Snura at Zanzibar International Film Festival ZIFF.

Every year ZIFF “pauses” the event for an evening to host a public forum on a topical and often difficult topic. A panel of experts is invited to the discussion and engages directly with the public at the Old Fort Ampitheatre in Stone Town.

The Difficult Dialogues program is our marquee event and a unique program of the festival, made possible this year with the generous support of the Italian NGO ACRA. The event will also be broadcast live onZENJ TV, enabling an even wider audience to benefit from the event.

The discussion is conducted in both English and Swahili giving all festival visitors opportunity to join in the conversation. This year the topic for the Difficult Dialogue will be the state of Stone Town’s Heritage site status. In recent years this status has been jeopardized by a number of developments creating major concern for many stakeholders.

Development and tourism can often come into conflict with culture and heritage and yet they are all interdependent. This complex issue will be discussed further by a panel of experts including Professor Ikaweba Bunting and Mr. Mugheiry Sheha Mkungzini and event will be hosted by Maryam Mansab.

The event started to take place live at the Old Fort on Wednesday July 13th from 19:20 and also is being broadcasted live on ZENJ TV. Tune in to ZENJ TV daily until July 17th at 10am and 5pm for the best of ZIFF!