Shoko Festival 2015: Review

If you were not at Shoko Festval this year you really missed out! Shoko Festival is one of the biggest urban arts festival in Harare Zimbabwe. This was my first year attending Shoko Festival and I have to say I enjoyed myself to the fullest. The combination of different preforming artists from different countries was a real experience. I managed to also get the chance to appreciate different forms of art from poetry, comedy and music.

The comedy show was one of the best highlights from Shoko Festival. It had the likes of Toll A$$ Mo, Clive Chigubu, Deep Fried Man just to name a few. Zambezi News team opened up the comedy roaster and the audience immediately lit up. All comedians left the crowd in tears with their hilarious jokes. I am officially a fan of stand up comedy!

 Zambezi News

Clive Chigubu
Shoko Festival facebook page

Deep Fried Man Source Shoko Festival Facebook Page 

The performances from both international and local stars was exceptional.

Shingai Mangoma
Source: Shoko Festival Facebook Page









                          Casper Nyovest

Me with SA Princess of House, Bucie

The hubs were a great learning experience for school children and adults as well. Speakers came from around the world to educate everyone on the power of ART and the web.





The best part of Shoko Festival came at the Chitungwiza "peace in the hood" concert where many local and international acts preformed as well. Battle of the beats was one of my favorite shows and was proof that Zimbabwe has talent!! like most people in the crowd I was impressed by the talented producers that showcased their beats to win the $200 prize money  and many more.

Open Air Cinemas Open for Summer Season.

What better way to spoil your family or even your loved one, than enjoying an all time classic movie and the beautiful outdoors. Openair cinemas is the perfect place to enjoy a unique, fun-filled evening this summer!

Saturday maked the opening for Open Air cinemas and many families came to watch the classic movie, Madagascar, under the captivating Zimbabwean evening sky. Children were entertained by a playful clown and the whole family enjoyed delicious treats from meals 'n' wheels and many others.

We have some more pictures from the opening night below, but first, we caught up with the management team to ask a few questions:

Q1.    Tell us a bit more about Openair Cinemas.

Openair Cinemas is the quintessential outdoor event, with feature films lighting up our huge movie screen from dusk. Cinema goers chill out before their movie with some tasty food and frosty beverages from the licensed bar, while relaxing to sounds from the best of the Zimbabwean music scene and sets from the most exciting emerging local musicians. 

Q2.    How long has Openair Cinemas been open and when will it be open this summer?

Openair Cinemas has been around since September 2013, mostly for corparate and private screenings. We will be starting our Summer season on the 15^th of August, playing most weekends at the Italian club.

Q3.    What can people expect when they come to Openair Cinemas this summer?

Our main focus is family entertainment, so you find most of the movies are classic family favourates, We will be having special Fridays for the ladies to enjoy thier chick flicks though.

Q4.    What are the movie starting times?

The venue opens at 4pm, and people can just enjoy the outdoors, music playing, games, clowns entertaining the kids, enjoying food and drinks from our food vendors, then the actual movie starts just before dust at 6pm.

Q5.    How much are ticket costs?

Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for kids.

Q6.   What inspired to start this project?

During our time in Australia, a favouraite way to spend summer nights was watching movies under the stars, and since we are lucky to enjoy great weather in Zimbabwe, it was a no brainer.Also Harare has limited entertainment options, especially those that involve the whole family, so Openair Cinemas  fills that gap.

Q7.    Please give us contact details and social media sites we can follow you on, for those who what to always be up to date with Openair Cinemas.

We are very active on our Facebbok page, so thats the first place to go for any Openair Cinemas updates facebook.com/ZimOpenair you can also call or whatsapp on 0771923299.

Next week Openair cinemas will be showing Grease at Wild Guesse Lodge in Harare.

Be sure to make a date and catch tickets while you still have time. 

Here are some pictures from the opening.

 Capturing family moments.

 The clown entertaining children before the movie starts. 

Audience getting comfortabe while they prepare for the movie.

THE ZIM MOVIE

 

Finally a movie that will reflect on true Zimbabwean experiences and events! The Zim Movie is a narrative short film based on true events, the land seizures. A controversial topic but is bound to make a great story if you ask me. The film will be about one man’s struggle, Daniel Silva, to protect his farm and his family during the land seizures , one of the most controversial eras in Zimbabwe.  As confirmed on their Facebook page, the movie will take place one of the farms during these events which will only add to the authenticity of the story. The Zim Movie will be written and directed by Alexandra Bedria, you might know him from roles he has played in famous series like Scandal and The Newsroom, and he also starred in The Amazing Spider Man. One of the Actors will include 263’s very own “Detective Davis” Tongai Chirisa and Actress Constance Ejuma from Cameroon.

Asked why he decided to be a part of the movie, Tongai said, “Firstly, it’s close to my heart as a Zimbabwean that lived in our dark period. I have seen firsthand the hard ship that my people have gone through and still going through, and if I can lend a voice that preaches peace and moving forward from our forefathers mistakes then, it’s absolutely imperative that I do so. I love my country, my nation, and my people too much not to be a part of the solution.”

I’m excited to see the storyline of the Zim movie and I know I am not the only one.

Now I know what you are thinking, how can we be a part of this amazing project?  Don’t worry if you follow The Zim Movie on Facebook, @thezimmovie on Twitter and @thezimmovie on Instagram you will get all the details you want soon. They promised to let us know on the 4^th of August so ill also keep my eyes glued to their social media pages for you.