Monday May 29th 2011, Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
World renowned Documentary Filmmaker Nick Broomfield has called for East Africa's first cinema to be refurbished and turned into a fully functioning venue ahead of his visit to the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) 18th-26th June.
The Director known for such films as Biggie&Tupac (2002) and The Battle For Haiditha (2009) lent his support to a proposal to re-open The Majestic Cinema in conjunction with the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA).
Zanzibaris have been without a permanent cinema since ‘Cine Afrique' was recently closed and converted into a supermarket. ZIFF have drawn up the proposals and are looking for support locally and internationally to begin the development of a permanent cinema and cultural centre that would bring the power of cinema back to the people Zanzibar.
"The campaign to re-open the Majestic is a way of affirming ones belief in Zanzibar and Stone town - there will be big events where we will need a cinema, we can have an audience, we can have a film society. It's an investment and a statement for the future, which is very healthy." said Nick Broomfield.
The proposal put forward by the ZIFF Board of Directors, who have been in discussions with SUZA, envisage the redevelopment of the derelict Majestic site into a 200 seat minimum, multipurpose venue with space for corporate events, seminars and workshops along with a café.
"Even though there is no roof on the cinema at the moment, locals often set up a projector of their own and show things even if it rains on their heads." Broomfield remarks "They are doing it because it's a place where they can all get together for a shared experience and have a chat about it afterwards. Cinemas can be very much part of a neighbourhood and part of the community."
Broomfield is coming to the Festival where he'll be giving a workshop before arriving in Mwanza, Tanzania, where he is shooting a film adaptation of the novel The Catastrophist with Co-Producers Donall McCusker (The Hurt Locker) and Paul Miller (Prozac Nation).
"I spent quite a lot of time visiting different countries to find locations and really felt that Mwanza had the best location. I've gotten great co-operation from the Tanzanian military and of course from the President and the Mayor and town council in Mwanza,"he said.
More on The Majestic Cinema
Zanzibar had the first cinema in East Africa, the Majestic Cinema, built back in the 1920s by colonial architect John Sinclair, but it burned down after a projector fire. It was rebuilt a few years later and it is still standing today. The last of three cinemas on the island, ‘Cine Afrique', was recently closed and converted into a supermarket. It is now said the remains of the Majestic are due to be renovated and turned into an office block for civil servants. All over Tanzania, since the economic collapse of the 1980s, cinemas have closed. The only cinema left is on the island of Pemba, where ZIFF holds repeat screenings of the main films shown in the Amphitheatre in Unguja.
This is the dire story of cinema culture in Tanzania where only the newly built 1990s cinema complex of the New World Cinemas in Dar Es Salaam are the only 3 operating cinemas in the whole country of over 30 million people.
As the promoter of cinema and art in East Africa and the organizer of the biggest event celebrating the culture of the dhow countries, any act undertaken by ZIFF reaches a symbolic level since it is the apple of the eye of culture in the region. It is for that reason and amongst many others that ZIFF proposes the current project of renovating and maintaining the old Majestic cinema in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
More On ZIFF
With 71 films, 6 world premieres and a host of music, performing art and educational events, ZIFF 2011 is gearing up to be something really special.
A strong program of Fiction, Documentary and Shorts from over 25 different countries and reaching every continent, ZIFF is truly an international festival, but with a spicy Zanzibar flavour!
Films from Africa and all around the World will run in competition with each other.
The Zanzibar International Film Festival, now in its 14th year and the largest of its kind in East Africa, is renowned the world over for putting African film, music, art and design at the forefront of the International scene.
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