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Logline

In a rural village, a family eager to start a new life is forced to face their cultural identity, when the appearance of a mysterious tree coincides with their arrival in the village.

Synopsis

JANET, her mother GOGO, her husband PETROS, and their son TINO, move into their new home in a remote rural village in the mountainous eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. A mystery looms over the true identity of this family, who are eager to start a new life here. When a mysterious tree suddenly appears at the local church, the school and the family’s home, all eyes now fall on the family, who begin to receive unwarranted attention from the local police, the chief, and the village preacher. Whilst Tino and Gogo try to unravel the mystery of the tree, Janet and Petros try to contain the situation. When the tree finally appears in their living room, the family’s identity is finally revealed; Gogo was a renowned traditional healer and Janet was a rainmaker, who could summon rain when she sang. Janet’s decision to never sing again brought on a drought in her previous village and the family were subsequently accused of witchcraft and banished. When the family realize that the tree has been following Tino all along, they are forced to either forsake who they were and remain in the village, or embrace who they truly are.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Naishe Nyamubaya — Director
Naishe Nyamubaya is a Zimbabwean filmmaker, passionate about telling African stories. His short films have screened at numerous festivals including the BFI, Chicago, Pan African, and Jozi-Film Festivals, and have been nominated and awarded at the South African Film And Television Awards (SAFTAS), the European Film Festival, and ZIFF in Zimbabwe. The Valedictorian of his year, he completed his postgraduate studies in Motion Picture in 2021. Chimbo Chebere (The Hyena’s song), his first feature film project, slated to shoot in 2024, won the jury prize for development at the Red Sea Souk in 2021, was selected for Cannes Cinefondation’s L’atelier and the TIFF Filmmaker lab in 2022. In addition to Black Snake, which won the souk jury lodge prize at the Red Sea International Film Festival 2023, he is developing Graft, which was selected at the DurbanFilmMart 2023 and won the ACP, Cinemart and NFVF’s best fiction awards.

Sue-Ellen Chitunya — Producer
Sue-Ellen Chitunya is a filmmaker who hails from Zimbabwe. She is a 2019 Georgia State University “40 under 40 honoree” and a graduate of the UCLA professional producing program. She is a voting member of AMPAS/OSCARS.

Chitunya has participated in various artist development programs including: Film Independent Amplifier, WIF Emerging Producer Program, Film Independent Producing Lab, Industry Academy at Lincoln Center NY, and Rotterdam Lab. Her projects have been selected for Film Independent Fast Track, Durban FilmMart, SFFILM, The Gotham, and Red Sea Lodge.

Chitunya has produced several shorts that have screened at festivals around the world including Rotterdam, BFI London, Tirbeca, Iris Prize, and Outfest. Her varied work experience includes programming for Zimbabwe, Atlanta and Slamdance Film Festivals; Post-Production Coordinator on Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame (2019); and Black Panther (2018) and Junior Exec on This Is US (S5 & S6) and Only Murders In The Building (S1 & S2). She recently produced the documentary For Tomorrow (2022) available on Amazon Prime and the interactive romcom, Mr. Right (2022) available on mobile app stores worldwide.

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Contact

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