Zuku Film Award Winners Announced at ZIFF

By Eric Akasa

 The Zuku Awards Categories winners have been announced today at the 15th Zanzibar International Film Festival Awards. Hailed as the newest awards category introduced at the ZIFF Festival, the Zuku Awards seek to reward the best film created by African Directors, in African Location and with African Actors and Actresses. The award rewarded creativity in telling African stories, rewarding exceptional new talent in film directing and acting in Africa.

“We are very excited to introduce the new Zuku Awards to the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and we aim to grow this award to one of the most prestigious Film Festival Awards in Africa.” Says Wangeci Murage Zuku.

 This year, the Zuku Best African Film Award was given to Inside Story directed by Rolie Nikiwe.  The movie from Rwanda reflected the creativity, excellence in the script writing and directing of the Film. The Zuku Best Actor Award was given to Kevin Ndege Mambo who acted as in the Inside Story Film. The Zuku Best Actress Award was given to three ladies namely Thuli Khulamelo, Nomfundo Dunazana and Reona Ngiba who acted in the Film Uhlanga (The Mark)

 “The winners of the Zuku Best Actress Award are a true reflection of what we seek to achieve with the award in raising the bar for new talent, we can see this award growing to become the most prestigious award in Africa.” Comments Vata Nganda. 

The Ousmane Sembene Films for Development Award to the film Uhlanga (The Mark) South Africa. The Movie Uhlanga (The Mark) also won the prestigious Verona Award and tickets to fly to Verona for the Film Festival.

The ZIFF Award for the Best Short Film was Moccasins directed by Denis M. Kimathi, ZIFF Best Documentary Award was Mama Africa directed by Mika Kaurismaki, ZIFF Best Animation Award was given to Ostora, Directed by Hani Kichi.

The Ziff Golden Dhow Award was given to Uhlanga (The Mark) from South Africa, ZIFF Golden Dow Runner Up Award and the ZIFF Best East African Film Award were given to the Film Zamora from Tanzania. In addition the Ziff Best Tanzania Feature Film was won by Chungu. Finally the ZIFF Best Tanzania Actor Award was given to Richard Mhlanga who acted in the movie Chungu

Zuku, a leading pay TV network covering Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, has  committed to sponsoring ZIFF over a period of 10 years for a total of one million dollars.  The sponsorship is expected to provide much needed stability and support that will in turn contribute significantly towards improving the film industry, not only in Tanzania but the rest of Africa.

 Zuku is Africa’s fastest growing home entertainment provider which offers a wide selection of entertainment channels covering news, sports, movies, documentaries and music. These include

Various 3rd party channels such as BBC World News, MTV Base, Setanta Sports, Fox Entertainment and E! to name but a few. The provider also offers many of its own tailor-made channels such as Zuku Afrika, airing African content, Zuku Life, focusing on documentaries, and Zuku Sports, as well as a number of themed movie channels. The service is available via satellite throughout Tanzania.