-- --
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Pinterest
SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) 2018 and inaugural DISCOP Zanzibar marked a key turning point for the East African region. Both events were remarkably well-attended and their combined impact has been tangible for the industry, with some notable outcomes.
The prominence of Kenya and Kenyan filmmakers was on everybody's agenda at both events, and as the nine days wrapped up with the ZIFF Awards night on 14 July, the success of women at this year's festival was also the top talking point.
-- --
The rise of the Kenyan film industry is not news to anyone who follows the region, however, their strong showing in Zanzibar this past month signals even more growth to come. The Kenya Film Commission (KFC) was one of the key sponsors of both DISCOP Zanzibar and ZIFF, and not only did they support the screening of the Golden Dhow winning feature film Supa Modo at the event, but the organisation also sponsored at least another 15 to 20 filmmakers from Kenya to attend ZIFF. Along with the Kenya Film Classification Board, the official Kenyan delegation to Zanzibar numbered well over 30, with at least another 100 or so guests also taking part across the two events.
This delegation also included six members of the Kenyan parliament who were sent specifically to investigate and research the needs of Kenyan filmmakers, as well as the importance of festivals and markets such as ZIFF and DISCOP. These MPs will be drafting a report that will be used as the basis for new policy development aimed at further promoting and supporting Kenya's film industry.
The results of this kind of support are obvious. At this year's event, as in previous years, Kenyan filmmakers did exceptionally well on awards night. Apart from scooping the night's top award for Supa Modo, Kenyan filmmakers won awards in 10 categories.
This prominence of the KFC was in stark contrast to the complete lack of appearance of the Tanzania Film Board (TFB). The TFB was invited many months ago to be part of these events, for whatever reasons, they have failed for two years running to leverage on this key opportunity taking place within their own country. Tanzanian filmmakers feel very much on their own, especially when compared to their Kenyan counterparts.
The other group that came out shining this year at both ZIFF and DISCOP Zanzibar were women filmmakers and professionals. In fact, the development and recognition of women within the film industry was a reoccurring theme throughout both ZIFF and the inaugural DISCOP Zanzibar.
Women filmmakers took home a total of 10 awards, with the documentary SILAS, directed by Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman taking home two awards; Best Documentary and Best International Film. Best Short Film, Best TV Series, the Sembene Ousmane Award, the Emerson Award, and the Chairman's Award amongst others, were all taken home by women.
The overall number of films submitted by women increased this year, and the history and status of women in the industry was also the focus of some key programmes at both events this year.
The Ladima Foundation hosted two events and also awarded the Adiaha Award for Best Documentary from an African Woman to New Moon, from Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann.
A full-day event at ZIFF saw the Africa in Motion Film Festival's Lizelle Bischoff, along with fellow Stephanie van der Peer, present two restored African Lost Classics from women filmmakers, Fatma75 and Mossane. The screenings were followed by a discussion on the lost history of African women filmmakers.
The Ladima Women of Influence Panel was especially well-received with its focus on tangible steps to be taken to assist the development and recognition of women within the film and media industries. The panel included Bikiya Graham-Douglas, a Nigerian actress, singer, entrepreneur and the founder of Beeta Universal Arts Foundation; Biola Alabi, an African media expert with over 25 years of local and global media experience; Theresa Hill from South Africa, general manager for STEPS and acquisition manager for AfriDocs; Dr Mzuri Issa Ali from Zanzibar, director of the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA); Giselle Portenier, a Canadian award-winning journalist and filmmaker; and Farida Nyamachumbe, a filmmaker from Zanzibar.
Some key outcomes of this discussion will see the development of a Pan-African list of women in the industry that can then be used by production houses to source qualified women across a range of film industry services. The Ladima Foundation will also be focussing on lobbying for policy change in Tanzania and Nigeria to promote film education in schools from an early age.
The overwhelmingly positive energy and impetus for change and development that was expressed throughout this year's ZIFF and DISCOP Zanzibar bode well for the entire East Africa region, not just for Kenyans and not just for women. It will be essential however to keep focussing on the necessary support mechanisms that are proving to be successful when implemented properly.
By Lara Preston
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Pinterest
-- --
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
-- -- 
