BY SHARON SIBINDI

BROOKLYN Films International 2020 director Tinashe Gijima said his current production, Scars/Amanxeba, whose third episode shooting started yesterday is a feminist project.
In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style yesterday, Gijima said part of the feature film’s episodes seek to unpack some of the causes of the girl children dropping out of school and also amplify on the importance of culture.

“Scars is a Zimbabwean feature film set in an old village where there is no electricity or any type of public services. This is a youthful creative project which shall unpack the facts and myths of our Zimbabwean society,” he said.

“The film’s richness roots from the empowerment of women, the importance of the education of a girl child, gender equality and a lesson to men to stop gender-based violence. It also highlights the impact of culture, HIV and Aids yesterday and today.”

Gijima said Scars/Amanxeba, written and co-produced by John Mabuyane of Kingbubble and Nothando Vuyiso Moyo unpacks the inner voice and unveils the untold.

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“I was born in a primitive society in which women had no voice or rather less or no education at all, their rights not recognised, suppressed by the demands of a typical patriarchal society. A society that pigeonhole women into stereotyped roles,” he said.

“It is in such a society where we find principles, morals and values remaining stagnant and core roots of the challenge a girl child faces today. In this rigid setting we find culture being the four pillars of the community. It becomes a catalyst to the rampant spread of HIV, the disease that cripples the society giving birth to certain myths surrounding the cause of many deaths in the village.”

He said the film dates back to an era that questioned the impact of culture on HIV and Aids and young women and how its branches have stretched to date.

“Will one woman’s story marked with hope and stoicism be able to change people’s hearts?

Domestic violence, child marriages, teenage pregnancies become a serious concern in this village and young girls drop out of school as a result and arranged marriages become the order of the day,” he said.

“How do we curb these effects and close the tap to the new generation? Scars leaves one in a state of self-introspection. Change must begin with the community. This is a film that will be seen for decades as it holds part of our social and cultural history.”

Some of the cast of the film shot in Umguza, include Donna from SkyzMetro FM who is the lead actress, Charmaine Mudau of Urban Culxure, award-winning model and ambassador of Mr Zimbabwe BenChest.