National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and the Piton International Film Festival (PIFF) on 1 February 2022 opened a call for submissions into the NACZ/PIFF-Africa 2022, a 12-month initiative that focuses on enhancing filmmaking in the continent by encouraging collaborations among filmmakers working in their different countries.
The second edition of NACZ/PIFF-Africa 2022 seeks to create even more platforms for practitioners in the continent to develop their filmmaking skills by working together.
“This year NACZ is focused on improving the number of submissions from Zimbabwe as the host to increase audiences and raise the level of filmmaking in the country,” NACZ Communication and Marketing Manager, Rodney Ruwende said
“Last year only three (3) Zimbabwean films, “Scars”, “Isolation” and “The Collector” made it to the final line-up of films shown during the virtual festival.”
NACZ/PIFF-Africa 2022 will be held under the theme “Narratives from Africa ‘Embracing African Culture through Film, Poetry, and Dialogue”.
Submissions for this year’s festival will close on 30 April 2022.
“We are aware that despite the prevalence of lockdowns imposed by governments in dealing with Covid-19, filmmakers kept their art going and NACZ/PIFF Africa 2022 is a platform created for them to engage, highlight, share and showcase some of the creative work coming out of Africa,” Ruwende said,
“NACZ is thus excited to start receiving submissions for the festival so that other attendant programmes focused on the filmmakers themselves can start running providing them with a unique opportunity for education, collaboration, and celebration of the continent.”
The inaugural edition of the festival was held from 13 to 23 May 2021 with 25 film submissions from 10 countries namely Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Morocco, Tanzania, and Namibia.
Last year NACZ/PIFF-Africa heralded the collaboration of Zimbabwe’s Gesh23 Studios and King Paul Media of Uganda working on a short film titled “Find Me”
