FilmAid In Zimbabwe

2022

In response to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to strengthen community resilience, FilmAid and partner organization Sunshine Cinema trained aspiring filmmakers, created new local films and held community gatherings across southern Zimbabwe. The plan focused on: 1) Promoting and advocating for freedom of expression and access to information; 2) Increasing the quality, quantity and reach of independent, evidence-based COVID-19 related information, with a focus on the needs of women and youth; 3) Building the capacity of young people to raise their voices on issues of health, governance, and human rights.  

FilmAid and Sunshine Cinema conducted a Skills Development Workshop in smartphone-based visual storytelling production. Participants received technical training alongside training in the documentary approach to storytelling with a focus on sourcing stories, casting subjects, and capturing action in front of the camera that can be edited into short engaging visual stories ready for distribution on social media, digital publications, and messaging apps. 10 local community members participated in the trainings, produced 4 short films, held 23 film screenings in three different regions in Zimbabwe: Matabeleland South, Midlands and Bulawayo, and reached an audience of over 1,400. With our produced films, we showcased a wide range of African produced fictional and documentary films celebrating local storytelling as a tool for dialogue and active citizenship.  In addition, the program partnered with nine education institutions and eleven community-based organizations. The audiences were composed of teenagers, youths, adults and children from the three regions.

2021

In Zimbabwe, we partnered with Sunshine Cinema, Africa’s first solar powered cinema network. They support mobile cinema distribution networks for Afro-centric films and filmmakers, film education for young people and advocacy training to drive dialogue and debate on issues critical to the youth in southern Africa.

In February 2021, we held a Smartphone Cinema Workshop in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, funded by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, with the goal of equipping participants with practical skills to creatively express their aspirations for a diverse and democratic Zimbabwe.

The Visual Storytelling workshop targeted 20 training course participants and shared their content with a local distribution network of mobile cinema screenings and online promotion that reached over 100,000 people.

The workshop took place at the Internews' funded Center for Technology, Innovation and Education (CITE), which shares a compound with Internews' country office in Zimbabwe.