Zimbabwe will next week Friday 26 January 2018 become the first Sub Saharan African country to live stream proceedings from the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The IFFR 2018 is the 47th edition of the film festival which will take place from the 24th January to the 4th of February 2018 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. For almost two weeks, the IFFR-Live in Harare will provide an opportunity for film enthusiasts in Rotterdam and Harare to revel in cinematic projections.
IFFR offers a high-quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival’s focus is on recent work by talented new filmmakers from around the globe.
The festival celebrates the power of cinema to increase our understanding of society, infuse positive social change and expand the creative space for film citizenship and the diverse forms of cinema.
The live streaming of the festival will be hosted by Rooftop Promotions at Theatre in the Park in the Harare Gardens supported by Hivos Southern Africain partnership with the IFFR.
This unique event comes at a time when Zimbabwe’s film industry is breaking new ground on the international arena with Zimbabwe’s own local feature film, Cook Off, directed by Tomas Brickhill and produced by Joe Njagu, having been selected for screening at the festival.
This year’s edition of the IFFR themed “A History of Shadows” seeks to investigate cinema’s powers to re-evaluate and revisit the past and will showcase approximately 500 films from around the globe.
“Hivos is a proud partner of IFFR in The Netherlands, I am delighted that we are now also part of this unique and first ever event of live streaming the IFFR in Sub Saharan Africa.
This is a historical event that presents us with an opportunity for interaction and dialogue between filmmakers and audiences in Zimbabwe and the Netherlands through a virtual medium,” said Tanja Lubbers, Regional Director of Hivos Southern Africa.
Bero Beyer, the IFFR Director said that the live streaming in Harare provides the IFFR with an opportunity to widen the reach of new films.
“IFFR is about connecting people and bringing daring new films to audiences that care to widen their view of the world through cinema.
We are extremely happy and proud to include Harare, Zimbabwe in a unique cinema event, called IFFR-Live. A line up of six films by female filmmakers that illuminate our lives through the personal stories they tell.
Audiences from all over will be able to connect to the cast and crew live via social media to join the discussion and truly be part of the festival,” said Beyer.
In addition to the live screenings, local Zimbabwean feature films will be showcased at Theatre in the Park. Audiences will be given the opportunity to dialogue and exchange knowledge with players in the local film industry.
The IFFR-Live will be launched at the Theatre in the Park on Friday 26 January 2018.
The film screenings will be free to the public. Daves Guzha, Director of Rooftop Promotions welcomed the global collaboration as key to raising the profile of the arts in sector Zimbabwe.
“We are very excited to host this event at Theatre in the Park. It is special to us because it’s the first time this world-class film festival is being live screened in Sub Saharan Africa.
It is clear testimony that Zimbabwe is ready to engage robustly with the rest of the progressive world,” said Guzha.
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