Actor bemoans state of Zimbabwe film industry

By Staff reporter | 03 Apr 2019 at 18:00hrs
Marian Kunonga
VETERAN film director Marian Kunonga has reflected on her work, ranking the short film Zvinhu Zvacho Izvi as her best work.

She said she was privileged to have the soundtrack from Africa Revenge's first album straight from the studio before its release.

"I consider it the best because it was my very first short film, I had a very good team that I worked with and there was a very good supporting structure in the production.

"The film was supposed to be in English and I wanted them to tell the story in Shona.
"There were so many things that I was told were not going to be possible and I went ahead and did what I thought was right and was happy with the outcome," she said.

Reflecting on the state of the film industry, Kunonga said the demand for academic qualifications is killing the creative industry.
She says students are being taken through the academic route instead of the practical filmmaking.

"The biggest obstacle is the unnecessary demand of academic qualifications in Zimbabwe. I was an average student during my school days; my awards were only from dramas.

"I have a number of certificates, diplomas as well as a degree related to the creative industry which I attained from other countries.

"Here in Zimbabwe, I am considered unqualified to teach at universities because I do not have five Ordinary Level passes," she said.

She said her heart bleeds seeing the film industry being dominated by people from other fields.
"It disappoints me to see people with masters and PhDs in unrelated subjects flooding the film industry. Some of them cannot actually produce a film or a simple video.

"I worked for a film school for five years but I was not freely allowed to use the equipment or to teach students the practical side of the filming.

"This forced me to quit the job out of frustrations. Imagine watching students being bogged down to academics when what they should be doing was making films," she said.

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