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Thupeyo Muleya- Beitbridge Bureau

THE Zimbabwe Culture Fund supported by a 2 Million Euro cash injection from the European Union (EU) has supported 55 creative projects nationwide under the Creative Actions 2.

National Culture Fund projects coordinator, Mr Simbarashe Mudhokwani said the project was running for three years from February last year and will end in December next year.

He said they had used the money largely to support creatives in Zimbabwe building their capacities and promoting innovation.

He was speaking on the side-lines of the Beitbridge Film Expo that is hosted by Zwoluga Media and has attracted filmmakers in Beitbridge district.

It was held between Thursday and Saturday last week.

The initiative is one of the 55 others which benefited from the culture fund.

“This is also in support of Zimbabwe’s national development policies including the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and national arts and culture policies,” said Mr Mudhokwani.

“So, we have been operating since 2023 and the project was launched by Youth, Sports Arts, Culture and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry in February of the same year.

It is set to be rolled out in 3 years and will end in December 2025. So far we have supported 55 projects across Zimbabwe in all 10 provinces”.

He said the project being run by Zwoluga Media had set the stage for the development and nurturing of talent in the film economy.

The official said Beitbridge had a lot of untold stories which, if captured, had the potential to make it big nationally and in international space.

Mr Mudhokwani said the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has the new curriculum 5.0 which in a way has the visual performing arts syllabus.

“This gives opportunities to young creatives and arts to create avenues for young learners to consider taking animation and film as a career,” he said.

“In Matabeleland South, we are having the Zwoluga project led by Miss Progress Moyo who is a young female creative with a passion in development work and in filming and creating timestamp stories that largely speak to scenarios, and differs net aspiration which gives an impression of who we are as Zimbabweans as people from the Matabeleland South Rainbow province”.

He said through the Beitbridge film expo many filmmakers had come together to create an ecosystem of professionals in cinematography, script writing and camera work.

The official said the support on the animation and films sectors by many stakeholders from Matabeleland South and Beitbridge was a huge motivating factor for the youths looking at breaking even in the arts and culture sector.

Zwoluga Media programs manager, Miss Progress Moyo who is also a broadcaster said the film expo was meant to support local talent and build the capacity of local content creators to realise their dreams.

“The idea is to give space to filmmakers to screen their products and equip them for the future. We are using this project to raise awareness and end issues of sexual and gender-based violence in our country.  We want to create a platform for them to market their products at the same time network through workshops,” she said.

Beitbridge’s Arts and Culture officer, Mr Cossam Zulu commended the culture fund for the youth support led projects which is in line with the government’s youth empowerment policies. X @tupeyo