In 1983, military forces under the command of Zimbabwe’s then – Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, carried out a massacre in Zimbabwe´s Matebeleland, killing more than twenty thousand people. More than forty years on, the country has yet to reckon with this genocidal crime, leaving those who lost loved ones to find closure on their own. The documentary MATABELELAND – part of this year´s Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF) program – uses the life and experiences of Chris, who is still haunted by the ghost of his murdered father, to depict the lasting effects of the massacre. With her first feature length documentary, Nyasha Kadandara has made a personal and empathic film about national and generational trauma – and how to make peace with the past.
In this event, which follows immediately after the screening, you are invited to a conversation about the Guhurakundi massacre, the current political situation in Matableleland and the Midlands, and the state of human rights in Zimbabwe.
Participants are
- Wesley Maraire (Zimbabwean legal scholar, now working at UiB)
- Matthew Gichohi (Researcher at CMI – part of the Zimbabwe team of the RightAct—Rights Activism in Repressive Conditions research project)
- Lise Rakner (Professor, Department of Government UiB, on the RightAct Zimbabwe team)
- Siri Gloppen (Professor, Department of Government UiB, on the RightAct Zimbabwe team)
📅 Wednesday 22 October at 08:30–09:30
📍Bergen Global, Jekteviksbakken 31
🎟️ Free, open to all!
The event is a collaboration between BIFF, LawTransform and the RightAct research project (CMI/Lawtransform).
The BIFF documentary MATABELELAND can be screened ahead of the panel in KP10 on Monday at 20:15 or on Tuesday at 19:15. Free tickets are available for the first 25 people!
Photo credits: Matabeleland/BIFF