No News From Harare
SPECIAL SCREENING with Director WENDY DENT as guest speaker
Friday February 3, at University of California Berkeley
A cutting edge account of Mugabe's Zimbabwe: Political persecution in the guise of democracy
"It was cruel. Extremely cruel".
One year on from the land evictions that left over 700,000 locals homeless, there is no news from Harare. The international media has been silenced and the opposition parties infiltrated and divided.
But the political persecution of the Zimbabwean people continues and an opposition party leader matter-of-factly states "the hostility against us increases every day".
As the threat of rioting rises, the censorship of free speech is driven to its extreme.
No News From Harare delivers a cutting edge account of the current political climate in Zimbabwe, as reported solely from those who have the courage to speak out.
Spiced with sharp political comedy which satirises the unspeakable, and featuring exclusive interviews filmed undercover with NCA leader Dr Lovemore Madhuku, rare footage of the recent land evictions and real accounts by the lawyers representing its victims, No News From Harare presents a chilling portrayal of Zimbabwe that Mugabe would prefer remains unseen.
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On the filming of No News From Harare;
"The tension in the air was palpable. A chill ran down my spine while I was filming a rare opposition party protest
outside parliament and interviewing a local who was telling me that six of his friends have already disappeared... then the Secret Service drove by".
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News Update 2011:
RadioVop Zimbabwe reports that in January Dr Lovemore Madhuku, a leading critic against the Mugabe regime profiled in 'No News From Harare', was arrested yet again. But those reports pale in comparison to this chilling report about an assassination attempt on Dr Madhuku in December. Mugabe's thugs made murder by fire their trademark in the run up to the 2008 election. Now, in the run up to the next presidential election, the violence is beginning again, with Dr Madhuku's house being doused in petrol while he and his family lay sleeping:
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/madhuku11.15660.html
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In Febrary 2011 Wendy Dent gave a guest lecture at Villanova University (Philadelphia) and was a guest speaker at the launch of The Hot Spring Network, screening No News From Harare and speaking about the making of the film and the power of film as a medium for change. Read her speech for the Hot Spring Network on the 'guest lectures' link on this website.
Wendy Dent also has given two special guest lectures at Sydney's Macquarie University, speaking on politics and human rights in Zimbabwe, and the filming of No News From Harare (her cutting edge documentary of the Mugabe regime), to students studying African Politics (Macquarie University Department of International Politics) and Human Rights Law (Macquarie University School of Law).
No News From Harare has now been acquired by the Macquarie University Library, and is on catalogue in the National Library of Australia.
Wendy Dent is also the founder and editor of the film e-zine and site for social networking about social issues; http://www.humanrightsonfilm.com
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DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT by WENDY DENT
An average Zimbabwean man sat on a bench in the Harare Gardens - a beautiful park in the centre of the city, directly opposite parliament.
It was a beautiful day, a sunny day. A perfect day for a protest. He was simply talking to two filmmakers, (another foreign director and myself). Talking about his country, translating the placards of the protesters who’d suddenly gathered on the street nearby.
“The police will be here in 12 minutes,” he said. My colleague set the timer on his watch. “Then we’d be better be gone within ten”.
I started recording. It was a rare event to see an opposition party protest in Harare. And even rarer to find a local courageous enough not to be camera shy. “This was a beautiful country. But now that is gone. People don’t talk about it just because they are afraid. They are afraid of what will happen to them. If you talk, you just disappear. And then you are gone. Gone. And nobody will find you”.
I leaned in closer. People were noticing me with my camera. My zoom lens captured the protest some distance from where we watched innocently, simply sitting at the park bench. But to be captured with a camera, talking about the government, would spell the end of innocence.
“I know six myself who have disappeared. Not here but in Mutare. Six friends in Mutare, they are gone for 2 years now. And when that happens, you can be sure they are dead. You can be sure.”
Our interview abruptly ended. Not officially. Halted in mid sentence. The interviewee went silent. A white car was driving by. Not marked, not distinctive. But not just any white car. The silence that rippled through the park, the fear that ran like a shadow across his face, spoke louder than words. It was time to leave. The protest in the street gathered speed. Everyone had spied the white car driving by. It may as well have been marked ‘secret service’. And that meant only one thing. Mugabe’s ‘law enforcers’ were on their way.
I stopped rolling. Discreetly ejected the tape, slipping the cassette not into my pocket, but hiding it under my pants. Thank god tapes are so small nowadays, I thought. Then I quickly changed the tape. “Let’s talk about cricket”.
The Zimbabwean man looked at me strangely. “I’m not really that interested in cricket actually…”
“I’ve changed the tape. If they saw us filming, if they check our tape – we were just talking about cricket. Nothing wrong with that”. “Oh…”
The dawn of realisation crossed his face. A hint of his big Zimbabwean grin threatened to come out like the sunshine. For a moment there was relief… just one moment. “Yes, we had a very good cricket team once. But then they all disappeared”.
I stopped rolling. Hid the tape. Changed the tape again. Take 3... If it was at all possible to have a conversation in Zimbabwe that wasn’t political. A pleasant conversation about the next World Cup in South Africa ensued. All on tape, ready for review, should any more of those chilling white cars pass us by.
“It’s a wrap”. A safe distance behind the protest, we fled the scene of our crime.
Watch the trailer:
