Menu
Finding Identity
The theme of the festival this year is Finding Identity (Kujitambua). What does it mean to find one’sidentity? Finding identity means defining one’s values, recognizing beliefs that are fundamental to one’s formation and evolution. But identities are not only limited to individuals alone. As individuals are impacted by a variety of internal and external factors like society, family, ethnicity, race, culture, location, opportunities, media, self-expression and life experiences, so too do nations, organizations and other social structures.
At ZIFF2023 we shall foreground films, discussions, forums, activities, events and other common factors that shape identity.
The 24th Festival’s Poster. The poster is an artistic view of the festival from the theme of Finding Identity. This year I visited the Kolo Rock Paintings in Kondoa Central Tanzania, where I discovered a key aspect of human’s existence- communication. 30,000 years ago, that’s how old the Kolo Rock paintings are, human beings found places where they defined who they were through communication. This was ZIFF 30,000 years ago. At Kolo and ZIFF we progressively find our identity. Indeed, the arts are central to defining and finding identity.
ZIFF keeps alive the culture of Stonetown, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Supporting ZIFF means Finding Identity with the World!
The festival programme is held in a variety of magnificent venues near the seafront of the historic Stone Town, with a Village Panorama that extends the festival to rural communities, a Women’s Panorama, which provides a focus for women’s issues, and a Children’s Panorama which provides for the participation of children and youths.
ZIFF 2023 THEME: FINDING IDENTITY
Why does identity matter?
Language has always been a key tool of identity. Film as a language, however, has always claimed to be universal but many have questioned that view. If it were universal, how come we find films, even those that have even been highly awarded, quite inexplicable?
Once my son, who could only speak English, heard some children speaking Swahili and he thought they could not talk because all he was hearing from their mouth was “gibberish”! I had to tell him, “son, it is you, who is speaking gibberish, they understand each other. They speak Kiswahili.”
Do we have an African cinema language? One that sounds like an Afro-beat? One that resonates with who we are? One that others will enjoy, but certainly know for a fact, that it comes from a space laden with history and experience?
Identity matters, because, two weeks later my son began speaking Swahili with gusto.
ZIFF is constantly on the lookout for fresh new voices by promising and rising stars, with the programming team providing the widest possible glimpse into the most essential works of the year from East Africa and from the Dhow Countries.
Winning films at ZIFF capture the attention of major film distributors and streaming sites
Note:
The festival celebrates the arts and cultures of the African Continent, India, Pakistan, Gulf States, Iran and the Indian Ocean islands. It features an international film competition, music, theatre and performing arts, workshops, seminars, conferences and other arts related and cultural programmes.
The festival programme is held in a variety of magnificent venues near the seafront of the historic Stone Town, with a Village Panorama that extends the festival to rural communities, a Women’s Panorama, which provides a focus for women’s issues, and a Children’s Panorama which provides for the participation of children and youths.
This year with our theme of Finding Identity we reveal ZIFF as a vital platform for finding out what the future of film is like.
The film program includes competitive and non-competitive film exhibitions, in the different formats of Feature and Short Fiction, Documentary, Animation and African Short films in the unique competition The Sembene Ousmane Film for Development Section.
ALL WELCOME
The 8 nations that formed what was a historical unity that led to the liberation of Southern Africa, (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria) will be recognized in a memorial event based on films that spawned new cinematic movements and expressions. The Film and Archives Program reinforces solidarity as a defining theme of development.
We invite the entire ZIFF festival community to join us for an evening viewing on Wednesday, 28th June, at 7 pm, at the Maru Maru Tennis Court, Documentary Screening Venue, for the screening of Corridors of Freedom and Pamberi Ne Zimbabwe.
This will be followed, the following day (29th June) by an engaging and interactive discussion with filmmaker and academic Simon Bright and Team.
Panelists include:
Farida Nyamachumbe, Gabriel Mondlane, Jorge Ferrao.
Facilitated by: Boniface Kadili
ALL WELCOME
The short documentary, “Reimagining Tanzania’s Townscape Heritage examines the use of digital heritage as a vehicle to explore the historic Town of Bagamoyo and its links to Zanzibar, the interior of Tanzania and the rest of the World. The film reimagines finding identity through examining the cultural heritage, and the potential to link tourism and the creative economy.
The film will be followed by a Panel Discussion on “Tangible and Intangible Heritage as Archives for Identity.”
This discussion will centre on the rich potential of tangible and intangible heritage assets and the need to conserve these often-fragile resources along the coast of East Africa.
Chaired by University of Dar es Salaam’s Professor Elgidius Ichumbaki, the discussion will include presentations by academic collaborators:
ALL WELCOME
