Zimbabwean student wins US filmmaking award

RISING filmmaker and Millennial Academy School student Tinayeishe Wakatama is on cloud nine after scooping the Judges Champion Award worth US$5 000 at the recently held ConnectHER Film Festival at St Andrew's Dell Fine Arts Centre Austin, Texas in America.

The festival is an international youth competition that showcases short films produced by young filmmakers around the world based on issues that impact on women and girls.

The young filmmaker and actor received the award in absentia because she is sitting for her A-Level final examinations.

Her exploits in acting and filmmaking demonstrated in the film And That's On Period, which promotes gender equality, specifically the sanitary health of impoverished women, impressed the judges at the festival.

School head Edmond Mudzimu said Wakatama had done well to raise the school's flag high in a foreign land, adding that the student was their ambassador as the accolades that she keeps getting mean a lot to the Harare-based school.

"Wakatama has always been a force to reckon with at the school as she is constantly participating in anything that has to do with arts and showcasing her talent in unravelled issues that affect people in the community," he noted, adding that this was not her first international award.

"She has always been a passionate individual regarding civic matters and developmental issues, that is why she chose to work on that topic about gender and sanitary health in a bid to raise awareness for feminine needs."

Mudzimu added: "We supported her when she started making the film And That's On Period because we have always known her to be a vibrant and energetic student, especially in literature. I took it upon myself to mentor her on language skills to use when acting and writing films, and most of her exposure comes from engaging in the interact club, public speaking and debate clubs at the school."

Wakatama's role in the film helped to foster a sense of unity among the pupils as she worked with them playing various characters depicting issues around sanitary products and gender roles.

"In the film, Wakatama was joined by other students as the cast. This developed collaborative skills and teamwork with students coming together working on the project which was quite inspiring," he said.

Mudzimu described Wakatama as an important asset to the school.

"Wakatama has done a lot of work for the school, from hosting functions such as prize and speech-giving day as the master of ceremony and has also written some literature pieces that have been recognised internationally," he added.