Focus on Ability Fest set for September 22

This year’s Focus on Ability Short Film Festival which is led by Focus on Ability Society (Foas) in collaboration with Nova Employment will be held on September 22 2024 at Golden Peacock in Lilongwe.

This is the first time for the festival to be held in the capital city.

Foas Executive Director MacDonald Nyirenda said Thursday all is set for the festival that is aimed at raising awareness about abilities of people with disability through films.

“These short films and documentaries breakdown the barriers for people with disability to fully participate in society, mainly through encouraging viewers to shift their perspectives,” Nyirenda said.

Nyirenda said recently that Malawi has submitted a total of 26 entries in this year’s Focus on Ability Short Film Festival leading the entries on international scene.

The international awards will be held on September 29 2024 in Sydney in Australia.

Based in Australia, this year’s Focus on Ability Short Film Festival has received 118 international entries from 20 different countries.

Last year Malawi entered the festival with 31 entries with one film making it in the top five.

This year’s festival boasts an impressive prize pool of over $100,000AUD, recognising excellence in short films and documentaries.

The awards up for grabs at international level include Judges Choice – Official Selection Short Film Winner, Judges Choice – Official Selection Documentary Winner, Most International Online Votes Winner with all the three categories pocketing $5,000 AUD cash prize each as well as other additions.

Apart from competing at international level, films from Malawi also have a chance of grabbing local prizes with two top films set to walk away with US$ 500 each and two best actors (people with disability) will go home with US$ 250 each.

Some of the winning films last year included Kulumala Sikulephera by Sellina Dumbula and The Last Stone by Lester Banda.

The actors (people with disability) that did well last year were Smart Vinti in the movie The Smart Artist and Tapiwa Kamanga in the film Ndizotheka.