Personalities of contemporary Zimbabwean cinema
Tsitsi Dangarembga. After leaving her studies at Cambridge prematurely, fed up with the prevailing racism, Tsitsi Dangarembga returned to her native Zimbabwe to pursue a medical degree at the University of Zimbabwe. At the same time, she developed her writing skills and took acting classes, also becoming involved in the Zambuko Company. In 1991, while her writing career was developing, she wrote her first film, Neria, by director Godwin Mawuru. The film, a raw and realistic portrayal of the living conditions of the people in the suburbs of Harare at the time, was a hit with the Zimbabwean public. It is still the highest grossing film in the country's history and its soundtrack, sung by Oliver Mtukudzi, is one of Zimbabwe's most famous songs.
Following this success, Dangarembga herself stepped behind the camera in 1994 with The Great Beauty Conspiracy, the first of many committed short films that she directed, wrote or produced. Her first feature film, Everyone's Child, crossed borders and was screened in numerous African and European festivals. Since then, she has pursued her career between literature and cinema, with film successes such as I Want a Wedding Dress, selected at FESPACO. Tsitsi Dangarembga is also at the initiative of the Women's Film Festival of Harare and is actively involved in the promotion of Zimbabwean women directors.
Rumbi Katedza. Trained as a filmmaker between Harare, London and Canada, Rumbi Katedza worked in television and radio before moving into filmmaking. This seasoned producer was also director of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival from 2004 to 2006. She is one of the many artists advocating for more institutional support for national cinema. A situation that did not prevent her from making her first feature film, Playing Warriors, in 2011. A film for which she received numerous awards, including best director at the Shungu Namutitiwa Festival in neighboring Zambia. Her short films have also made the rounds of national and international festivals, such asAsylum (2008), which won awards in the UK and Italy. She now focuses on documentary production, while continuing to lecture and support Zimbabwean production.
Roger Hawkins. Roger Hawkins has had an atypical career. While quietly evolving in a career as a mathematics teacher, he decided to resign to devote himself to the arts. This Harare native began his audiovisual career in television, before devoting himself to animation. His first film, which is also the first animated feature film to be made entirely on the African continent, is entitled The Legend of the Sky Kingdom, and was released in 2003 after four years of intensive work. The film tells the story of three orphans enslaved by a Machiavellian emperor, and their quest to escape from the mine where they are locked up to reach the Sky Kingdom. Made in stop-motion by a small team of fifteen people, the animators were inspired by the wire aesthetics of popular African artists to create a unique style, the junkmation, animation of waste and salvaged materials. A work with an atypical aesthetic, which toured the world at its release.
Lucian Msamati. Born of Tanzanian parents and raised in Harare, Lucian Msamati did all his schooling there. Already passionate about theater, he was one of the founders of the Over the Edge Theatre Company, one of the most famous in the country, known for its innovative adaptations of Shakespeare and for its subtle stagings of popular African myths. Although his career is primarily in theatre, Lucian Msamati has appeared in numerous British television series such as Luther, the very popular series The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency (2008-2009), but also more recently the international successes Game of Thrones or His Dark Materials, two fantasy works produced by HBO.
Some notable filming in Zimbabwe
Fans of B-movies and adventure films that have gone out of fashion, you will be delighted. Because in the north of Zimbabwe lies a national tourist mecca, Victoria Falls, which has been the setting for numerous productions throughout the 20th century. In the late 1950s, director George Marshall, who had made his Hollywood debut with Laurel and Hardy, shot Duel in the Jungle (1954), a story starring British B-movie star Dana Andrews as a private detective. Not the most interesting, but still representative of an important fringe of Hollywood cinema of this period, and which deserves to be discovered.
It is also the case of this other B-movie nugget, perhaps more known because produced by Chuck Norris. Allan Quatermain and the City of Lost Gold, released in 1987, also features Victoria Falls and the lush border region surrounding the falls. If the director - Gary Nelson - is not well known, we find in the cast the great names of Richard Chamberlain(The Towering Inferno), Sharon Stone(Basic Instinct) and James Earl Jones(In Pursuit of Red October), reunited in this film that could not have been born anywhere else but in the 1980s. Halfway between Indiana Jones and Crocodile Dundee, the Allan Quatermain saga may have already thrilled you. If you haven't, go and discover this condensed adventure that borders on the ridiculous, with action scenes that are still quite impressive. In the worst case, you will have great anecdotes to tell during your visit of the falls.
Seeing movies in Zimbabwe
Harare is home to some of the best cinemas in the country, although many cities also have drive-ins or smaller complexes. Visit Ster-Kinekor to see the latest Hollywood productions. Finally, if you want to get a feel for the country's cinema, plan your trip to the Zimbabwe International Film Festival, which has been held in the capital since 1998.
