cinema2020

Zimbabwe

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Together with the South African Republic, the former Southern Rhodesia (independent since 1980) is the only state in southern Africa to present an important cinematography, made by both white filmmakers and black directors.

A central role was played by Michael Raeburn, author of fundamental films such as Rhodesia countdown (1970), in which the last days of English domination and the beginning of the guerrillas are captured with a satirical gaze; The grass is singing (1982), which describes the discovery of rural life by a white woman at the time of racial segregation; Jit (1990), story of the vicissitudes of a teenager who arrives in the city in search of his musician brother and falls in love with a girl; and finally Home sweet home (1999, choreography by his wife Heidi Draper), a splendid family home movie and narration of a journey between Paris, Boston and the Z. which brings personal and social memories to the surface. In the early period of the film history of the Z. there are also works by other directors,

In addition to Raeburn, Ingrid Sinclair, who has settled in the Z. since 1985, has a prominent place. His too is a cinema (often in the form of a documentary) linked to memory, which has revealed itself to be openly political with Flame (1996), the first feature film made. by the director and set among the guerrillas fighting for freedom. With her husband, director Simon Bright, Sinclair founded the production company Zimmedia. Other filmmakers who contributed to the creation of the Z. cinema were Godwin Mawuru, Farai Sevenzo, Isaac Meli Mabhikwa, Manu Kurewa. With Neria (1992), a melodrama with unforgettable female figures, Mawuru directed the film of the nineties with the greatest impact made in the country. Sevenzo's Rwendo (1993) is set in Cape Town and tells the destinies of a white settler and a black South African. More time (1993) by Meli Mabhikwa is a slender didactic comedy on how to prevent AIDS. Kurewa divided his filmography between Great Britain (Sugar for my honey, 1995; One Sunday morning, 1996) and Z. (Mangwana, 1997), telling stories of confrontation and racial contamination. Southern takes place every two years in the capital Harare African Film Festival, one of the major cinematographic events on the continent. BIBLIOGRAPHY

The association des trois mondes, FESPACO, Les cinémas d'Afrique - Dictionnaire , Paris 2000, passim.

G. Gariazzo, South African cinema , in History of world cinema , curated by GP Brunetta, 4th vol., Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania. National cinemas , Turin 2001, pp. 510 and 1268.

G. Gariazzo, Short history of African cinema , Turin 2001, pp. 160-63.