The Chronicle
Natasha Mutsiba, [email protected]
The Zimbabwe Annual Film and Television Awards (Zafta), an initiative that was inspired by the need to celebrate and appreciate those in the film and television industry, is set to be launched via a Zoom meeting on Friday.
The meeting will start at 11am.
Richard Tentone, the founder and secretary general manager of the Cinema Society of Zimbabwe, a non-governmental cultural and creative organisation established by filmmakers to advance the interests of filmmakers with respect to developing a viable film industry in Zimbabwe, said the Zaftas are all about celebrating creative excellence in the film and television industry both at home and abroad.
“Our goal as the Zaftas is to ensure that the filmmakers who are working hard, and creating exceptional content, have the spotlight on them,” he said.
Tentone said the creatives need to be appreciated and rewarded for their creative work.
“For quite a long time, Zimbabwe was lacking with respect to platforms that promote the creatives, promote stardom, and the consumption of films and other television content. All we had were the Namas, which when you look at from a broader perspective, celebrate all arts in general and when it comes to film, we have just a few categories which leaves a lot to be desired.
“We are so grateful to all that the Namas have been doing and continue to do. We are learning from them and coming in to complement their work to ensure that the industry can grow because if we could just look up to the Namas, then we are leaving a lot to be desired,” said Tentone.
He said this idea was bought by the need to do something recognisable for the film and television industry.
Tentone said they have been working tirelessly to ensure that this becomes a successful continuous event.
“For the past three to four months, a team of eight people was very busy behind the scenes, setting the stage for what is being launched on Friday. Our goal is to make sure that it becomes annual as the name depicts and that these awards become the flagship of the Zimbabwean film and television industry.
“Our vision is to make sure that the Zaftas be the premium event of the year and we are working extremely hard with our partners to make sure that people will sing, dream, and wake up to the Zaftas and they will think of the Zaftas all day long.
For as long as we have not achieved that or come close to that, we have not started working,” he said.
“Our target also is to make sure that we sell Zimbabwean film practitioners at home and abroad. We want to make sure that we celebrate our own and create platforms of networking, platforms for employment and platforms for celebrating the best that Zimbabwe has produced over the years and continue to produce in the coming years.”
He added that the Zaftas are coming in to cover for the years that those in the film and television industry were not fully recognised and appreciated.
“The Zaftas are coming with almost 40 categories where we are trying as much as possible to cover ground from outstanding best feature film, outstanding cinematographer, screenplay, makeup artiste, documentary feature television show, actress, and actor, to name a few. We have an extensive array of categories that we want to try to cover.”
Tentone said the Zaftas are open to every Zimbabwean, whether locally based or abroad.
“Every Zimbabwean who has created content between January 2018 to August 2023 is eligible to submit their content for consideration at the Zaftas 2023 awards. There is no submission fee. We are also going to make sure that people submit through the online platforms as well as at one or two physical locations.”
“The winners of the Zaftas will be given the prestigious Zafta trophy as well as certificates of achievement on the night of the event which is set to take place on the 2nd of December.”
He said the Zaftas will be broadcast on television, and live streamed on Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms as they want to make sure that they are accessible to people at home and those abroad. – @TashaMutsiba.