By Paul Owere

Dust could be finally settling on the 21 edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival but the edition will go down as one of the most memorable in the history of the festival which is considered one the best in Africa.

The festival which started off as an ordinary film festival has since evolved into one of most sought after events on the continent bringing in industry specialists from Hollywood and Bollywood.

It has become a meeting place for some of the industry’s leading professionals, where industry’s stakeholders meet to strike deals that have changed the industry.

In the last decade film makers such as Hollywood’s Danny Glover, Mira Nair and even Bollywood Kunaal Kapoor have graced the festival as chief guests.

Exciting times

This year the festival took a giant step in cinematic world under the theme Speak up and Be heard by hosting the first Discop Zanzibar where all the industry of Cinema, TV and digital communication gathered transforming ZIFF into a great platform to boost East Africa’s film industry.


They were nine days of films, song and dance as cultures from around the world crossed each other’s path at the historic venue that dates to the 9th century.

For the second year in a row the festival was graced by a local film on the opening night with Bahasha kicking off the proceedings at the fully packed Ngome Kongwe Amphitheatre.

These must be indeed exciting times for local film makers as films such as ‘Sukari’, ‘Leah’ and Bahasha which are not in the usual Bongo Movies mainstream seem to be breaking ground, perhaps showing where the film industry is headed.

According to organisers these are exciting times for filmmakers across Africa and more especially those in East Africa.

The award night

The award night is usually the highlight of the nine-day event and for the first time African women topped the lists, dominating many of the top categories. The development and recognition of women within the film industry was a reoccurring theme throughout both ZIFF and the inaugural DISCOP Zanzibar.

Women from across Africa and the globe were in strong attendance, with a marked increase from previous years. Their success in the awards roster is testament to the hard work and persistence of many, both men and women, who continue to focus on creating gender parity within the industry.

ZIFF has made a concerted effort over the past few years to include and promote women filmmakers and this year’s results is testimony to that effort.

Women filmmakers took home a total of 10 awards, with the documentary Silas directed by Anjali Nayar, Hawa Essuman taking home two awards; Best Documentary and Best International Film.

The Chairman’s Bi Kidude Award, named after the legendary Zanzibar musician, was awarded to Rahmatou Keita from Niger for her moving and romantic plea for cultural preservation, The Wedding Ring.

Amongst a record number of over 4,000 entries across all categories and from over 140 countries, East African filmmakers also featured prominently with the stunning Kenyan film Supa Modo taking home the coveted Golden Dhow for Best Feature Film.

The films in selection crossed a broad spectrum of topics and genres and represented over 40 countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda South Africa, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Western Sahara, Niger, Iran, The United States, France, Ghana, Belgium, Tunisa, Swaziland, India, United Kingdom and many more.

Discop Zanzibar

But while the films were hilarious with an illustrious guest list gracing the festival, the launch of Discop Zanzibar, a new initiative designed toward boosting the fast-growing content business in Africa was one of the highlights of the festival.

The launch of the Zanzibar edition follows a successful launch of Discop markets in Johannesburg (South Africa), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.

In a market that has in the recent past been plagued with several issues from distribution to sales, Discop Zanzibar provides a unique opportunity of unlocking African content market, more especially Eastern Africa.

Exhibitors came from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa and many other African countries to showcase and sell their content to the yawning world of entertainment. According to organisers, Discop Zanzibar, which is the only content market in Eastern Africa, provides content makers with a platform to market their products closer to home.

According to a Price Water Coopers’ report which was released last year the Kenyan entertainment and media market was worth some $1 billion in 2016 and is set to hit the $ 3 billion mark by 2020. The same report predicts that Tanzania’s pay TV subscription will nearly double by 2021 grossing a total of $271 million.

Marc Berry from Los Angeles California is Discpo’s exhibitor Relations manager who was also at the exhibition and according to him they are looking forward to accelerating production and marketing in Africa and the Middle East.

Speaking to The Beat Marc Berry said Africa and the Middle East in recent years has curved itself as one of the lucrative content market.

“With a growing middle class population there are all the indicators that point towards a brighter future especially in video entertainment which has been aided with the availability of the internet,” says Berry.

He adds: Within the next five years, the Sub-Saharan African marketplace is expected to grow by 35 per cent and become the fastest-growing world region for entertainment content business.

According to him that growth will be driven by original, multi-platform entertainment content produced in Africa, reinforced trade between sub-Saharan African countries, and intra-regional co-production initiatives.

Music and Performing Arts

Music performances continued to be a major part of the festival with local artistes taking to the stage after every evening of film viewing at the Mambo Club.

Featuring an array of Bongo Flava artistes such as Ruby, Nandy, Asley and Fid Q this became one of the crow pullers on most nights after the viewing of films at the Amphitheatre.

Though there have been criticism in the past on how the MPA is drawing away attention from the films organisers insist that films and music are inseparable.