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National Arts Council of Zimbabwe director Elvas Mari

Arts Reporter
Glitz, glamour and sheer elegance characterised the opening of the 18th edition of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival that had National Arts Council of Zimbabwe director Elvas Mari as guest of honour at Ster Kinekor Sam Levy’s Village in Borrowdale on Saturday night.

The red carpet event drew the who-is-who from showbiz industry, diplomats, businesspeople and the media to witness the kick-off of the much-awaited fete.

Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust indicated that it is going to be a thrilling festival full of activities that will cater for all film fanatics both young and old.

A number of activities have been lined up to make sure that boredom has no room for anyone who cares to attend an array of events.

The opening night was sponsored by the British Council.

Speaking at the event, British Council director Sam Harvey said they will always support the local film industry.

“The British Council supports arts and culture, particularly collaborations between UK and Zimbabwe, we have been supporting ZIFF for a number of years now.

“When we heard about the theme this year was around music and documentaries we thought the Amy film will be perfect about Amy Winehouse iconic youthful singer who had a very troubled life and we produced a documentary. “This film has won several awards including an Oscar and we were delighted to be able to bring it back to the Zimbabwean audience to see the film, said Harvey.

Festival director Elton Mjanana said the opening means a lot to them.

“The opening is a very important component of film festival for us, we then set a pace, a precedence on how the rest of the week is going to come out.

“We are extremely excited that we have a very important film as in Amy the one is opening and thanks to our British Council partners.

“This is also in line with our theme ‘Reel Sound and Music because the film talks about the life, time, death and even the music of Amy,” he said.

The festival is going to run for a week and closes on October 8 with a traditional night awards.

A total of 59 films are going to be screened in different venues selected including the high-density suburbs topping the list being Chitungwiza, followed by Mufakose, Epworth and Dzivarasekwa.