Zimbabwean Tapiwa Chipfupa and Lesotho’s Phillip Leteka Selected for the 2026 Berlinale Talents Mastercard Enablement Programme

Zimbabwean director and producer, Tapiwa Chipfupa and her film initiative Audiovisual Entrepreneurs Laboratory (AVEL) have  been awarded the coveted Berlinale Talents Mastercard Enablement Programme. Lesotho-based filmmaker, Phillip Leteka, with Majoaneng, his film initiative, returned to Berlinale as one of the returning alumni of the enablement programme. 

Chipfupa’s AVEL is a yearly personal and professional development programme for entry level producers that empowers them with tools to navigate their environment, with the long-term objective of growing the local film industry in Zimbabwe. Leteka’s Majoaneng interpreted as Academy of Images and Letters is building the future of cinema in Lesotho, where no cinema exists, by training young creatives with no access to industry, through intensive mentorship and hands-on film production.

The Berlinale Talents Mastercard Enablement Programme provides its selected fellows with mentoring, financial support and public awareness for their film-related initiatives, networks or platforms that contribute to their local communities in an inclusive and impactful way. This one-of-a-kind initiative is returning for its sixth edition and continues to support sustainable cinema-centered projects around the world. Yearly, it selects two fellows from the international Berlinale Talents alumni community who, beyond their cinematic work, have founded film-related initiatives, networks or platforms that contribute to their local communities in an inclusive and impactful way. Leteka’s Majoaneng is one of this year’s invited alumni. 

In 2023, Leteka was one of the winners of the Berlinale Talents Mastercard Enablement Programme Grants. This grant enabled the establishment of his film-related educational outfit, Majoaneng (interpreted as “Academy of Images and Letters”). With the Talents Footprints grant, Leteka has created a screenwriters, directors and cinematographers’ studio for interested Basotho. And, his return this year is indicative of the success of Majoaneng. 

The Zimbabwean film industry, like most African film industries, is expected to cater to itself in the absence and presence of limited institutional and governmental support. Independent filmmakers have to nurture their creativity whilst also innovating and building structures and sustainable platforms. This local context necessitated the creation of AVEL as a local producers programme that will empower Zimbabwean filmmakers with the skillset, structure and space to enable them to navigate the Zimbabwean film landscape and make globally competitive films.