The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) has announced a partnership with Showmax to support the best in African filmmaking. For the 2017 edition of ZIFF, Showmax will be sponsoring the coveted ZIFF Golden Dhow for Best Feature Film with a cash prize of $3,000.

This is the first time the winner of the ZIFF Golden Dhow Award will receive a cash prize.

The award will be announced on the closing night of the festival, July 15th, at the official Awards Ceremony taking place at the Old Fort in Stone Town, Zanzibar, the archipelago located off the eastern coastline of Tanzania in southern-east Africa.

Showmax is an internet TV service that aims to make internet TV accessible and relevant in Africa. As the head of Showmax’s African business, Chris Savides, explains, “For us to make Showmax relevant in Africa, we’ve tailored our apps to manage mobile data constraints, we build local partnerships, and we use local knowledge to deliver TV shows and movies that are right for each country.

“The success of our business depends on truly understanding local needs. You can’t remote manage that from another continent, which is why we’ve got people on the ground in East Africa and why we’re sponsoring the Golden Dhow award. It’s a great way for us to get closer to the industry and support African film.”

ZIFF boasts its commitment to creating partnerships that support and promote African film. The support of Showmax enables ZIFF to reward filmmakers and support their future development.

Festival Director Fabrizio Colombo explains further, “We are committed to putting film at the centre of ZIFF. This year we received over 600 entries for the festival and the quality and caliber of the films received is amazing. The juries will have a difficult task in selecting this year’s winners, especially for the winner of ZIFF’s most prestigious award, the Golden Dhow.”

ZIFF will take place from July 8th -16th across the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba.

For all the screening schedules and more information, visit www.ziff.or.tz.

Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF)

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