8th Zanzibar International Film Festival

For ten days, the ‘Old Fort’, a 17th century building in the heart of Zanzibar’s Stone Town, was the center of the 8th International Film Festival — for the first time directed by Jakub Barua. He focused, in his own words, “on countries that primarily constitute the ‘dhow’ region, in other words all countries along the shores of the Indian Ocean that were historically connected by the dhow sailing routes. We do also of course broaden this criteria and open up to films from inland Africa as well.” FIPRESCI awarded its prize for the first time: to “Drum” by Zola Maseko from South Africa.