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Millicent Dube, Showbiz Reporter

 THE unveiling of the Situational Analysis Report of the Zimbabwe Film Sector will be presented to stakeholders in Bulawayo on Thursday.

 The event will be held at the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo starting at 9:30am with members of the public urged to attend.

 The report was produced as part of the ongoing Film Strategy Production process which began in May with the hosting of a stakeholders’ workshop in Harare for the preliminary stage of the film strategy development. The drafting of the film strategy production was mandated by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and the plan was executed therefore the report will be covered on Thursday.

 Twenty-three prominent filmmakers and academics were selected for the national team. When the strategy was implemented, it was set to regenerate and expand the film sector.

The NACZ said the strategy is expected to leverage the increased participation of women behind and in front of the camera, the licensing of new television stations, and the new ability to monetise online content on social media platforms YouTube, Netflix, and other prospective local mobile video services.

“The film strategy is meant to respond to challenges bedeviling the local industry. These include the largely informal nature of operations by players, piracy and illegal exploitation of audio-visual content as well as a lack of clear distribution infrastructure.

“The implementation of the film production strategy was brought forward after the successful launch of the Zimbabwe Music Strategy which is a part of the NACZ vision of having different Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) strategies produced in the support of the National Cultural and Creative Industries Strategy (NCCIS) launched by the Government in 2020,” NACZ said.

 In a statement, NACZ director Nicholas Moyo highlighted that according to the latest UNESCO African Film Industry report, the film sector accounts for over US$5 billion in revenues and employs over five million across the African continent with a potential to generate US$20 billion and employ 20 million people.

“Film and television have become the second sector to have a strategy developed following the realisation that the production and distribution of film and audio-visual works is one of the most dynamic growth sectors in the world with a huge potential for attracting commercial investment and capacity to employ a large number of youths and women in high-skilled jobs,” Moyo said.

 He said the NACZ is leveraging the expertise obtained by its team comprising staff and CCS practitioners in the crafting of the Music Strategy to develop the Film Strategy as well as the visual, literary, and other sector strategies in the immediate future.