The Zimbabwean film industry and Zimbabweans in film are having a phenomenal year. From having actors on blockbusters like Suicide Squad 2 (Tinashe Kajese) and series regulars on The Good Fight (Charmaine Bingwa) to winning awards at various Film Festivals and now having Zimbabwean productions on all major streaming platforms. The latest creative to have her name honoured is Zoe Ramushu. A director and producer shortlisted for this year's Student BAFTA Awards and a finalist for this year's Student Academy Awards (Oscars).
Zoe was a producer on "To The Plate" which was shortlisted for the Student BAFTA Awards (However it did not progress beyond that) and she worked as director and producer on “It Takes A Circus” alongside directors Gopika Ajan and Annick Laurent and their production is a finalist for the 48th Student Academy Awards (Oscars). From the information available to us the filmmaker and producer is the first Zimbabwean woman to be selected for this honor and if she wins, she will become the first Zimbabwean to take award.
Commenting in an interview with The Herald Arts, Zoe said she was greatly honoured that her works had earned nominations for the Student Oscars and BAFTAs.
I’m just excited. The Student Oscars and BAFTAs are massive career change platforms and I am incredibly humble and grateful to God for this recognition. Zimbabwe has a great amount of talent and I think when one of us does it creates opportunities for all of us.
Zoe has featured in various commercials in South Africa featuring international brands such as KFC, Grandpa and Soul Candi. She also runs her own production company, Chiriseri Studios. She is a member of the Cannes Producers Network, The Gotham (formerly IFP) and has seen success in various markets, including her series “Pretty Hustle”, which was selected as the first and only episodic project to be presented at the Financial Forum of DFM.
She chairs the South Africa Department of Arts and Culture committee and is a member of the Reuters Institute 2021 at the University of Oxford. So far, her work has been recognized on global platforms such as the Berlinale, Cannes, Morocco Film Festivals and has been featured in Glamor and Variety magazines. Zoe studied law and English and holds an MA and MA from Wits University and Columbia University in New York, respectively.
Before becoming a filmmaker and multimedia journalist, Zoe Ramushu studied and worked in the legal field. She was an integral part of the team that prepared the 2018 Framing The Shot: Key Trends in African Film report, the leading analysis of African film, with the Goethe Institut and German Foreign Office.
Working with Germany’s BMZ, Ramushu led a groundbreaking gender transformation agenda for African Film with SWIFT, recognized at global platforms such as the Berlin Film Festival. A Reuters fellow at Oxford University, Ramushu chairs a committee for the South African Department of Arts and Cultures, overseeing cultural grant allocations across national parastatals and agencies.
She is currently producing her first two feature films in South Africa, one is in development the other in pre-production. She’s recently completed two New York based documentaries which are currently on the festival circuit. She holds an undergraduate honors degree in Law and English and an MA both from the University of the Witwatersrand. She earned her MSc in filmmaking from Columbia University in the City of New York.