Obituary: Zimbabwe Film Industry Suffers Sad Blow As Chawasarira Dies
The arts and cultural sector was dealt another sad blow when one of the Zimbabwe’s film industry’s prolific practioners was taken from this world. Garikai Chawasarira died at Parirenyatwa Hospital Harare last week on Wednesday Chawasarira was well known for HIV and Aids awareness campaigns. He spearheaded several campaigns including producing and presenting a popular television talk show, ‘Who Is Next?’ The talk show focused on young people living in an HIV and Aids prone environment. Garakai earned some notable awards for his awareness campaigns including an award for the best exemplary work in Southern Africa Youth Initiative at an Aids conference in Victoria Falls in 2003.
He was also awarded another accolade by UNAIDS in the same year. He was also involved in the production of Yellow Card and Neria. Chawasarira received his training in the Netherlands in the late 80s before he enrolled at the UNESCO Zimbabwe Film Training Project in the early 90s and he was very passionate about his trade.
At the time of his passing he was filming the grand finale of the business reality TV show My Own Boss at Rainbow Towers.
Garikai was a member of the Culture Fund Subsector Committee members in the Film Audio Visual Sub sector and had been an integral component of the committee for the past three years. He was also a Culture Fund grantee after successfully applying and receiving a grant for his film project “Baby Dancing”
He has worked with the Zimbabwe International Film Festival’s Short Film Project and produced various short films.
