FILM producer Marc “Mandisoul” Mandisora has hailed the decision by the organisers of the European Film Festival Zimbabwe (EuroFilmFestZW) to include more female adjudicators for the 6th Bioskop Short Film Competition.
The deadline for entries is April 6.
EuroFilmFestZW this year will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on the motion picture Jubilee running for 10 days from May 30 to June 8.
Globally-celebrated film actor and producer Sue-Ellen Chitunya is a new entry to the jury line-up as she teams up with Prosper Kunyetu, Daniel Lasker, Sibongile Mlambo and Hanieh Ziaei in uplifting best practices in the film industry.
The experienced jury will from now have a few days — two months at most — to select winners for the 6th Bioskop Short Film Competition Best Narrative Short — Winner, whose prize money will be US$800, Best Documentary Short (US$800), Best Sound Editing (US$400), Best Cinematography (US$400) Best Diaspora Film (US$400) and the Best Actor or Actress (US$400), respectively.
To be eligible for this competition, one should be a Zimbabwean resident, based, living or working in Zimbabwe or of Zimbabwean heritage living in any European or African country.
It has become tradition that the first Saturday evening of the 10-day European Film Festival Zimbabwe is characterised by the screening of the award-winning Bioskop Short Film Competition films but finer details for this year’s festival are yet to be announced.
Last year, EuroFilmFestZW took place in four cities, namely Harare, Kadoma, Gweru and Bulawayo, respectively and showed a variety of films that resonated well with the theme Celebrating Women.
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Mandisoul, who has recently been on a successful tour of the nation with his film Dunamis, where he received praises and calls for more screenings, said the EuroFilmFestZW had set the pace in the call for gender equal opportunities.
He said Dunamis was well received and he envied the EuroFilmFestZW, adding that one day he would come up with his own film festival.
Mandisoul screened Dunamis in Harare, Mutare, Gweru and Bulawayo, almost following the route the European Festival Zimbabwe took last year.
The European Film Festival had humble beginnings screening films from Europe and grew to become a powerhouse festival that embraces cultural diversity of Zimbabwean societies through screening the winning films of the Bioskop Short Film Competition.
Last year, Team Europe was represented by countries such as Italy, France, Ireland, Portugal and Germany, with each country sponsoring film screening.
The adjudicators
Daniel Lasker is a multi-talented actor and filmmaker from Bulawayo and has featured in Netflix-screened One Piece, HBO Max’s Raised by Wolves and BBC One’s Noughts & Crosses.
Hanieh Ziaei is a film critic and analyst whose work focuses on women representation in cinema and the intersection of film and social activism.
Prosper Kanyetu is a cinematographer and filmmaker with a portfolio featuring innovative projects which include but are not limited to I Wear My Culture, Fashion Film and Innovation for Change Africa: Short Documentaries Project.
Sibongile Mlambo is an international actress, producer, and storyteller with a groundbreaking filmography, including Netflix’s Lost in Space, Starz’s Black Sails and Honey 3.
