The eight-day-long Zanzibar International Film Festival, also known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania is on, bringing together multi-disciplinary art and cultural activities fused into a film from different parts of East Africa.
Also known as the Festival of the Dhow Countries, it is the largest film festival in the region. About 7,000 tourists throng Zanzibar for the event held between July 7- July 14. The audience is estimated to be around 100,000.
The festival entails the following activities: Film Workshops, Opening and Closing Nights, Film Outreach Projections, Women panorama, Children panorama, Village panorama, Festival of Festivals, Soko Film, Art and Exhibition, Children Film panorama, UNICEF Life skills Camps, Children Peace camps, Difficult Dialogues, Historical and Cultural Village Tours.
Besides, each day of the week when the festival is active, the best local and international cinema is screened, musical concerts are held every evening and local and international panel discussions are held during the day.
There’s an award ceremony where five international juries select 12 winners. These 12 awards include:
- Golden Dhow
- Silver Dhow
- Documentary
- Short/Animation
- East Africa Talent
- ZIFF Jury Award
- UNICEF Award
- ZIFF Life Time Achievement Award
- ZIFF Chairman Award
- Signis Award
- East Africa Region Talent
- Signis Jury Award — Commendation
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