With the theme, ‘Finding Joy’, The Zanzibar International Film Festival aka ZIFF is clocking a good 20 years this year and it’s worth celebrating. In a few days, the 9day festival kicks off and Zanzibar will sure be the place to be for all the African film makers and lovers.
From the 8th July – 16th July, ZIFF will celebrate 20 years of cinema with a full programme of film screenings across Stone Town. There will also be workshops, forums, special events and exhibitions. One of ZIFF’s long-time supporters, ZanLink will once again grace the festival with the opening and closing ceremonies. Mahala.tv is one of the new sponsors and will be handling ZIFF’s first ever content market, SOKO FILAM, which will be taking place from 12-14 July at the Park Hyatt in Stone Town. All African film industry professionals are invited to register to attend for FREE. If you are interested click HERE
The US Embassy in Tanzania will be sponsoring a series of workshops. The Foundation ACRA, an Italian non-governmental organization working to eradicate poverty will also be sponsoring a host of events in Forodhani Gardens as part of their project to support the long term sustainability of Stone Town’s cultural heritage. Other sponsors include Trace Mziki, who are the sponsors of the first annual ZIFF East African Music Video Award, CloudsTV and African Film Channel.
This year for the first time ZIFF is also able to offer a cash prize for its coveted Golden Dhow award thanks to a sponsorship from Showmax who will be attending the event to show their commitment to the best in African Film.
Additional categories to be awarded include:
OFFICIAL ZIFF AWARDS (THE DHOWS Gold and Silver)
- Best Feature film presented by Showmax
- Best Short film
- Best Documentary
- Best Feature from Dhow Countries
- Best Short from Dhow Countries
- Best Film from International
- Best Animation
- Best East African Film
SPECIALS AWARDS (Awarded by independent jury panel and judged by Independent Jury Panels.)
- Chairperson’s or Bibi Kidude Award (from ZIFF Board)
- ZIFF Lifetime Achievement Award. (From ZIFF Board)
- Sembene Ousmane Prize: GIZ and ZIFF will award the 3 best short films made by an African or an African in the Diaspora.
- Film School Award
- Bongo Movies Awards: Popular culture films in Kiswahili
- Trace Mziki Best Video Award: To East African Best Video
- Emerson of Zanzibar Prize Films: Films of all genres about Zanzibar; made by or made in Zanzibar.
- SIGNIS Awards (Best African Film and Best East African Talent Award) The SIGNIS Jury will present its Award to a film that is deemed to exemplify universal and spiritual values that enhance human dignity, justice and tolerance through the art of cinematic expression.
- EAFF Award (European African Film Festival
- ADIAHA Award – BEST DOCUMENTARY by an AFRICAN female Filmmaker
ZIFF will be awarding a host of awards this year with jurors from around the world.
ZIFF JURY
- Barbara Brugmans (Belgium)
- Issa Serge Coelo (Chad)
- Ngabo Leonce (Burundi)
- Firdoze Bubulla (South Africa)
- Iman Imani (Tanzania)
EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL
- Justine Atkinson (UK)
- Lizelle Bischoff (UK)
- Barbara Brugmans (Belgium)
SIGNIS
- Ella Adinda (Kenya)
- Andrew Kaufa (Malawi)
- Antonio Urrata (Italy)
Best African video Music award
- Trace Jury
Sembene Ousmane
- Bernd Multhaup (Germany/Tanzania)
- Issa Serge Coelo
- Faith Isiakpere (South Africa)
- Ngabo Leonce
Film School Jury
- Joel Karekezi (Rwanda)
- Justine Atkinson (UK)
ADIAHA Award – BEST DOCUMENTARY by an AFRICAN female Filmmaker
- Ella Adinda (Kenya)
- Lizelle Bischoff (UK)
- Barbara Brugmans (Belgium)
Emerson of Zanzibar Prize
- Helen Peeks
- Lisenka Beetstra
- Naima Zubeir
The first annual ZIFF Film School Competition and programme also promises to be a huge success with over 70 young film students traveling from all over East Africa to attend two days of screenings and workshops. There will be a lot of special events that will also take place throughout the 9 days of the festival. For all of the film schedules and event information make sure to visit the ZIFF website
You can also follow ZIFF on social media:
Facebook: ZanzibarInternationalFilmFestival
Twitter: @ZIFF_Zanzibar
Instagram: @zanzibarinternationalfilmfest
This one will sure be a celebration to remember. Africans, let’s make our way to Zanzibar in Tanzania to experience this milestone.
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@OssifyMedia
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