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Yeukai Karengezeka Arts Correspondent
Prominent South African filmmaker Mpho Ramathuthu is set to officiate at this year’s edition of International Images Film Festival for Women that will run from August 22-31 at different venues around Harare.

The venues will be the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, The Nexus at B2C , Mufakose, Epworth and Highfield.

The community screenings will run from Wednesday as a prelude to the main festival which starts on Friday with an opening ceremony at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

In a statement, festival coordinator Karen Mukwasi said Ramathuthu was an established filmmaker who has been in the industry for over a decade.

“We are pleased to have Ramathuthu as our guest who will officiate at the opening ceremony. She is a young dynamic woman who has made her mark in the film and television industry for more than 10 years.

“She is also the founder and producer of the Breaking Borders Projec” (African Women in Film Project) currently in production and this year she joined the Mzansi Women Film Festival as the festival manager,” she said.

Other international guests will be Lulu Keating, a talented, award-winning, Dawson City-based filmmaker; and Luciana Ceccatto Farah, a Brazilian artist and filmmaker living in Qatar.

The festival will showcase an exciting line-up of films with over 30 films to be screened, 17 of them from Africa and five from Zimbabwe.

The opening film will be “She is King”, a South African film that depicts powerful, independent and successful women. It is as much a celebration of the Zulu culture, as it is about taking a firm stance about sisterhood and female power.

The film was co-produced by Ramathuthu.

Mukwasi said the festival will run under the theme “Reach Out” and said there is an exciting line-up of activities for film enthusiasts.

“Exciting things are in the line-up including discussion forums and there will be raffle draws, too. The festival provides a chance to meet some of the big and small stars of the screens and we encourage film lovers to come in their numbers,” she said.