Established by the EU Delegation to Zimbabwe and its Member States in 2016, the European Film Festival
Zimbabwe (#EuroFilmFestZW) has become one of Zimbabwe's leading film industry events. With a focus on
showcasing fresh cinematic experiences, the festival has thus ignored mainstream narratives. Instead,
the EuroFilmFestZW has offered a platform of diverse and visually unique storytelling, a celebration of
both European and African cinema.
Over the years, the EuroFilmFestZW has developed and grown from showcasing European films, to
functioning as a full-fledged film festival. With programming specific to the development of the local
film industry, the festival has facilitated opportunities to both engage and educate Zimbabwean
filmmakers at an international level.
The motivation for the 2023 Festival continues working on improving the existing successful programs,
with this year’s edition gearing towards supporting Zimbabwean film practitioners with advanced skills
that will allow them to produce competitive products that also fit in the local and international
markets. Crossing Borders as the theme, demonstrates our aim of building bridges for the film industry,
thus also engaging the local television stations for possible future screenings and the National Arts
Council of Zimbabwe in formulating a film policy that will help boost the sector.
The shift of venues and programming is aimed at fully benefiting film practitioners and lovers, through
facilitating a 2 way platform, allowing audiences to learn from each other and through the different
programmes carried out by the festival. We have reaffirmed our programmes, thus the Input Conference,
Filamu Shorts, BIOSKOP Short Film Competition, European film showcases and masterclasses.
This year the festival running both in Bulawayo and Harare , is no different. In Harare the festival has
partnered with the Mbare Art Space to host the festival and bring in a different taste to it. In
Bulawayo the festival has partnered with Ster Kinekor Zimbabwe as its host.