Thandiwe Newton Says BFI London Film Festival Rejected Zimbabwe Documentary "President" Due to Political Pressure
Zimbabwean linked English actress, Thandiwe Newton, is baffled by the BFI London Film Festival’s refusal to accept “President,” the award-winning documentary she produced about the disputed 2018 Zimbabwe presidential election.
The film, directed by Camilla Nielsson, chronicles opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s unsuccessful bid to unseat President Emmerson Mnangagwa who succeeded long-time ruler Robert Mugabe who was ousted in a military coup.
“President” considers allegations that Mnangagwa used violence against the opposition and manipulated the whole electoral process to hold onto power. Said, Newton:
Every time it gets into another festival and wins another festival and then gets shortlisted for the Oscars, I’m just thinking London Film Festival, ‘Where were you?’.
And the reason they weren’t there was because it was the week before Mnangagwa went to Scotland with 100 delegates from Zimbabwe, invited by the United Kingdom.
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That wouldn’t have been a great way to have him arrive the week before, right? That’s why I think it wasn’t screened.
In a statement to Variety in response to Newton, the festival said it does not comment on any film’s submitted to the festival. It said:
Our selection decisions, which are made 3 months in advance of the festival, are based on the merits of the film and whether it fits into the overall texture of the program and is not guided by external factors.
We hugely admire Thandiwe Newton’s work, her activism and commitment to giving back to the industry.
According to an online source, Newton was born in Westminster, London, England, to Nyasha, a Zimbabwean woman and Nick Newton, an English laboratory technician and artist.
She is proud of her Zimbabwean roots, considers the southern African country “very beautiful” and is hopeful the country will see better days. She said:
All it takes for evil to succeed is when good men do nothing. It’s such a classic.
There’s silence around Zimbabwe that has been kind of a deadlock, but it’s rusted through.
The times call for greater transparency. And there’s too much that has been discovered.
… I’ve never wanted to speak out about Zimbabwe because speaking out politically has always been ‘You’re speaking out against Zimbabwe.
That is why I’ve never wanted to get involved because it’s not political. I don’t know enough to comment on who should vote for who.
If you don’t live in the country, you can’t say. That’s fucking rude, man.
It’s only the people who live day-to-day in the country who have the right to say what is needed.
But my appeal as a human rights activist is this — I would assume that the leader of a country would want to know who is hurting his people. There are mysterious deaths, abductions and torture.
I would have thought that the leader of a country would want to know and I just don’t see enough happening to try and discover who is responsible for these crimes.
No, I’m not saying it’s Mnangagwa. No one is, but who is it?
