Originally published in Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film Video and Television. Africa World Press, Trenton, NJ, 2000.
Interview and after-screening question-and-answer session held during Vues d'Afrique, April 1997 Montreal, Quebec. Also included is a conversation that took place by electronic mail in September 1998.
Prudence, perhaps you can begin by giving some background of yourself. Could you also talk about how you came to film and television?
I did some information work during the Zimbabwe Liberation War. I was a freedom fighter then, but I was working under the Department of Information, so I got some hands-on training in news gathering and dissemination. Basically, I would say that was how I started getting involved in information work. Then I went into printing where I stayed until after independence, when I joined the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Corporation. At that time, I went through different levels of video and television production work until I got training in the United Kingdom as a film editor. Between then and now I have been to Germany and Denmark in and out of different courses in various aspects of film production. When I returned home, I continued working for the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Corporation. I left ZBC in 1991 to join Capricorn Video Unit where I am still working.
Information collecting, as you stated, was a task you performed when working at the Department of Information. Could you talk about your role in the Zimbabwean Liberation War and how it prepared you for the work you are doing now?
I did not see my role during the liberation struggle as separate from what everyone else was doing. Because at that time it was more about the distribution of work at different times to different people who could do a particular task at a specific time. There were lots of things that different people got trained in. Some went to the forefront to fight. Some transported ammunition to bases toward the borders, which I did for a very short period. However, my main job was to work in the Information Department and I always went back there. I think being involved in the liberation struggle opened up many ways for me to know what I wanted to do, what I stood for as an individual. I think that the role that I now play in my own society has been shaped out from the kind of background which emphasized that if you believe in something that you want to do, do it, and try hard to get it. I wanted to do work in information and that is what I am doing now.
How do you see your role as a woman filmmaker, in the context of information work?
I am interested in gathering information whether in print media or for radio. I think it is by chance that I did television work. Overall, I think information work is what interests me the most. In my country, we have a problem in that the infrastructure does not provide for everybody or cater to every nationality in terms of information dissemination. The current infrastructure can only adequately reach urban/semi-urban areas. I see my role as being very useful. It is important because I am contributing a lot by informing the general public through the use of video. I do a lot of development-related programs. I work with a lot of women's NGOs, not only Zimbabwean NGOs but with other international organizations as well. So I get a lot of support from being in this kind of situation and through networking with relevant people.
Do you feel that you have a sensibility as a woman that you bring into your work?
I really do think so, maybe that is also one of my motivations for going into information work, coming from a background where the woman's role was not recognized by society. Women have always been taken for granted and it is felt that what they do does not have to be acknowledged. I feel that it does have to be acknowledged and I have to play a part in making my own society realize that women contribute a lot to the development of the society. Not only now have women made contributions, but since time immemorial, they have always played a role.
Could you talk about your films, the themes that you focus on, and some of the experiences you have had during the film production?
The types of films that I make have specific objectives. One of the objectives is really to talk about the issues that are of main concern to many people. I like to talk about problems that people are facing, probably not to find a solution but to open a debate, to open a dialogue, for people to have information in order to be able to talk about certain things. It is only when they have access to this information that you can open windows for dialogue. So, I have been working on films about women's empowerment. I have worked on films on health; I have done some films on AIDS. I also worked on another film about cervical cancer which I am now translating into the two vernacular languages, Shona and Ndebele, so that the grassroots people who may need that kind of information may be able to understand the problems around this disease. Most of these programs are commissioned. Different organizations are involved in a variety of projects. They come to us at Capricorn to ask if we can make a video for them. We actually work quite well together. Sometimes, however, we do films that we initiate ourselves.
Was your film The Whisper commissioned by development agencies or was it your idea?
My most recent work, The Whisper, was my idea, but it was not so difficult to get funding for it after approaching several development agencies with whom we normally do development work.
How was the film produced and funded?
MS, a Danish NGO that supports several development projects in Africa gave all the funds needed to produce, package and make versions into two main local languages in Zimbabwe. SUCO, a Canadian NGO, gave money for the French version. MFDI, in the United States, is distributing the English version. We have done a lot of similar videos for development agencies for their own use in their work on different projects. So I got a very good response right from the very beginning.
I do get support for film projects that I initiate because people often are willing to support an idea if it is about something that they believe in. As a result, I have often been able to get some information and materials to work with in order to get the work going.
The Whisper reminded me of the fiction film Neria by Godwin Mawuru, which was also set in Zimbabwe. In this film, there was a similar kind of situation where the protagonist was disinherited when her husband died. Is this a practice that frequently occurs and, thus, a common issue on which to focus?
It is one of the many problems that Zimbabwean women face after a spouse dies. There may be some similarities on the theme but our approach to it differs. Nevertheless, this reflects that it's a problem and that people need to accept that it exists, that changes should be done, and that they have to comply with the realities of the dynamics of culture in a modern world.
The aim of The Whisper was to provoke a debate between the government, those making the policies, and the general public who are affected by these policies and should actually be the ones who benefit from them. So it seems like the public is left behind. When new laws such as these are introduced, the people themselves should participate in the process. But as it is, they don't contribute to the decision making to decide what is good for them. They are expected to accept whatever comes along. So the main objective for making this film was to initiate a more focused dialogue between the government and the general public; and also to involve the NGO's that are doing work towards bringing about this kind of participatory type of governance.
