ZIFF is an international festival, but with a real local flavour. As a representative of the rich cultural heritage of the Dhow countries and East Africa, ZIFF ensures that a substantial part of the program is devoted to East African cinema, including many Swahili language films.
The Mambo Club will be showing Swahili films every second day throughout the festival and Friday 24th June will be a devotedly Swahili & Bongo Film Day at all the festival venues. There will be two East African film World Premieres to look forward to at ZIFF 2011 – Glamour and The Ray of Hope.
Zanzibar’s first high quality Bongo Movie, Glamour tells the story of young Zanzibari girl who dreams of becoming a model and her trials and tribulations as she leaves her conservative Muslim home to peruse her glamorous new career in the big city, Dar Es Salaam.
Starring one of Tanzania’s top models, Eva Issac, and celebrated Tanzania couturier, Mustafa Hassanali, this is the film that will undoubtedly appeal to the masses in a country filled with beauty pageants and where becoming a model is a dream of many.
The Ray of Hope is an engaging film about a young woman who has to fight for her right to work after learning that she has contracted the AIDS virus. The film is produced by Pili Pili Entertainment whose film Nani won Best Film Award in ZIFF 2010 and was selected for Cannes International Pan African Film Festival in France in April 2011.
With films, documentaries and shorts from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, there are 20 East African films showing at ZIFF demonstrating the festival’s commitment to supporting the growing film industry in East Africa and promoting it on an international scale.
Other East African Film Highlights:
MAKING THE BAND
FICTION 90MIN
CANADA/UGANDA 2011 (WORD PREMIERE)
When talented singer-songwriter and single mother Shabella Makosi and 2
other girls (Christy & Annitah) are rejected in a talent search contest, they decide to team up to form a band. Shambella has just one goal in mind: fulfilling her childhood singing ambition to give her daughter a better life. Aided by Lillian’s (Christy’s friend) belief, management prowess and financial backing, the band develops with a real shot at success. But on the evening of their biggest event of the year - an AIDS fundraising concert, fate threatens to spoil the party and it’s time for Shabella to make a choice. Caught in a web of confusion, Lillian stumbles upon a mystery that would potentially ruin her love life! Does she admit defeat, or face the music and stand up for what she believes in?
TOGETHERNESS SUPREME
FIC 94MIN KENYA
NATHAN COLLETTE
Based on true events and the ethnic conflict that tore apart a country.
TOGETHERNESS SUPREME is the story of Kamau, an artist, searching for change in the midst of ethnic tension in the slums. Kamau goes against his father and his tribe to join the other side with his friend Otieno. Kamau and Otieno fight for political change for those living in dire poverty. After a presidential contested election, the slums erupt in violence and Kamau's world is tore apart.
THE RUGGED PRIEST
FIC 148 MIN KENYA 2011
BOB NYANJA
debbiechris2004@yahoo.com
The Rugged Priest portrays the battle between the diabolical African politician and a fearless Catholic priest. The backdrop of this war is the cascading hills and plains of the great Maasai country. Sandwiched in this battle is a youthful Catholic priest who must decide if he is indeed able to live up to the rigorous vow of celibacy, since his reconnection with a teenage sweetheart.
THE LEGEND OF NGONG HILLS
ANIMATION 10MIN KENYA, 2010
Kwame Nyong'o
habari@apesinspace.net
Based upon a Maasai folktale, 'The Legend of Ngong Hills' is the creation
story of these beautiful hills that backdrop present day Nairobi.
The humongous and frightful Ogre of the forest, who has a habit of attacking the Maasai village, falls in love with the beautiful young maiden, Sanayian‚ A story of greed, betrayal and courage.
TAHARUKI-SUSPENCE
SHORT FIC 12MIN, TZ, 2011
Ekwa Msangi-Omari
ekwa@ekwapics.com
Set against the backdrop of the start of the devastating post-election
violence that took place in Kenya in 2007/2008 and has left tens of
thousands of Kenyans homeless, traumatized or dead, Taharuki (Suspense)
is the fictional account of a man and woman from opposing ethnic tribes working for an underground liberation movement to expose a
child-trafficking cartel. When something goes wrong they are forced to
make tough choices in order to stay alive and complete their mission.
Time is running out, lives are at stake, and every second counts. What they choose could change the course of history...
SWAHILI FIGHTING WORDS
DOC 32 MIN TZ, 2010
Mohamed Yunus Rafiq
mwalukere@gmail.com
What is the place of art in the writing, and rewriting, of history? How does
individual experience map onto these complex narratives of national
histories? Can poetry create a nation? The film, Swahili Fighting Words, attempts to examine these questions, through the story of one young man, his family, and the poetic battles that mark his, and potentially, the nation’s understanding of Tanzanian history.
STATE RESEARCH BUREAU
FIC 1.35MIN UGANDA, 2011
MATT BISH
mattbish23@gmail.com
James, Phillip, and his fiancee Faith are fleeing the insurgency in the
country when they are intercepted by soldiers and survive their bullets
by a whisker. They are then taken to a safe house run by a tyrant where
they discover that to these blood-thirsty men, death by the bullet is normal and routine. Every minute that passes draws them closer to their death. Now they must risk their own lives if they are to make it out of this torture chamber alive.
MANZESE
ANIMATION 129MIN, TZ 2011
Boniface Mhella
bmhella@yahoo.com
This is a dramatic story about a man who is living in the slums of Manzese.
His name is Kindunde. Tired of the poor conditions of life and the jaded habitants, he decided to embark into his visionary mission to build a New Manzese. On his quest Kindunde discovers serious problems when he finds out that the government is planning to evacuate the whole slum and to demolish the houses with the intention of constructing a nuclear storage facility. What should Kindunde do? And what was the response of the people of Manzese? Despite the fact that Manzese is a real neighbourhood in Dar es salaam, this film is purely fictional yet offers a great moment of reflection.
CHUKUA PIPI
FIC 105MIN, TZ 2011
CHANDE OMAR
mamaveratz@gmail.com
Chukua Pipi tells many stories. Stories about the lives of people in Pangani.
The film builds towards a mesmerizing conclusion when these separate
stories merge into one gripping drama in which all individuals facetheir own, personal challenge:-
Zanzibar International Film Festival // 18th-26th June 2011
Stone Town, Zanzibar
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