Remains of colonial history
The cinema of the archipelago is, as for many regions of the African continent, marked by its colonial history. This is felt in various ways, from a simple paternalistic look to, in the worst cases, overtly racist productions.
West of Zanzibar (1954), by Scottish director Harry Watt, was a sequel to the 1951 film Where no Vultures Fly
. It follows the adventures of the same character, gamekeeper Bob Payton, played by Anthony Steel. He goes after Ivory hunters on the archipelago of Zanzibar. Although the director wanted the film to defend the indigenous cause against the oppressor who exploits their land, the Kenyan government considered the film too paternalistic and censored it. But the film with the worst reputation is Africa Addio, an Italian polemical documentary by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi released in 1966. They filmed massacres of Arab and Indian families during the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. Africa Addio is inherently polemical, not to mention the film's director's racist voice-over comments. In West Germany, a virulent protest movement followed the release of the documentary, and the distributor eventually pulled the film from theaters.To the glory of the taarab
Zanzibar Musical Club
is an 85-minute Franco-German documentary released in 2009 and directed by Philippe Gasnier and Patrice Nezanui, which traces the history of this incredible musical ensemble from Zanzibar centered on taarab music. This style reflects 2,000 years of cultural and musical exchanges on this crossroads of the spice route, between African and Oriental music and dance. Characteristic of the Zanzibarite identity, this music fascinates with its complex percussive rhythms, the diversity of its instruments and their origins, its sensual dances, its poetic songs and its bewitching choirs... Intrinsically linked to the island's tribal ritual ceremonies, to the rituals of daily life as well as to the stages of life, the taarab is more than a music, it is an essential component of the Zanzibarite culture, well highlighted in this exceptional documentary.Zanzibar, a place for emerging cinema
The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) is the most important film festival in the archipelago, if not in Tanzania. It takes place every year in July. It screens mostly Swahili films (Tanzanian, Kenyan, Ugandan), to a lesser extent from the rest of the African continent (South Africa, Nigeria) and some European, Arab and Asian films. Tanzanian director Jordan Riber has been selected several times for this festival: Tunu (2016), Fatuma (2017) and Bahasha
(2017).Among a few productions shot on the archipelago, we will remember the short film Jonah (2013). In this sci-fi work, after two young fishermen from the archipelago photograph a giant fish, their island unwittingly becomes a popular tourist destination. Inspired by the story of The Old Man and the Sea
, the director wanted to point out the problems that tourism has brought to Zanzibar. Queen Sono is a South African Netflix series that follows the adventures of an intelligence officer, set on the archipelago, and was released on the platform in 2020. A positive sign for the development of productions in South East Africa, made accessible to the world via the platform.
