Abdon Yezi

Abdon Yezi is a Zambian director, author, producer and proprietor of Yezi Arts Promotions and Productions, a theatre and media arts promoting company in Lusaka.Who we are, YEZI Arts</ref> He is also runs a consulting firm called Yezi Consulting and Associates.

Media and theatre

Yezi has produced over 12 stage plays, three which were awarded for Excellence, and have had local and international exposure in the sub-region.

Other involvements

Yezi worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDIIA) where he led a delegation to monitor what became the last by-election in Mporokoso, Northern Province, before the September 2011 general elections.

With the NDIIA Zambia Party Programme, Yezi planned and implemented a poll-watch programme, where he worked mainly with three major political parties to plan, recruit, train and deploy approximately 60,000 polling agents during the general elections.

References

In 2002 Yezi pioneered a regional international theatre festival called the April International Theatre Festival, which has been held five (5) times since its inception, attracting over 110 participants each time it has been held. Motivated by the link between theatre and the budding film industry in Zambia, especially from the human resource aspect, Yezi ventured into the production of five theatrical movies. This commenced a seemingly long journey of contributing to the development of media arts – especially for increased local content and promotion, particularly on the national broadcasting television station (and the emerging 3 private TV stations). Since 2001 Yezi has produced several social-related documentaries on topics around elections, child abuse, corruption, debt cancellation advocacy, women empowerment and other issues impacting on social, economic and political developments. He has also produced five theatrical movies. In 2005, Yezi commenced research into the area of Zambia’s contribution to the liberation struggles in Southern Africa, which has directed the independent producer to not only commence on a feature length film but a series of documentaries depicting various aspects of this important era in thehistory of the country. Under this project the feature film entitled Nkhondo Ya Mkwezalamaba (War of Sacrifice) was considered while a series of documentaries, including “Battle for Kavalamanja… In Defence of the Nation” has been produced. The documentary has since attracted positive reviews from the media and was awarded 2008 Best Documentary during the National Arts Council organized Ng’oma Awards. It has also been shown in a number of Southern African countries, and participated in the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, in Greece. “Kavalamanja Remembered”, a 74-minutes feature-length documentary was a follow and has been distributed locally and internationally. This consistent initiative of communicating for development has seen one of Zambia’s remote areas being opened up to development projects – which eluded them despite bearing the atrocities resulting from Zambia assisting to liberate Southern Africa.Experience in video production, has spanned and been consistent since the institution was established. Our engagement has been mostly working with civil society organizations and government agencies in the promotion of social-development issues. Most of our productions have been shown on the national broadcaster. We have also looked at alternative means of distribution, which has included us entering into partnership with long distance public transporters, as part of a ‘bus campaign’, that has proved to be very useful. We are currently advocating for a mechanism that would facilitate for financing and growth in the film industry, including the establishment of a Film Commission. At a regional level, we are actively involved in initiatives and institutions that aim to increase attention to the film industry. While continuing to explore new artistic challenges, Yezi has utilized his profession as a vehicle for positive change, becoming an advocate, activist and philanthropist in the fields of governance, sustainable development. He has served at Board Chairperson of the Southern Africa Communication for Development (SACOD) a sub-regional network of filmmakers, producers, and distributors with membership mostly drawn from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. Currently, YEZI is part of an initiative aimed at establishing a film school under the auspices of ZAMCOM. He is also a member of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI). Platforms such as those provided by the Arterial Network and the Pan African Federation of Film Makers(FEPACI) have been useful for most practitioners in Zambia

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