Another objective was to find out what kind of work is being done by women's organizations in educating people about these new laws and how they are affected by them. Most important, it is to see how representative their approach is towards educating women about their rights, and how to go about things should problems occur. In terms of the rights that authorities must deal with, in some cases the documentary reveals that, some of these authorities do not also understand what they are supposed to enforce. At the end of the day, you would conclude that education in this context should not only be directed to women but society at large.
Women's participation in the Zimbabwe Liberation War was particularly significant. Your combined first-hand experience as a freedom fighter in the liberation war and background in filmmaking makes you well placed to do a film about women in the war for independence. Have you considered making a fiction or documentary film that brings together your experiences and those of your comrades?
I've been thinking about doing something like that, but I find it very difficult to talk about my own story. My own story is one of the many things that happened there involving many people that were taking part in the struggle. So I am thinking more of looking at the situation in the camps for example. I would like to address the problems that people who were not there may never get to understand or even imagine.
If we want people to know about these experiences, it is high time that we talk about them. I don't want to put that kind of message to people in a heavy way that will make them feel sad. Rather, I want to make it light, like an entertainment thing, but at the same time looking at the real things that took place. We also had fun, it was tough but we had our fun there. We had adjusted ourselves to our own situation and through thick and thin, there were highlights. For example, one's first day as a trainee soldier, how individuals from different backgrounds behaved in this totally new and complicated environment. I wouldn't want to preempt my ideas now. But I am thinking about it. It has to be a series because there is so much to say.
Discussion with various members of the audience after the screening of The Whisper.
You interviewed many women who talk about how they were affected by the disinheritance laws, were you able to talk to the families-in-law to get their side of the story?
No, the particular family who victimized their daughter-in-law, which I gave as an example in the film, was not keen on even seeing me. It was unfortunate that I could not talk to any members of the family because I happen to be a sister of the victim who lost property. She had just lost her husband and I helped her to go through the legal process to get a peace order. So they knew me pretty well and they knew that the film would be seen by all and thus, they did not want to talk to me.
So they viewed you as taking sides with the woman...
Yes.
Why "The Whisper" as the title of the film?
It is a sort of whispering documentary. I think that it comes from the idea that people are not yet very keen on talking about issues like that outside of their own little communities, or sometimes the discussion does not go beyond their households. They do talk about such things, but to do so openly is not so common. That is why I chose to call it The Whisper because still it's like a vibration, I also knew that it is a hot issue and for some time it will remain so. I had to choose a persuasive, catchy title, something that would make one anxious to see it.
How long did it take you to make the film?
It was just six days of filming but more than two months of research. I tried to travel as widely as possible in the country to get different views from a variety of people. So most of the money and time was spent on research as well as traveling to those places to film.
Were people very responsive to your questions in terms of giving responses to what you wanted to know? Did you have any bad experiences?
I think the most difficult experience that I had was when I found an interesting story, but the person could not tell it because she was not used to speaking about her problems to people that she did not know. Another problem was the lack of money to really spend the time needed with people in order to really get to know each other, so that they could feel at ease in discussing their experiences. Still another problem was that while I could get people who would be willing to talk to me, they were reluctant to do so in front of the camera for fear that their financial situation would be compromised. Sometimes a woman's situation had to do with how her husband was treating her at home, and if she talked about it in front of the camera, she feared that it might be seen on national television. Of course, which would mean the end of their marriage.
Instead of waiting for a solution from men, or for men to change, perhaps women should struggle themselves against these laws, work should be devoted more toward making women more aware.
I think, in general, what is lacking is proper education. We are talking most particularly about the laws themselves, and the focus of this film is mainly about the impact of these new laws that have been introduced to women. I wanted to show that first and foremost, it is important that women understand these laws before they can be implemented. You find that traditionally there are certain rules that bind women. Women who were brought up two decades ago feel that there is a conflict between the laws that existed then and these new laws, which they feel are geared more to the younger generation. So what really needs to happen is to introduce these new policies at a pace that people can accept, understand, and feel that they are part of. At the present, they feel that these laws are being imposed on them. Some of the laws are actually very positive, however, people are not always aware of them.
From a conversation by electronic mail, September 1998.
Could you talk about some of your current projects?
In August 1998, I took some locally-produced films to rural areas as a pilot project. The objective was to make people aware that there are a lot of relevant films around which they should gather to see, to provide entertainment, and to discuss their views about the film we make with their participation. But the films usually end up as information suppliers. The films never get back to them and they usually do not know how we use the information they give us. In a way its giving them back what we as filmmakers take from them, allowing us to assess what issues they feel are important to be discussed through film.
The response was overwhelming and my only problem now is that I have created an expectation. Often they asked if in the future we would maintain a continuous schedule and keep them updated through visuals. I intend to use this experience to raise money for a relatively on-going mobile festival in the rural areas. I came back with some very specific film ideas from the discussions that I had with the viewers there.
