♠ Posted by Unknown in NATIONAL NEWS at 2:05 AM
Martin Mhando, the CEO and director of Zanzibar International Film Festival
The three-day first Preparatory Forum for Film Festivals and Film
Makers was made possible by the East African Community (EAC) in
collaboration with the German International Cooperation (GIZ).
The forum is meant to prepare ground work that will lead to the
integration of all film festivals and film makers in the region into a
regional body that will advocate for the film sector and also support
the regional integration efforts through film in the overall context of
culture and creative industries.
Addressing the forum, EAC head of the Corporate Communication and
Public Affairs Owora Richard Othieno hailed East African Film Festival
directors for coming up with such idea.
"The move is recommendable and will take the regional bloc into
another stages, taking into account that the industry is very powerful,
when it comes to taking message to the public," he said.
The official said the trading bloc's secretariat will fully support
the initiative to further strengthen the already existing cooperation
between the EAC, other state and non-state actors towards building a
stronger East African Community through the arts and culture.
"Indeed this is a laudable initiative and is in line with Article
119 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community,
the Common Market Protocol and the Development Strategy (2010-2016), all
of which provide for the fostering of public - private sector
partnership towards the development of culture and creative industries
in the EAC," Owora said.
"The Film industry is one of those culture and creative industries
in the region with great potential to alleviate poverty and also to
create employment for young people. The EAC is cognizant of the critical
challenges facing the sectors such as the low capacity, infrastructure,
financing and copyright among others. But these are not
insurmountable," he said.
Martin Mhando, the CEO and director of Zanzibar International Film
Festival, noted that culture has been used to shape and to govern
identity and as festivals are perceived to be vehicles for "re-imaging"
places, they also give communities a creative focus, helping to
celebrate achievements, forge community identity, and of course in
generating increased tourism.
He said the region was rich in talent but has no infrastructure to
develop the talents and the formation of a festival network is a
response to such a need.
The forum is being attended by film directors, cultural officers, and culture and creative industries stakeholders.
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