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Zimbabwean film wins African Oscar awards
Filmmaker.co.za
May 09, 2006

http://www.filmmaker.co.za/edition/news_page.php?

Zimbabwe's newest film, Tanyaradzwa, has won two awards at the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), local media reported Monday. The awards that were held in Nigeria last week are equivalent to Hollywood's most prestigious film prize, the Oscar.

The film won the awards for the Best Upcoming Actress (Tendai Musoni) and Best Cinematography. It was also nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting role (Arnold Chirisa), Best Actress ( Kudakwashe Maradzika), Best Sound Track and Best Screenplay.

Tanyaradzwa was among 15 films nominated for this year's edition of the Awards.

The event was beamed live across the world and received intensive media coverage.

"(We) are overwhelmed by the response that the film received and are very grateful to the audience in Zimbabwe and across Africa for their support," said Dorothy Meck, the producer who received the awards.

"Winning the African Movie Academy Awards is a great achievement for (us) and Zimbabwe as a whole and we feel encouraged to make more films, which tell the true story of Zimbabwe, the story of Africa," Meck added.

AMAA seeks to promote the African culture, encouraging professionalism in the movie industry in addition to offering professional development and networking opportunities.

The film follows the story of Tanyaradzwa, an 18 year-old girl who falls pregnant while still in school. Afraid of what the future holds for her and the baby, she runs away from home. Her leaving home presents a journey of tough choices and a rather uncertain path through self-discovery and survival.

The award-winning film, Tanyaradzwa, highlights the importance of developing the creative arts in Zimbabwe, Information and Publicity Minister Tichaona Jokonya said on Monday when honoring the producer and cast of the film for winning the two premier continental awards.

The growth of an independent Zimbabwe must also be about the arts, the minister stressed.

"We feel humbled by this achievement. This (film production) is something we should have been paying attention to as government. We need to ask ourselves how we should develop the dramatic arts," Jokonya said.

Meanwhile the government has said its film school is now ready to open as work at the site was complete. The school is situated in the suburb of Belgravia in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, where the government's production services unit is based.

It could not be ascertained how many students will be enrolled as the curriculum is still to be finalized.

The school is a first of its kind in Zimbabwe. Locals wishing to pursue film studies had been enrolling in foreign schools, especially in South Africa.

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