The East African country has managed to make it’s first entry at the Oscars in 21 years after its movie titled Vuta N’Kuvute translated as Tug Of War being shortlisted in the ” Best International Film” category at the 95th Academy Awards.
This marks the end of the country’s 21 years wait as they participated in Oscars Awards.
Vuta N’kuvute was premiered in the Discovery section of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival,marking the first ever a Tanzanian movie is being selected for the Toronto International Film Festival.The movie was produced by Steven Markovitz for South Africa’s Big World Cinema and Amil Shivji for Tanzania’s Kijiweni Productions and it’s based on a screenplay by Shivji and Jenna Cato Bass. Shivji expressed his happiness about the move on his Instagram page highlighting that swahili films are now taking the show.
“The future of Tanzanian cinema is finally in our hands. A wave of Swahili filmmakers is growing every day with pride, intelligence and boldness,” posted Amil Shivji.
Released in Swahili and with a predominantly African cast, the film tells the story of a young Indian-Zanzibari woman whose romance blossoms on the back of a political revolt in the last days of British imperial rule.