By Farayi Mungoshi

AS the Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) roared to life last Saturday, August 25, I found myself cursing.
Once again an event of great importance was underway in my absence and out of the country.
Thus on Monday, I woke up and rushed to an internet café close by, to surf and perhaps find something I could feast my eyes and spirit on concerning the festival.
Unfortunately, I could not find anything on the current event. Maybe I didn’t give myself enough time to search through, but then again a report or news on the opening of an event of such magnitude in southern Africa should at least not be that hard to find on the internet.
One would say better advertising and awareness programmes should run for a period prior to such an event.
With such topics as ‘The necessity of Creating a Vibrant Film Industry Voice and Platform in Zimbabwe’, chaired by renowned arts practitioner Steven Chifunyise, ‘Importance of Film Sector in the Development of Zimbabwe and Story Structure in Film’, among others, which true filmmaker would want to miss out?
Owning a camera does not make one a director of photography unless he/she is taught how to use it, neither does knowing how to write a film script automatically make one a film director.
Yes, the hunger to make films is clearly there, more than ever before, but we still cannot match the quality of films made in Zimbabwe prior to 2001.
Why? Because we lack knowledge — some write a script, shoot and edit within a month but when it comes to marketing and distributing the film, they fail to match the qualities needed to even showcase the film in a movie house.
Instead of making movies, we are making home videos.
Others lose out to vendors on the streets (more on that in another article) like Enock Chihombori’s Gringo the Troublemaker that left him in tears in front of the whole nation at the 2014 NAMA after it was immensely pirated on the streets the morning after its premier. Chihombori failed to even make US$200 from it.
Eventually some movies fail to see the light of day. I recall hearing of Chinhoyi 7 but up to this day I am yet to watch it while DJ Mandisol’s Zambezi also had a beautiful trailer but never hit the screens.
Challenges we face as filmmakers on set differ as I also learned in the making of Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo, which is also yet to come out of editing.
Lack of education in the field and greed are at the core of why we are moving at a snail’s pace in the development of film in Zimbabwe.
Most of us who claim to be filmmakers are nowhere close to being so.
There are more opportunists who see a void in the industry and will take advantage of it just to make a dollar. Some corporates have already fallen prey to these so-called filmmakers and now they will not fund any film, no matter how genuine it is, for fear of being duped. Hence trust needs to be built again between the artistes and the corparate world if the film industry in Zimbabwe is to progress.
The fact that we are seeing more local dramas on television and a few more films (KuChina, Mwanasikana etc) than in recent years is a good sign. It means maybe now the corporate world, sponsors and financiers are reconsidering.
The better the film quality and television programmes, the more advertisers and sponsors the industry is likely to get.
Hence it is important to make films with good taste and quality if we are to influence the rest of the world with Zimbabwean culture through film.
A few years ago I was approached by a certain young man who wanted me to help him develop his story. We developed the story together and I wrote the script. After writing and presenting the 120-page first draft to him, the young man was ecstatic.
He refused to heed my advice on doing another draft and instead went straight into shooting the script.
Some months passed and he had not finished shooting.
He said it was too long and the story had changed; he regretted not taking my advice.
He could have spent less money and time on the project had he listened.
His excuse for rushing everything was that he had taken leave from work and had to shoot and finish in time for him to get back to work.
Film is not a hobby and it’s not about coming out on tv and becoming famous.
It’s about developing an industry that will be able to sustain the people whot work within it. There is nothing glamorous about that; it is as tiring and hard as any other job.
What use is it to be famous and then beg for scraps from relatives and neighbours the next day?
It is about sticking together and working selflessly.
The filmmakers who have withstood the test of time working in Zimbabwe are mostly driven by passion, a hunger to cause change and develop Zimbabwe.
I therefore urge those who want to make films in Zimbabwe to seek knowledge first.
There is a film school in Zimbabwe, ZIFTESA, along Mazowe Road headed by Dr Rino Zhuwarara.
There is also ZIFFT run by Nigel Munyati which runs workshops from time to time and other institutions such as the University of Zimbabwe.
If anything at all, filmmakers in Zimbabwe need to work together as one and not view each other as rivals for us to produce the kind of content that is in demand, the true African story.