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Child sexual abuse, an "Evil in our Midst"
Taurai
Maduna, Kubatana.net
August 30, 2006
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| Anopa
Makaka, Zimbabwean filmmaker © Kubatana.net |
 What
do you do if you are an aspiring filmmaker and you haven’t got any
funds to produce a film? Do you sit back and hope that someday a
donor will bankroll your project? "Well, you just do what you have
to do if you believe in what you are doing," says Anopa Makaka
a Zimbabwean filmmaker who is showcasing his first feature film
'Evil in our Midst" at the 9th edition of the Zimbabwe
International Film Festival (ZIFF) which began in Harare on
August 25.
The evil that
Makaka is talking about is the ongoing abuse of children. "Its everywhere,
it’s in the papers all the time. You just have to open the daily
paper, and there is always news about a child being raped,"
said Makaka whose film is described as a searing indictment of child
sexual abuse and the impunity of the wealthy and powerful.
Shot on location
in Harare, the film is about a wealthy businessman who rapes a 13-year-old
girl on her birthday in the hope that this will reverse his HIV
positive status. The brutally raped girl is left for dead in the
bushes. She survives but is infected with HIV. When the girl’s father
seeks justice, the police won’t help him because the businessman
is well connected with high-ranking 'chefs' in the police force.
Frustrated by the inaction of the custodians of the law the father
takes the law into his own hands.
An average of
700 girls are raped in each of Zimbabwe’s 58 districts every year.
Therefore there are approximately 40 000 cases of rape annually
according to the Chitungwiza based Girl
Child Network Trust (GCN), an organisation that provides assistance
to abused girls in Zimbabwe. In June 2005, GCN issued a statement
expressing concern about the abuse of children by high profile and
public figures.
35-year-old
Anopa Makaka raised his own funds to produce the film, an experience
he describes as "frustrating and traumatising". However, he says
the response from people has been amazing. "I was expecting a barrage
of criticism for the film but all we have been getting has been
congratulations on a job well done," he said. Makaka says many
people have resonated with his film because abuse is such a common
occurrence in our society.
"Every person
has been a victim, one way or the other. If you haven’t got AIDS,
you have been raped, or else you have been a victim of corruption."
The dread locked
London based filmmaker who is an electrical engineer by profession
said he did a lot of research before making the film, speaking to
organisations like Childline
Zimbabwe and UNICEF.
Looking to the future Makaka says Africa has a lot of untold stories
and he would like to bring out some of the 'real' stories. "I want
to know why that woman has a bone of contention with men. I want
to know why that child who used to have a home is now living on
the streets."
ZIFF
ends on September 03 and more than 100 films from over 40 countries
are being screened.
One of the major
highlights of this years festival include the African premiere of
the American film 'Conversations With Other Women' which was released
in the United States in August.
For more information
log onto www.ziff.co.zw
Visit the Kubatana.net fact
sheet
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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