SOTAMBE Zambia International Film Festival (ZAMIFF) is run by the SOTAMBE Film Institute and it was established in 2014 on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. In a local language SOTAMBE means "come and watch".

ZAMIFF is the biggest film Festival in Zambia promoting Southern African Filmmakers and it is known for its hospitality and networking opportunities.

In 2022, during the 9th edition of the Festival, the Minister of Youth, Sport and Arts elevated the Festival to the Zambia International Film Festival. To celebrate the growth of the Festival and our 10th anniversary, we introduced BUSINESS ARENA - Content Market as a part and parcel of the Festival.

The 11th edition of the biggest film festival in Zambia is now open for Entries! This year, under the theme ‘One Punch at a Time’, the Festival is celebrating the resilience of African filmmakers and their strides at the global film scene.
See you at the Festival and Business Arena from 20 – 28 September 2024 in Lusaka, Zambia!

We are awarding the following categories:
Southern African region (all SADC countries):

1. Best Cinematography (Southern Africa)
This includes techniques as the general composition of a scene; the lighting of the set or location; the choice of cameras, lenses, filters, and film stock; the camera angle and movements; and the integration of any special effects.

2. Best Soundtrack (Southern Africa)
This includes the manipulation of previously composed or recorded audio such as sound effects and dialogue. It may also involve the composition or manipulation of audio or sound to create a desired effect or mood.

3. Best Screenplay (Southern Africa)
This includes original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing including the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated.

4. Best Student Film (MultiChoice Talent Factory)
This includes works in the categories of feature film, animation, short films, and documentaries done by the MultiChoice Talent Factory students only.

5. Best Animation (Southern Africa)
This includes the technique of photographing successive drawings, paintings, or illustrations photographed frame by frame (stop-frame cinematography) or in positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.

6. Best Short Film (Southern Africa)
This includes works of fiction motion pictures not long enough to be considered a full-length feature film. Short films should have a running time of up to 59min or less.

7. Best Documentary (Southern Africa)
This includes a non-fictional (factual) treatment or analytical film (motion pictures) to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record.

8. Best TV Drama/Series (Southern Africa)
This category includes a group of program episodes intended for television broadcast or transmission with a common series title, with or without a predetermined number of episodes, and shall include a miniseries and a pilot episode produced for an intended television series. This category allows latest 2 of the new season’s episodes with a running time 5min to 40Minutes.

9. Best Actor in Feature Film (Southern Africa)
This award will be given to the outstanding male actor(s) in Feature Film category.

10. Best Actress in Feature Film (Southern Africa)
This award will be given to the outstanding female actress(es) in Feature Film category.

11. Best Director (Southern Africa)
This award will be given to an individual who controls the film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay/script while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision. Zambian category only.

12. Best Indigenous Language Film (Zambia)
This award will be given to feature films that deliver a dialog of up to 70% of the total film in local indigenous language with subtitles to strengthen heritage and cultural identity of our communities.

13. SOTAMBE Achievement Award (Zambia)
This award will be given to an outstanding person or group in the promotion of the film industry in Zambia and in Diaspora.

14. Best Feature Film (Southern Africa)
This award category focuses strictly on Feature films produced in Southern African Region including Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

15. Best Feature Film (Zambia)
This includes fiction or nonfiction motion pictures with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole film to fill a program. The film should have running time of more than 60minutes from Zambia only.

16. Best Feature Film (International)
This award will be given to the outstanding international Feature Film produced from other countries apart from SADC countries.

Note 1: Southern African Countries are ALL SADC countries, namely: Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Note 2: For the Category to be active, it needs to have minimum of 10 entries.