ZIMFLIX NEWS: African Film Academy hosts Golden Reel Awards to honour outstanding students

KINGSTONE ZIMUNYA

HARARE — In 2019, Jonathan Samukange graduated from the prestigious New York Film Academy with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Filmmaking, eager to share the knowledge he had gained overseas with his fellow countrymen; as well as change Zimflix as we know it.

Golden Reel Awards, Zimflix news, Jonathan Samukange, Zim movies, Latest movies Zimbabwe, Munya Chidzonga

A celebration of filmmaking — The Africa Film Academy hosted it's first ever Golden Reel Awards at Ster Kinekor Joina City on 22 May

Five years on, he is the founder of DreamHous Pictures – a NAMA-award winning production house, and the Director of Africa Film Academy – an ambitious passion project intent on teaching aspiring filmmakers Hollywood-level skills in just 12 weeks.

Students undergo an intense course that touches on Script writing, Film Production, Directing, Cinematography, Digital Editing, as well as Acting.

The Africa Film Academy's twelve week film course

On Wednesday 22 May, the first cohort of 2024 graduates at Africa Film Academy got more than the knowledge they bargained for as they enjoyed a glitzy awards ceremony at Ster Kinekor Joina City.

Dubbed the Golden Reel Awards, the ceremony was the first time that the students from the Africa Film Academy got introduced to the world, but it was already a long-standing tradition.

Proud teacher — Jonathan Samukange, Director at Africa Film Academy

“We used to host these awards at our studio (DreamHous Pictures) but we felt like this is something that had to go beyond our studio,” explained Samukange as we caught up with him after the award show.

And why make an award show limited to the works of the Africa Film Academy students only?

“We needed a way to showcase the work that these aspiring filmmakers were doing during their course. There are very few film award shows and festivals in Zimbabwe, we need to add more. I encourage other filmmakers to make their own festivals too.”

Attendees follow proceedings at the Golden Reel Awards

From an initial group of 40 students, just over 20 managed to graduate from the course. The inaugural Golden Reel Awards honoured outstanding students in six categories, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes, that managed to grasp filmmaking at the Hollywood standard.

Outstanding — Award winners showcase their gongs at the inaugural Golden Reel Awards

Although the Academy is still blossoming, Samukange already envisions it becoming a hub of practical filmmaking knowledge across Africa, declaring;

“I’m just trying to share this information the way it was shared to me, and I think there is a lot of value in that. There’s so many people teaching filmmaking from a theoretical perspective. I want to teach practical filmmaking.”

The award show also doubled as the first physical screening of TAXI, the thriller featuring Munya Chidzonga that DreamHous Pictures released on YouTube earlier this year. Samukange also exclusively revealed to ZimSphere that they are working on a new film that will be released soon titled Black on Black.

We also managed to catch up with rising filmmaker Tafadzwa Matipa, who won the Outstanding Short Film Award for his debut called Stockholm.

Outstanding Short Film winner Tafadzwa 'Six Five' Matipa

The film follows a strict headmaster who gets kidnapped by a group of his students, and Matipa had this to say about his triumph;

“I feel great to win the award. It shows that I'm creating something that people can sit and take their time to watch. It makes me happy to see people really care about what I'm doing and appreciating my art.”

The young filmmaker also revealed that he is working on another film with veteran producer Adoration Bizure, most known for his 2021 feature film Goto.

“Africa Film Academy are doing a great job. The school is very helpful to us upcoming filmmakers and it's a great experience to be trained by Mr Hollywood himself, Jonathan Samukange,” Matipa concluded with these glowing words for Africa Film Academy and its Director.

The award winners are as follows:

Outstanding Short Film