Sydney Taivavashe Explained

Sydney Taivavashe (born March 20,1991) is a Zimbabwean film director, producer and screenwriter.^{[1] [2]}

Early life

Sydney Taivavashe was born in 1991 in Masvingo, Zimbabwe where he grew up.^[3]

Career

Sydney made his debut film in 2006, a short film titled The Terrific Nights.^[4] His first feature film Through The Night was nominated at 2014 National Arts Merit Awards in the outstanding feature film category.^[5]

In 2017, Sydney won a NAMA award for directing Seiko, a silent short film.^[6] In the same year he partnered with the Great Zimbabwe University to produce a feature film titled Solo naMutsai, portraying the experience of students at the university who succumb to peer pressure.^[7] In 2019, Sydney wrote, directed and produced an anti-poaching awareness film titled .^[8] The film had its world premiere at the Pan African Film Festival in Hollywood in February of 2020.^[9] Sydney's next film was the 2021 biopic film The Story of Nehanda a movie about the trial of Zimbabwean iconic spirit medium Mbuya Nehanda.^{[10] [11]}

In 2022, Sydney received another National Art Merit Award for his film Poor Cousins which won the Outstanding Screen Production- Full length film award.^[12]

Filmography

• Tamba Wakachengera 2013
• Through the night 1 2013
• Through the night 2 2016
• Seiko (Short Film) 2017
• Solo naMutsai 2018
• 2020^[13]
• The Story of Nehanda 2021
• Poor Cousins 2021

Awards

Year	Ceremony	Award	Result
2014	National Arts Merit Awards	Outstanding Film Through the Night[14]
2016	Zimbabwe International Film Festival	Best International Director
2017	National Arts Merit Awards	Outstanding Short Film Seiko[15]
2020	Pan-African Film Festival	Programmers Best First Feature Narrative Gonarezhou[16]
2020	Pan-African Film Festival	Best First Feature Director[17]

References

1. Web site: Mbuya Nehanda's story is coming to the big screen. 22 March 2021.
2. Web site: Anti-poaching film to debut in Hollywood.
3. Web site: Masvingo film producer breaks new ground. 9 June 2021.
4. Web site: Taivavashe basks in NAMA glory. 2019-04-02.
5. Web site: Chihombori revels with NAMA award. 2014-02-20. The Financial Gazette. en-US. 2019-04-02.
6. Web site: NAMA Award, A Magnetic Force. 2017-02-27. Zimbo Jam. en-US. 2019-04-02.
7. Web site: Taivavashe, GZU resurrect 'Solo Na Mutsai'. newsday. 2017-05-15. NewsDay Zimbabwe. en-US. 2019-04-02.
8. Web site: ED's daughter in anti-poaching film. comments. Blessing Masakadza • 2 October 2018 1:59PM • 0. DailyNews Live. 2019-04-02.
9. Web site: Kan . Toni . 2020-03-09 . The African Filmmaker’s LA experience . 2023-05-15 . The Lagos Review . en-US.
10. Web site: 'The story of Nehanda' hits right note.
11. Web site: Mbuya Nehanda's life to be told in new movie.
12. Web site: Earground . 2022-02-28 . Full 20th NAMA winners list . 2023-05-15 . earground . en.
13. Web site: The world news platform.
14. Web site: NAMA nominees out. 6 February 2014.
15. Web site: NAMA 2017 winners list in full. 19 February 2017.
16. Web site: Gonarezhou the Movie Wins Best First Feature Narrative at Pan African Film Festival • #enthuse. 24 February 2020.
17. Web site: Pan African Film Festival Wraps & Winners -. 4 March 2020.