Nigel Pfunde

The Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa (ZIFTESSA) is not producing ‘graduates’ that are hoping to be absorbed in the job market but those that will create employment opportunities for existing filmmakers.

ZIFTESSA director, Dr Rino Zhuwarara, told The Zimbabwe Mail that they were equipping their students with adequate skills ahead of June 2015 target of digitalised broadcasting services.

“We are simply producing skilled people who will create employment in the film sector. We are guided by 2015 digitalisation of broadcasting services where we will have more players. That means we need to train more producers, scriptwriters, cinematographers and editors,” said Zhuwarara.

The veteran academic said Zimbabwe lacked training facilities for filmmakers hence the establishment of the institution.

“Most local filmmakers are either self-trained or trained abroad. People like Tsitsi Dangarembga , Nakai Matema, Nocks Chatiza and so forth, were trained abroad,” he said.

He pointed out that some ZIFTESSA graduates had produced their own films, hence creating employment in the process. He cited an example of the movie, Two Villages Apart, which was premiered recently. ZIFTESSA offers two-and-half year-long diplomas and the team of lecturers includes veteran filmmakers like Marian Kunonga and Nocks Chatiza.

Information, Media and Broadcasting Services minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo, recently revealed that digitalisation of broadcast services would be achieved by June 2015 in line with requirements of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

In light of that announcement, ZIFTESSA has stepped up its training of filmmakers  programme since ZBC would  not be the only player on the market, come 2015.