the level of filmmaking in the country.
“Last year at the inaugural edition of the festival, only three Zimbabwean films, Scars, Isolation and The Collector made it to the final line-up of films shown during the virtual festival held from May 13 to 23, 2021,” he said.
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“The 25 films submitted at the festival last year were from 10 countries, namely Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Morocco, Tanzania and Namibia.”
Ruwende said NACZ/PIFF-Africa was a family-friendly event that encouraged unity among filmmakers on the continent, allowing them to watch, discuss, learn and enjoy the films together.
“We are aware that despite the lockdowns imposed by governments in dealing with COVID-19, filmmakers kept their art going and NACZ/PIFF Africa 2022 is a platform created for them to engage, highlight, share and showcase some of the creative work coming out of Africa,” he said.
“National Arts Council of Zimbabwe is thus excited to start receiving submissions for the festival so that other attendant programmes focused on the filmmakers themselves can start running providing them with a unique opportunity for education, collaboration, and celebration of the continent.”
- Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto
