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美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Free But Not Free': Zimbabwe's Amateur Filmmakers Turn A Lens On Their Country

时间:2018-07-26 05:56:54

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

In most countries, a conversation with the director of a film festival would not be a revolutionary act. In Zimbabwe, I recently spoke1 with Nigel Munyati. He directs the Zimbabwean International Film and Festival Trust, and he told me we could not have done this interview a year ago.

NIGEL MUNYATI: That's one of the major transformations2 that has already taken place.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

MUNYATI: I couldn't be talking like this with you because I'd be, you know, worrying about what would happen after you leave.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

MUNYATI: You know, so the freedom of speech has become one of the major attainments3 of our coup4 that wasn't a coup.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: Our coup that wasn't a coup - you hear that phrase a lot in Zimbabwe these days. He's talking about last November. The military forced out Robert Mugabe, the man who led an oppressive government for decades. And they put Mugabe's former deputy in charge, a man named Emmerson Mnangagwa. He says the country is open for business and that elections at the end of this month will be free and fair. I went to Zimbabwe to see what has changed and what hasn't during this historic transition. We're going to hear those stories all this week about what happens when a country begins to loosen the handcuffs that its people have been in for decades.

We met Nigel Munyati at the film festival's office in the capital, Harare. It's in a brightly painted, inviting5 old house set in a shady garden. An old reel-to-reel projector6 sits in the corner of a hallway.

What year would this be from?

MUNYATI: Oh, I couldn't tell you - probably from the '50s (laughter).

SHAPIRO: Wow.

The film festival happens every year, but in this new moment of openness in Zimbabwe, Munyati wanted to try something new - a competition for young people to make short films on their smartphones. The theme...

MUNYATI: Asking young Zimbabweans to tell us what they think being Zimbabwean means.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

MUNYATI: You know, that does tend to be quite a challenge.

SHAPIRO: Turns out if people grow up in fear that speaking out could get them arrested, it might take some time to turn that ship around. At first, responses to the contest were slow. Munyati had to extend the deadline for submissions7.

MUNYATI: I think young Zimbabweans are still tentative about taking advantage of that freedom of speech.

SHAPIRO: Do you think they're afraid to answer the question, or do you think that because they've never been asked the question, they're not yet able to answer it?

MUNYATI: I think it's more the latter. It's something that they've never had to do before, and it's not something that just automatically, you know, comes into one's mind.

SHAPIRO: Eventually 46 young people gave it a try. They're from all over Zimbabwe, and their films are wildly diverse. One young woman did stop-motion animation8 with dolls.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Luna, are you sure we can make it to this new town with not a lot of dolls?

SHAPIRO: Another young man created a kind of zombie heist film sprinkled with deadpan9 jokes about Zimbabwe's economic crisis.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) I had to keep my plan simple. Kick down the door. Tie the guy up. Get the cash. But this is Zim. There's no cash, so...

SHAPIRO: I met the creator of one film called "Hustle10."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HUSTLE")

KINGSLEY KAISI: (As character) It's not easy in the streets these days, but you always have to keep on hustling11 and working hard, hopefully trying to get that extra dollar.

SHAPIRO: Almost everyone in Zimbabwe has a hustle. The informal economy is full of car washers, fruit vendors12, money changers. The director and star of this film, Kingsley Kaisi, told me the story comes from his personal experience.

KAISI: At one time, I used to throw umbrellas, which was actually quite good because at the time, it was raining, so people were, like, interested in buying umbrellas.

SHAPIRO: He found a place to buy the umbrellas cheap, then sold them on busy street corners for a small profit. Kingsley is a full-time13 student studying development. Many of his friends have been through something like this, working every minute of the day, trying to squeeze out enough to buy food or pay for school. In the film, the main characters spend so many hours trying to make a dollar that when he finally has time to call his girlfriend, she's given up on him.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HUSTLE")

KAISI: (As character) I just hope that you understand. Hello?

COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable.

SHAPIRO: This is not an uplifting film, and that's part of what's so striking about this moment. Filmmakers can answer the question, what does it mean to be Zimbabwean by saying it's unpleasant. Before, they might have only whispered that in private. To get some perspective on this, I talked to an established filmmaker. Priscilla Sithole Ncube makes documentaries, and she's one of the judges of this competition.

PRISCILLA SITHOLE NCUBE: I've been arrested twice.

SHAPIRO: She told me about one incident in 2014. She was filming a women's march, and police handcuffed her.

NCUBE: The police officer arrested who arrested me was, like, saying, you are the ones who are selling information outside the country.

SHAPIRO: And how different is it today?

NCUBE: Today at least we are free but not free. Sometimes if you are a prisoner, it is upon yourself that you give yourself freedom.

SHAPIRO: She's not ready to trust that these changes are permanent, and for older people especially, she says the habits of suspicion and self-censorship can be hard to let go of. That's why Nigel Munyati gets so excited about these films from young people who've lived their entire lives under Robert Mugabe.

MUNYATI: As a nation, we've been a very sad state for the longest time. Fortunately, though, I think it's something that's about to come to an end.

SHAPIRO: Does the fact you're able to do this without interference from security services feel like a baby step, like a revolution? How does it feel?

MUNYATI: It's a revolution. Basically any time a society's able to reclaim14 one of its rights, it's not a baby step at all. It's a huge achievement, and the key is to ensure that we don't lose that again ever.

SHAPIRO: Are you afraid that this window might close after the elections?

MUNYATI: No, I don't think so. I'm very confident that regardless of the outcome of the elections, this country will never be the same after the 30th of July.

SHAPIRO: That's one of the most optimistic views we heard during our reporting in Zimbabwe. Tomorrow we'll meet people who are less hopeful. Cash in Zimbabwe is so scarce people sleep outside of bank ATMs hoping to get some precious paper currency in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Through interpreter) It's very painful to have to wait for your money, especially if it's money that you've worked for. And it feels like we keep getting pulled back when we should be moving forward.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
2 transformations dfc3424f78998e0e9ce8980c12f60650     
n.变化( transformation的名词复数 );转换;转换;变换
参考例句:
  • Energy transformations go on constantly, all about us. 在我们周围,能量始终在不停地转换着。 来自辞典例句
  • On the average, such transformations balance out. 平均起来,这种转化可以互相抵消。 来自辞典例句
3 attainments 3f47ba9938f08311bdf016e1de15e082     
成就,造诣; 获得( attainment的名词复数 ); 达到; 造诣; 成就
参考例句:
  • a young woman of impressive educational attainments 一位学业成就斐然的年轻女子
  • He is a scholar of the highest attainments in this field. 他在这一领域是一位颇有造就的学者。
4 coup co5z4     
n.政变;突然而成功的行动
参考例句:
  • The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
  • That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。
5 inviting CqIzNp     
adj.诱人的,引人注目的
参考例句:
  • An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
  • The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人,使人感到亲切温馨。
6 projector 9RCxt     
n.投影机,放映机,幻灯机
参考例句:
  • There is a new projector in my office.我的办公室里有一架新的幻灯机。
  • How long will it take to set up the projector?把这个放映机安放好需要多长时间?
7 submissions 073d6f2167f8d9a96d86b9fe6b9d5b37     
n.提交( submission的名词复数 );屈从;归顺;向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据
参考例句:
  • The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
  • Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第(四)款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
8 animation UMdyv     
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作
参考例句:
  • They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
  • The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。
9 deadpan 6yExR     
n. 无表情的
参考例句:
  • Some people don't catch his deadpan humor,that makes it even funnier.有些人不能了解他那种无表情的幽默,因此更有趣。
  • She put the letter on the desk in front of me,her face deadpan,not a flicker of a smile.她把那封信放在我面前的桌子上,故意一 脸严肃,没有一丝的笑容。
10 hustle McSzv     
v.推搡;竭力兜售或获取;催促;n.奔忙(碌)
参考例句:
  • It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
  • I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。
11 hustling 4e6938c1238d88bb81f3ee42210dffcd     
催促(hustle的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Our quartet was out hustling and we knew we stood good to take in a lot of change before the night was over. 我们的四重奏是明显地卖座的, 而且我们知道在天亮以前,我们有把握收入一大笔钱。
  • Men in motors were hustling to pass one another in the hustling traffic. 开汽车的人在繁忙的交通中急急忙忙地互相超车。
12 vendors 2bc28e228525b75e14c07dbc14850c34     
n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 );小贩;(房屋等的)卖主;卖方
参考例句:
  • The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
  • At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时,界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
13 full-time SsBz42     
adj.满工作日的或工作周的,全时间的
参考例句:
  • A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
  • I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作,我不知道她是如何对付的。
14 reclaim NUWxp     
v.要求归还,收回;开垦
参考例句:
  • I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
  • You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时,必须出示这张票子。

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