MULTI-AWARD-WINNING creative and radio personality, Tafadzwa Tarukwana, aka ASAPH’s breathtaking performance at the Bulawayo Centre last Saturday, took film lovers to another level of enjoyment as they listened, danced while singing along to his songs.
This was at the ninth day of the Four Cities scheduled European Film Festival were ASAPH, who is the EU Green and Gender ambassador belted out tracks such as Mambo, Believe Me, Feed the Streets, No Love, Right Now and Like Me All, all selected from his eight albums.
ASAPH believes in collaborations and hardwork to perfect his career and can testify on the benefits of working with other artists.
In the past, he has engaged professional filmmakers in the production of his music videos.
In the process, he got the Best Group award at the 2016 ZimHipHop Awards, Best Collaboration at the 2017 SkyzMetro awards, Most Outstanding Hip-Hop Act at the 2018 ROIL Bulawayo Arts awards.
At midday, there was the screening of the film La Singla, a girl who was born deaf and learnt to dance flamenco without listening to the music.
At 17, she rose to become an international icon who had revolutionised flamenco.
She went into oblivion for a while and at 30, a filmmaker tracked her roots and performances to create a motion picture.
After the screening of La Singla came the Input Conference, which saw Cinema 4 Auditorium of the Bulawayo Centre Ster Kinekor filled to capacity.
Four speakers highlighted the challenges faced by and opportunities for women in the film industry.
Nomvuyiso Mabi spoke about how she was nurtured through theatre, which eventually saw her making successes in the industry.
Thoko Zulu delivered tips on writing emotional content, while the duo of Thelani Mukwananzi and Clinton Zvoushe, who worked under the banner Urburn Legend Pictures, made a presentation on effective collaboration in the film making industry.
Popular film actor Antinnette Sango spoke about the challenges she faced as a photographer.
The evening session closed with an Irish film That They May Face the Rising Sun, which featured Joe and Kate Ruttledge who left London to live and work in a small lakeside community in Ireland, near to where Joe grew up.
In a virtual speech Ireland ambassador to Zimbabwe, Austin Gormley, said That They May Face the Rising Sun is a 2023 Irish film directed by Pat Collins.
It is an adaptation of the 2002 novel of the same name by John McGahern.
The film was nominated for 11 awards, winning Best Film, at the 2024 Irish Film & Television Awards.
What they said during the Input Conference
Nomvuyiso Mabi: Embrace theatre techniques to realise success in film
Nomvuyiso Mabi came to the Bulawayo Film Festival after her successful launch of a three-fold approach to theatre, visual art and film launch titled Resonance and Silence at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe two weeks ago.
Mabi says she is good at balancing up her time. She studied Visual Art at the Mzilikazi Art and Craft Centre.
She integrates teaching and going around challenges commonly faced by women.
“Theatre helped me to build confidence and courage to stand in front of people and have a drive to speak out on what I wish to do.
“In theatre you are given a script that you have to cram once and for all. In film one is given an opportunity to restart whilst in theatre everything has to be on point.
“Theatre is more demanding than film. In film one is given a script and the next thing is acting under the strict guidance of a director.
“In theatre one has to get a script and rehearse for two or three months. In theatre, one can came an eighty page script. Theatre demands more study to make it authentic.”
Thoko Zulu: Tips on writing emotional content.
Thoko Zulu is an actor, script writer and director behind Amakorokoza, Izolo and the soon to be premiered Lunatic.
She emphasised on the need to be straight-forward, pitching documents, shooting pilot projects, character designs and the need to take up a serious habit of life-long learning.
“We do so much with so much with little recognition. Some of the women in film are not where they are supposed to be because they have not tolerated men in positions.
“I am going to be blunt because this is how I tell some of my stories. When a female actor is not a loose character, no one would want to hire her. When she does not take off her clothes, men do not look at her nomatter how qualified she is. That’s the problem that I had.
“I always wish to be in contracts that would allow me to be engaged based on the best scripts that I would have submitted.
“Learn your rights because there is no amount of sleeping with men that validates you in the film industry. That’s what you may have to know. He may sleep with you today and somebody better is going to come.
“Don’t cut corners. Where is the contract? What is the project bringing? Let’s be professional and let’s not deny other people the opportunities that they deserve.
“There is a high demand for scripts and let’s not just write for the sake and for a moment, consider budgets in the first place. Give an actor adequate information on the background of a character. Research on characters is important and read your books, including watching movies.”
Thelani Mukwananzi and Clinton Zvoushe : Urburn Legend Pictures
Zvoushe and Mukwananzi make a formidable combination through producing universally accepted videos, film and animations.
Mukwananzi has a background in business and information technology, while Zvoushe is a graduate in Journalism and Media Studies.
“We want to create content which goes beyond its time and our brand Urburn Legend Pictures makes stories to that effect.
“Collaboration has helped international film houses to produce super great movies and that shows the power of collaboration.
“That is the power of team work. Our film My Name is My Name was adopted from a folk tale. When adopting a script, you need a second input to bring about a shared vision.
“You cannot be pulling in different directions and expect to win. Zvoushe communicates with people and Mukwananzi works it all out to be perfect. Make sure you have the same vision and the same trust.
“Avoid struggling with the arguments. Drawing contracts is important and approach your duties from a business perspective. Open up on your terms and conditions.
“This enables you to deal with diverse perspectives, shared workloads and having clear communications. Have clear roles and responsibilities. Focus more on quality work and meeting deadlines.”
Antinnette Sango: Photography, theatre and film
Award-winning Antinnette Sango started acting in 2018 with very little knowledge on the nature of the film industry.
Her maiden acting role was in the film Another Wedding, which was produced by Kudzai Chikomo. Sango became popular for her role as Mzilikazi in the popular television series Mzilikazi.
“Being an actress, I did not know much about it, paced up my role and developed a passion for photography. John Mabuyane gave me more room to take photographs during his filming sessions.
“I would make more mistakes and up until Jaison Makara advised me to accept that it's better to take from a wrong angle than bringing out totally nothing. In theatre, working with the likes of Vuyo and Zenzo Nyathi helped to refine my career.”