The township and rural film trust is an organization that seeks to empower film in rural and

marginalized areas so that film and cinema can be used as a conduit to better the lives of
people in that area. We at TRUFTZ want to come up with a township and location film
distribution concept, aimed at developing a nationwide township-based movie theatre network.

We specifically will start with Zimbabwe and move on to the continent as a whole. This is not
impossible at all. We have set our sights on this and we will succeed. We want to screen
independent films from the African continent and its Diaspora, the developing world as well as
the latest Hollywood releases. We only need to set up bases in the ghetto and rural areas.

This initiative aims to economically empower budding filmmakers and film entrepreneurs from
Zimbabwe’s previously disadvantaged communities. African cinema is growing but still faces
hurdles as it attempts to build a sustainable and profitable film industry, said speakers at the
EFM Africa Hub talk “The African Market of The Future” on Sunday.

Toni Monty, founding head of South African’s Durban FilmMart, which celebrates its 10th
anniversary this July, talked about the evolution she had seen since its first edition. In
Zimbabwe, residents of several rural areas are calling for the return of mobile cinemas.

Some farmers now suggest mobile cinemas should be reinstituted, and air educational
messages that would encourage local development. And as well as some high density
communities that dont have access to cinemas anymore.

Before independence in 1980 when the country was known as Rhodesia, the information
ministry operated a mobile film unit showing films countrywide. But at the height of the liberation
war many people rejected the concept when they realized authorities were using the films to
broadcast propaganda.

African cinema serves as a manifestation of cultural identity, as well as a means of pursuing a

distinct style and overcoming external influences. Furthermore, African cinema assumes a
significant social and economic function, exerting a profound influence on the domestic sphere
of society, particularly in terms of education, culture, and economic development and
investment.