Displaced Zimbabweans-Many Zimbabwean people have had to flee the country for their safety, due to the dictator and current president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. He has been in power since he was one of the leaders of the liberation against white-minority rule and was elected in 1980. Mugabe and Zimbabwe have become somewhat a controversial issue, in that many atrocities are happening in the country and to its people while the rest of the world seem to stand idly by.
In an attempt to correct the unfair distribution of land Mugabe led the controversial Land Reform programme in 2000, which has been marked as the start of the deterioration of the economic situation in the country. This led to a snowballing effect of people leaving and being removed from their homes and in particular farms, as well as the country. Many people fled for their safety because of Mugabe’s violent practices leaving thousands of people injured or worse, killed. Although the Land Reform programme was mainly aimed at white farmers, many black residents of the farms were badly affected by Mugabe’s actions.
A number of people have accused the Zimbabwean president of having a racist attitude towards white people. When the United Kingdom likened Mugabe’s policies to the German Nazi Adolf Hitler, he replied with an extremely provocative response, sympathising and glamourizing Hitler’s actions, claiming that if Hitler fought for justice, sovereignty and independence of his people “then let me be a Hitler ten fold”.
The idea is to follow and observe a number of people/families who have had to leave Zimbabwe and become victims of Mugabe’s rule and find out what happened to them and what they are doing now. I would like to try to find out why this blatant racism has been allowed to happen in front of the rest of the world and why no one saw it coming. I would like to portray to the viewer how hard it is to just pack up a bag and move to a completely new country and try to survive while also showing the vast difference between the two worlds (western and Africa). We would follow one family that recently entered the country and another who have settled down in the country for a number of years and follow their journeys simultaneously and then towards the end of the documentary arrange for them to meet each other and exchange stories to complete the narrative arch. This idea would be portrayed throughout the film in the observational mode.
Image cutesy of Mugabe and the White African
I have gained inspiration for this idea from my own experience of living and being forced to leave the country as a white African in Zimbabwe. As well as the documentary Mugabe and the White African- Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson (2009) http://www.mugabeandthewhiteafrican.com which is about Mike Campbell and his family. One of the few remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe, who fought hard for his right to stay on their farm and fight against the Land Reform programme.
He wanted to charge Mugabe and his government with racial discrimination with violations of human rights in 2008 and took them to the SADC International court (South African Development Community).
Image curtesy of Zimbabwes Children
I was also inspired by the documentary Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children- http://zimbabweschildren.org about 3 different children trying to survive in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. It conveys to the viewer the fight the children have to go through each and every day just to stay alive or to find food or water. In early 2009 Xoliswa returned to her home country accompanied by Jezza, to make a film about her childhood and celebrating the country that raised her. However while filming there she realised that there was no longer much to celebrate for the children of Zimbabwe. Filming in Zimbabwe is very difficult especially if you are portraying the government as acting in an immoral manor, risking their lives the pair had to secretly film the documentary and were subsequently interrogated a total of 8 times when caught filming. The documentary focuses on how important education is to the children and how hard it is for them to try to afford to go compared to the free education we receive in the UK.
Connar Saunders - Connar Saunders a 19 year old from Woodingdean was allegedly attacked in Rottingdean by two 14 year old boys, who are under suspicion of murder. He sadly died in hospital from a trauma to the head.
"There has been some speculation that this may have been two gangs of youths confronting each other. "We do not believe that this was the case. This appears to have been two groups of people who met each other while walking through Rottingdean and have exchanged words.”- Det Ch Insp Nick May
I would like to explore the idea of youth gang related crimes in Britain and look at both sides of the story not just the victims story. The above is a recent encounter with youth in the small village of Rottingdean, near Brighton, in which a tragedy has occurred. Many of the local people have been devastated by the loss of Connar and have started up charities in his name and to raise awareness of fighting and underage drinking.
People in the local community have been making an album with songs in dedication to what happened to Connar and raising awareness. I would like to follow this project and see how much it has helped the people involved with their grief and how they manage to put it together, using local people and Baobab music studio, which is situated in Rottingdean.
As well as following the project I would like to try to follow the story of Connar’s family and what has happened to them since the incident as well as look at the other side of the spectrum at the 14 year old boys who have been accused of his murder and at their families. Incidents like these do not just blow over; they affect families greatly and can even result in splitting families apart. I would like to create a valid and unbiased documentary with no hidden agenda and find out the story from both sides.
'Juicy Smiles' - is the name of the idea, I know someone in Brighton who is a guerrilla street artist.
She makes art in a number of different ways, one example is that she paint's T-shirts with different designs and messages on them and leaves a message on them saying 'take me for free'. She leaves them in different places in Brighton and then hides and watches the person take it and wear it. She also defaces bank notes e.g. £5 notes and writes speech bubbles above the queens head and write's funny messages she calls it 'funny money' to try to make people smile and feel less stressed about money and less sad when giving it away. Her identity would have to be withheld because of the legality, the fact that defacing bank notes is not legal in this country. She also creates little plastic people and miniature art pieces that she places in the street, for example in gaps in the pavement.
We could film her creating the art and then putting it on the street then film people's reactions to it. There are a few other people that want to join her with the art so there would be a few of them to follow and interview but the main lady being central to the story.
The Swing Ninjas - Another Idea is to do with musicians and following a band. I know a band called The Swing Nninjas know this other man who is very quirky and is in 5 dif bands one of which is called 'The Swing Ninjas' who have been becoming very successful, they just flew out to Paris to do a gig for some Princess or something, we could follow the band and their backstage moments etc... or we could follow the guy and all of his bands and see where that leads us etc.. he would also prob be up for being filmed and wouldn't pull out as he is a family friend.. Also the band all dress like they are from the 50's and play that kinda themed music, they go to festivals where people all dress like that time and they have cars from that time which could also be interesting, like the urge to go back in tim and how it is in fashion, what's so special about that time
