The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), also known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, is an annual film festival held in

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small isla ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and one of the largest cultural events in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. ZIFF is a non-governmental organization established in 1997 to develop and promote film and other cultural industries as catalyst for the regional social and economic growth.

The film festival

The annual multi disciplinary arts and cultural festival is ZIFF’s major activity; the festival is an all-arts affair, with 8 days of local and international discussion panels, workshops, 10 days of screenings of the best local and international cinema and evenings of musical concerts including a Gala each evening. All festival programs are a culmination of the realization of the capacity of film to fuse together the best of each art-form, offering a wide range of Entertainment, Educating and Networking options for world audiences. The festival is arguably the largest multi disciplinary art and cultural festival in Africa, and continues to lead as a tourist attraction event in the region. ZIFF now gives 12 International Awards presented by 5 International Juries. It is estimated that 7000 western tourists came to Zanzibar to attend the festival and the total festival audience was in excess of 100,000 with wide appeal across race, class and religions. Its impact on the economy of Zanzibar is unquestionable. ZIFF audience 2013

The ZIFF festival now runs 15 programs over the 10 days that include: #Film Competition #Film Workshops #Opening and Closing Nights #Film Outreach Projections #Women panorama #Children panorama #Village panorama #Festival of Festivals #Soko Film #Art and Exhibition #Children Film panorama #

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

Life skills Camps #Children Peace camps #Difficult Dialogues #Historical and Cultural Village Tours During the festival, films are shown in

Stone Town Stonetown of Zanzibar ( ar, مدينة زنجبار الحجرية), also known as Mji Mkongwe ( Swahili for "old town"), is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo ...

Zanzibar City Zanzibar City or Mjini District, often simply referred to as Zanzibar (''Wilaya ya Zanzibar Mjini'' or ''Jiji la Zanzibar'' in Swahili) is one of two administrative districts of Mjini Magharibi Region in Tanzania. The district covers an area of ...

, as well as rural Zanzibari villages.

Awards

*Golden Dhow *Silver Dhow *Documentary *Short/Animation *East Africa Talent *ZIFF Jury Award *UNICEF Award *ZIFF Life Time Achievement Award *ZIFF Chairman Award *Sembene Ousmane Award *Signis Award *East Africa Region Talent *Signis Jury Award — Commendation *Verona Award

Golden Dhow winners

References

External links

* * Film festivals in Tanzania Tourist attractions in Zanzibar Film festivals established in 1997 1997 establishments in Tanzania {{film-festival-stub