Zimpapers Logo

Silver Screen with Tafadzwa Zimoyo
The Zimbabwe Music Awards show was screened live by our national television.

We are happy that some viewers said both the picture and sound quality was good.

On the fashion scene, viewers felt that they were short-changed because they wanted to watch the whole episode of what transpired on the red carpet, especially those who were best dressed. But all the same, remember this is broadcasting and what you wish to start by 3pm is not always possible.

Kudos should go to ZBCTV for covering the event well.

Digitisation is now taking shape. Yes, it is true that progress is a slow process but we will get there.

Come to think of it, this week marks the end of all awards shows across the globe.

From the Oscars which were held last Sunday, the Zimdancehall awards which are happening this Thursday, to the Africa Magic Viewers Choice awards which are scheduled for this weekend. All good things come to an end.

All these awards acknowledge art in general, with the Oscars the biggest of them all.

This week we focus on the 88th Academy Awards, the Oscars, which were beamed live on M-Net Movies Premiere, channel 103 on DStv to African audience yesterday at 2:30am. For those who didn’t want to get up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the big event, a repeat was screened on M-Net Channel 101 at 19:30 (prime-time).

The latter was a delayed broadcast. The host of this year’s show was comedian and actor Chris Rock.

“Welcome to the Academy Awards,” Chris Rock said near the top of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, “otherwise known as the ‘White Peoples’ Choice Awards.

“If they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job — you’d be watching Neil Patrick Harris.”

That comment, along with a few others sprinkled through the three and half hour ABC telecast, set the tone for the evening.

Concluding a season that saw the Academy take heavy criticism for its all-white acting nominees for the second year running, there had to be plenty of anxiety about how the show would go. As it turned out, Rock aimed barbs – several at boycotters Will and Jada Pinkett Smith – but mostly kept the tone more funny than mean, with a dash – er, Dash – of irony when, at the end of his monologue, he introduced Fox News commentator Stacey Dash – an African American with little tolerance for minority whiners – as the new head of the Academy’s “outreach programme”.

Despite repeated protests about its lack of diversity over the years, we can safely say that Hollywood does a fine job of engaging in repetitive amnesia about its pervasive and long-standing biases.

Chris Rock, in other words, was in a target-rich environment and he didn’t waste the opportunity.

His opening minutes were entertaining, but they made an array of serious points.

“Is Hollywood racist?” he asked at the mid-point of his monologue, which had the audience laughing and occasionally cringing as well.

We can’t talk of the quality, good sound, good ambience, red carpet and stage work among others but definitely you could tell that show was the “Father of All Awards”.

Closer home, all is set for the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards and, like we said before, this time it is not our Zimbabwean beau Vimbai Mutinhiri hosting, but Minnie Dlamini.

The 25-year-old television personality is going to co-host the awards with Nigerian radio and television personality IK Osakioduwa who will be hosting the awards for the fourth time. She joins an elite group of people who have hosted the most prestigious celebration of film and television talent in Africa.

Minnie brings to the stage excitement, fun, intensity and wit; her pairing with IK guarantees a great show and there’s no doubt that our viewers are in for a great time.

The Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards will be live on all Africa Magic channels on DStv and GOtv.

Here are winners for the Oscar Academy:

Best picture – Spotlight

Best actor – Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”

Best actress – Brie Larson, “Room”

Best supporting actor – Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies”

Best supporting actress – Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”

Best director – “The Revenant,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Best original screenplay – “Spotlight,” by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy

Best adapted screenplay – “The Big Short,” Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

Best costume design – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Jenny Beavan

Best production design – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” production design by Colin Gibson; set decoration by Lisa Thompson

Best makeup and hairstyling – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin

Best cinematography – “The Revenant,” Emmanuel Lubezki

Best film editing – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Margaret Sixel

Best sound editing – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Mark Mangini and David White

Best sound mixing – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo

Best visual effects – “Ex Machina,” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett

Best animated short film – “Bear Story,” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

Best animated feature film – “Inside Out,” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

Best documentary, short subject – “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Best documentary feature – “Amy,” Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

Best live-action short film – “Stutterer,” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Best foreign-language film – “Son of Saul,” Hungary

Best original song – “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre”/ Music and lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

Best original score – ”The Hateful Eight,” Ennio Morricone

Happy viewing!