Zanzibar's spectacular annual FESTIVAL OF THE DHOW COUNTRIES takes place in historic venues along the waterfront of Stone Town form 1st - 10th July 2005. Now in its 8th year, the Festival has grown form strength to strength since it's inauguration as the Zanzibar International Film Festival in 1998. It has already gained the reputation as East African's premier cultural event.
The East Africa community speaks on behalf of more than 83 million people who share a common history, language and culture. ZIFF has become the culture flagship in the framework of regional co-operation and integration. Our first priority is to promote, encourage and showcase local talent; to foster pride and utilize it in building bridges and new forms of understanding.
We believe that this work has borne fruit. ZIFF now partners with diverse bodies to create a regional cultural network. By taking this legacy of crossing the oceans to discover new kin, ZIFF is committed into travelling into an exciting new chapter that hopes to bind more people to the universality of our cultural experience.
The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) presents an international programme of film screenings, Workshops, Forums, Training, workshops and film industry events. An innovative inter-cultural music programme and performing arts and literary events support the centerpiece of the festival programme.
The Festival
With this in mind the overall programme of Festival 2005 will resonate around the theme of "Monsoons and Migrations".
This year "Monsoons and Migrations" will be the rallying point of our programming. People have moved, since time immemorial, from one place to another for a myriad of reasons. Zanzibar and the whole region have been witnesses to people traversing the wide expanses of ocean in search of a new home. This is a topic of great urgency in our time, one capable of stirring the most passionate of emotions among those moving and those amongst whom they come to live.
Zanzibar, just like the Swahili culture itself, has fused distant and more recent migrations. This was and still is readily evident in Zanzibar, where diversity has been its structure, strength and glory. ZIFF, perhaps more so than any other festival in the world, is best placed to facilitate an exploration of this issue.
Film Programme
This year the film department will reduce the number of films that will be screened. The aim is to consolidate audiences and concentrate the impact of any film. Quality films that will prove that this is a discerning and therefore serious film event are given priority. Good films are meant for the public but also for the filmmakers from our region, so that they can be exposed to the best film practices that the world can offer. This should be considered to be a vital part of our educational effort to boost the skills of regional and local film artists.
MAIN CONFERENCES
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Dhow Culture Symposium
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PCF Network Partnership Meeting
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Film Festivals discourse (for film makers)
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Visiting Arts Fact finding Meeting
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Taarab History Conference
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East African Music Industry/Business Conference (1 day)
Music & Performing Arts Programme
Moved by the theme "Monsoons and Migrations" there shall be 10 days of music and performances by artists from Africa, Middle East and the Indian sub continent from 1st to 10th July 2005. The music and performing arts program of the festival will be constituted largely with local (Zanzibar) and regional artists (East Africa).
The MPA programme features workshops and seminars; conferences concerning music and arts related issues and East African Music Expo (music and artistic trade fair).
ZIFF Festival in Pemba
The 2005 ZIFF Festival in Pemba aims at giving the people of Pemba an opportunity to examine showcase, rediscover and experience their unique cultural, natural and artistic resources. The ZIFF Festival in Pemba shall consist of activities, which involve workshops, hard talk, round table discussions, practical work, performances, film screenings, concerts, dhow races, bull fights etc.
WOMEN'S PANORAMA
Specific ideas will addressed for promotion and encouragement of women's growth and development through the arts. Our intention is to develop events and activities, which provide opportunities for local talent to be exposed and to showcase activities that are empowering for women. We will accomplish this by expanding this years' theme of migration to a more spiritual level through the art exhibitions, anthologies of women's stories of migrations gatherings designed to celebrate women's achievements.
VISUAL ARTS AND EXHIBITIONS
Painters, sculptors and others involved in the visual arts in East Africa have long endured a dearth of spaces with the ability to provide them adequate international exposure. The House of Wonders Museum will be officially opening two important exhibitions relevant to the 2005 Festival.
The festival programme completed with events featured in the Children Panorama and Village Panorama and festival workshop and film industry events brings together national, regional and international media professionals, artists, policy makers and others concerned with media and culture.
For more information on the ZIFF 2005 please kindly visit our website: www.ziff.or.tz Or contact Furaha Piniel by email [email protected] or [email protected]
ZIFF
P.O. Box 3032
Ngome Kongwe
Stone Town, Zanzibar-Tanzania
Tel: +255 (0) 747 411499
Cell +255 744 575 918
Fax: +255 (0) 747 419955
Posted on Wednesday 1 Jun 2005
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